Moving away from him, she drew the covers to her breasts.
“Does he?” Kell repeated, his tone curious.
“Yes,” Raven replied defensively. “He does all that and more. He not only gives me pleasure, he makes me feel cherished, desired. As if I am the only woman in the world.”
Kell raised an eyebrow but his measuring gaze was entirely serious. “Is that every woman’s secret fantasy? To be cherished?”
“I wouldn’t know about other women’s fantasies,” Raven replied, deploring the turn their conversation had taken. “But I am perfectly content with mine.”
“Still, I should think the real thing would be more satisfying. An image can’t fill you like a flesh and blood man can. He can’t stroke your nipples like this…”
When Kell caressed her breast, Raven jerked back, away from his sensual touch. “Perhaps not, but neither does he incite a desire in me to commit mayhem, as you do.”
Kell’s lips pursed in a frown. “I confess, I don’t like the thought of you seeking pleasure from your fantasy lover.”
She gave him a sharp look of disbelief. “You cannot possibly be jealous of a fantasy.”
“No? How do you think a man feels when his lover…his wife…constantly dreams about another man? It arouses a primitive male instinct to do battle.”
Raven gave a sigh of exasperation. “It is not a contest, Kell.”
“What if I were to make it one?”
“What do you mean?”
He shrugged. “Nothing. Never mind. Why don’t you go to sleep?”
He shut his eyes as if prepared to do just that, but Raven made a sound of protest in her throat. “Kell…I think you should sleep in your own bedchamber tonight.”
His eyes opened. “Sleeping together is too intimate, is that your assumption?”
“Yes. We agreed merely to carnal relations, nothing more.”
“Very well,” he said easily, surprising her. “If you insist…”
Rising from the bed, he scooped up his dressing gown and shrugged into it. Then he bent and pulled the covers up over her shoulders, tucking her in. “Sweet dreams, vixen.”
He didn’t seem at all angry that she had ordered him from her bed. Instead he pressed a chaste kiss to her temple and left the room.
Raven frowned, somewhat bewildered and more than a little suspicious that he had been so accommodating.
Had she questioned him, however, Kell would not have told her his intent. It would be foolish to rekindle Raven’s resistance by revealing his plans.
He was set on taking over her fantasies.
Her decided preference for her dream lover had roused his new resolve. Irrationally or not, it incensed Kell that Raven had another lover, however illusory. Whether driven by male pride or simple jealousy, he wanted to be the only man in her life. He intended to be the only man in her life.
It would be a challenge, but he meant to win her away from her imaginary lover.
Chapter Sixteen
He came to her the next night and every night that week. They made love with passionate abandon, but Raven always insisted that Kell return to his own bedchamber. She was willing to give him her body, but nothing more intimate.
It disturbed her, however, that the line between Kell and her fantasy lover was becoming more and more blurred-and never more so than when Kell escorted her to a brothel.
Merely his offer surprised her.
“I think it’s time we furthered your education and introduced you to some genuine fantasies,” he said as they lay in bed after a particularly intense bout of lovemaking.