"So do you intend to warn Riddingham of my suspicions?" Dare asked when she was silent.
"Of course not," she said absently.
He raised a skeptical eyebrow. "You will have to forget this conversation ever took place. If you begin treating Riddingham any differently, you could give the game away."
Julienne's chin came up at that. "You don't need to instruct me how to play a role. I am an excellent actress."
"I know," he drawled mockingly, yet she couldn't help hearing the edge of bitterness in his tone.
When she gave him a sharp glance, he returned a dark stare, his gaze hot, piercing, accusatory. Suddenly Julienne was unbearably aware of the intimacy of being here alone with him.
"You needn't worry that I will give you away," she assured Dare as she brushed past him. "I plan to maintain the ridiculous charade of our wager."
She was about to open the door when his strong arms reached out to draw her back.
Julienne held herself rigid, not daring to breathe. "Let me go, please."
But Dare didn't release her. Instead his arms came around her shoulders. Her pulse leaping, Julienne bit her lip, deploring the way his physical presence engulfed her senses.
"It isn't a charade," he murmured. "I still want you, Jewel."
His breath stirred her hair and sent chills all over her. Even as she shivered, his warm hands slipped inside her bodice and began to play tantalizingly with her nipples.
Julienne squeezed her eyes shut, fighting the instinctive desire to flee for her life-and the deeper desire to surrender to his caresses. She wanted to melt against his warmth…
"My beautiful Jewel," he whispered in that erotic, masculine voice that never failed to bring her senses alive.
Oh, God, she thought, aching as his tongue traced the shell of her ear. His fingers tightened on her stiffened nipples, and she caught her lip between her teeth as a fiery spasm of pleasure shot down to her lower abdomen.
She shook her head, struggling desperately against her long-stemmed hunger. She hungered for physical warmth, for Dare.
"I want you," he repeated. "I want you hot and wild and burning with desire for me." His whisper filled her mind, his words a rich promise, husky, lavish with sensuality. "Say you want me, too, Julienne."
She did want him. She had been alone so long. She craved the intimacy of Dare's touch, needed it…
Whimpering softly, she arched against his arousing fingers. His seductive caresses were scorching her, shaking her resolve, shredding her will… reminding her of all he could make her feel, of all the pleasure he could give her, all the devastating hurt-
Her throat constricted at the stab of remembered pain.
"No," Julienne protested, her whisper wild and low. "I don't want this, Dare. I don't want you."
Drawing a shaky breath, she wrenched herself away, then pulled open the door and fled.
Alone, his arms empty, Dare shut his eyes and cursed. His senses still swam with the elusive essence that was unmistakably Julienne's; his body still ached for her. He was hard and hotter than hell.
He could almost feel the wet heat of her surrounding him, feel her gliding tightly around his throbbing shaft…
Yet despite his body's discomfort, the fierce ache in his chest had somehow eased. Julienne had seemed completely taken aback by his revelations about Caliban and his reasons for searching Riddingham's rooms. She didn't appear to be in league with either one of them.
Dare ran a hand roughly though his hair. If she was indeed a confederate of Caliban's, then he had just put himself in grave danger. And if she went running to Riddingham, she would prove her guilt. But at least it would end his uncertainty about her.
He felt a muscle flex in his jaw. Julienne was a consummate actress, true, but his instincts told him she wasn't lying. Which meant she was likely innocent of duplicity.
A pity, Dare thought darkly, feeling an unexpected stab of regret. Her guilt might have freed him o
f his obsession with her, helped him to break the chains that still held him enraptured.
And if she was innocent? Even before now it had occurred to him that if he dragged her into his investigations, Julienne herself could be in danger from Caliban.