He grabbed her arm, his hold unshakable. “Give me five minutes alone with you.”
He couldn’t mean what she thought he did. Not here. And not in five minutes.
“We’re in a public place,” she protested, although the thrill of his touch through her silk sleeve surged across her skin like flame.
“Well, let’s find somewhere less public.”
“I’m not going to…” She cast a frantic glance at Laura, who watched as if observing a theatrical performance.
He laughed softly, and said under his breath, “Wait until you’re asked.”
She might take his dismissive response seriously if she couldn’t smell his desperation. He was fired with lust and frustration. She’d recognized that from the second she’d seen him today.
She wasn’t in a much better state.
“I’ll go into the next room.” Laura sent them a surprisingly conspiratorial smile.
Ashcroft chuckled. “You’re an angel, Laura Smith.”
“I’m unfailingly loyal to my friends, my lord.” Even through rising excitement, Diana heard the warning in the words.
“I admire that,” Ashcroft replied without a trace of mockery.
Even more surprisingly, Laura graced him with one of her lovely smiles. She was a pretty girl and would be considered a local beauty if she wasn’t so self-effacing outside her immediate circle. “Just remember it, my lord. Five minutes.”
Without sparing them another glance, she walked toward the second door. Diana’s attention immediately focused on the man towering over her. She fought back a foolish feminine feeling of safety.
He was about as safe as a cobra.
“What do you want, Lord Ashcroft?” she asked with completely manufactured bravado.
“Don’t be a fool, Diana. You know what I want.” His voice lowered to a purr. “I want you.” His fingers tightened, and he dragged her toward a large alabaster sarcophagus propped against the wall.
“Ashcroft!” She tried and failed to summon any real resistance. He was mad to consider seducing her in the hallowed halls of the British Museum. “You will not do this!”
“Oh, I will damn well do this,” he muttered, shoving her into the corner behind the monolith. The stone coffin shielded them from the doorway, although if anyone came into the room, they’d immediately notice the couple embracing in the shadows.
“Your aunt…”
“Bugger my aunt.” Roughly, he pressed her against the wall, gripping her arms above the elbow.
She was such an idiot. She should scream for help. She should kick him in the shins until he let her go. Instead, a torrent of anticipation crashed through her veins, making her heart dance and her breath catch.
She forced a calmness she didn’t feel into her voice. “Laura said five minutes. She’ll return even if your aunt doesn’t find us. Someone else could come in. There’s enough scandal in the two of us being seen together in a crowd, let alone caught in flagrante delicto behind some pharaoh’s coffin.”
He growled low in his throat. “Diana?”
Something in the way he said her name halted her tirade. She sucked in a breath and gazed into his face. He was pale, and a muscle flickered in his cheek, a sign of extreme emotion. His green eyes were brilliant and focused unwaveringly on her. He shifted one hand to hold her face, his thumb beneath her chin, his fingers warm against her jaw.
“Y…yes?”
“Shut up.”
“Wha…”
Her outraged question died on a muffled moan as he bent his dark head and placed his mouth on hers.
Her anger, her confusion, her guilt, her piercing loneliness, all coalesced into white heat. She closed her eyes and parted her lips, inviting him in. It no longer mattered where she was or who might discover them. What mattered was that Ashcroft touched her.