"I have no doubt you've got plenty of all three, but we'll take it as it goes, and see. "
He rose. "Can't say I mind making you a little nervous," he said as he walked to her. "Nothing much shakes you, at least not so it shows. "
"You have no idea. "
"Oh, I think I do. " He slipped his arms around her, led her smoothly into a dance, swaying to the throb of the music. "One of the sexiest things about you is your unshakable capability. "
"I'm capable. " She tipped her head up. "I want my accountant to be capable, but I sure as hell don't want to sleep with him. "
"I find it devastatingly sexy. "
"Is this the seduction part of the evening?"
"Just getting started. Do you mind?"
He thought her capable, she realized, and found that appealing. And he made her feel soft, and cherished. "You asked me that the first time you kissed me. I didn't mind then, either. "
"I love that you're beautiful. Shallow of me, but there you go. A man's entitled to some flaws. "
Amused, she trailed a finger up the back of his neck. "Perfection's boring - but, God, don't tell Stella I said so. "
"Then I'll never bore you. "
He touched his lips to hers lightly, once, twice, then slowly, slowly, sank into the kiss.
It spilled through her, the warmth, and the life, the thrill and the power. She moved with him, that sensuous dance, that sensuous kiss, and let herself glide. Like a woman glides over a path strewn with fragrant petals. Through moonbeams. And into love.
She heard a door shut quietly, and opened her eyes to see that he'd circled her into the bedroom.
"You're a clever dancer, Dr. Carnegie. " Then laughed when he spun her out, and back. "Very clever. "
He kissed her again, spinning until her back was pressed to the door, until the kiss took on a bite. Then he ran his hands down her arms, stepped back.
"Light the candles," he said. "I'll light the fire. "
Shaken, right down to the soles of her feet, she leaned against the door. Her heart felt swollen and tender, and its beat was a throbbing ache in her breast. When she moved, she moved carefully, like a woman sliding through the fog of a dream. And she saw her own fingers tremble as she set flame to candlewick.
"I want you. " Her voice was steady enough, and she was grateful. "And the want is stronger and different than any I've felt before. Maybe it's because I - "
"Don't question it. Not tonight anyway. "
"All right. " She turned, as he did, so they faced each other across the room. "We'll leave it that I want you, very much. That it presses on me, not entirely comfortably. "
In the gilded light, he crossed to her, took both her hands. "Let me show you how I feel. "
He lifted her hands, turning them palms up to press his lips to one, then the other. Then he cupped her face, stroking his thumbs over her cheeks as his fingers slid back into her hair.
"Let me take you," he said as his mouth cruised over hers. "Tonight, just let me take you. "
He asked for surrender. And surrender was a great deal t
o ask. But she gave him her mouth, then her body as his hands stroked over her. And they were dancing again, circling and swaying as the dreamy pleasure he offered slipped into her like rich, red wine.
He slid her shirt aside, and was murmuring in her ear, about her skin, her scent. And the dance was like floating.
She was giving him what he'd asked. Surrender. Though it was slow, inch by inch, he could feel it, that gorgeous yielding of self. He undressed her as they danced, taking almost painful care, almost painful pleasure in removing each barrier that blocked his hands from her flesh.
It was incredibly erotic, dancing in the firelight, the candlelight, her naked body pressed to his while he was still fully clothed. To see that long, lean line of her in the mirror, the way the light played over her skin, to feel that skin shiver under his hands. To feel her pulses jump under his mouth.