Page 69 of After the Spy Seduces

She came with a soft cry as he rocked her gently to release. Her body spasmed around his as she broke in his arms, and he followed a heartbeat later. He spilled himself inside her with a shudder, and her sex flexed around him as her body attempted to coax every drop from him. To claim every bit of him that she could.

Neither of them loosened their hold as they both struggled to regain their breaths and slow their heartbeats, their bodies still entangled around the other. Dawn had broken. A new day had washed over them, but Kit wanted nothing more than to keep holding her like this forever.

Chapter 21

Diana stared shamelessly at Kit’s muscles as he dug the oars into the water and rowed them toward the docks. Sweet mercy, he was heavenly. Her own god, like those in Lord Elgin’s marbles…sculpted, hard, larger than life. Even his blond hair shined like spun gold in the morning sunlight. But underneath those rock-hard muscles lingered a vulnerability that she cherished.

A smile teased at her lips.

“You look like the cat that got into the cream,” he commented, not pausing in his steady rhythm of rowing. When dawn had gotten too bright for them to continue to hide on the boat, he’d sailed it back toward shore and anchored it near a rowboat that had been tied to a buoy. Not wanting to take the chance that someone had seen them leave on the sailboat last night and would be looking for its return, he now rowed them back, with the docks growing closer with each stroke of the oars.

“I feel like Cleopatra on her Egyptian barge.” She reclined back as far as possible on the bench and lazily waved a hand with all the imperialness she could muster. “Row on! Don’t stop until we reach Cairo!”

He grinned at her. “Enjoying yourself, are you?”

More than in my entire life.She beamed and leaned up, leaving the steadiness of her seat only long enough to place a quick kiss to his lips before sitting back down as the boat rocked beneath her.

Oh, shewashappy! Meri was safe and would be waiting at home for her when she arrived, her brother wasn’t a traitor, the French had the diary and so had no reason to ever come after her family again—and she loved Christopher.

She nearly laughed at that. If anyone had told her a month ago that she would lose her heart to a Carlisle, and to the seemingly worst of the lot no less, she would have called them mad.Mad!But she’d gone and done exactly that.

“I would offer to help row, but…” She waved a hand weakly in the direction of the oars. “You know how we pharaohesses are.”

He arched a brow. “Pharaohesses?”

She answered that with another imperial wave of her hand, then laughed at herself again. “Truly, thank you for finding the rowboat. I didn’t fancy a swim.”

“I serve at the pleasure of my pharaohess,” he teased. Then his mocking amusement faded into one of affection, and he added tenderly, meeting her gaze, “And my angel.”

Warmth swelled inside her, and she looked away before he could see the blush of happiness that pinked her cheeks. “It was fortunate that you were able to rent that sailboat last night on such short notice.”

When he didn’t reply, she glanced back at him, just in time to see a guilty expression cross his face.

“You didn’t rent it, did you?” His guilty expression deepened, and her mouth fell open. “You stole it!”

“Borrowed,” he corrected, not pausing in his rowing. When that didn’t appease the scolding glare she gave him, he added, “It was that boat or the hotel, and you’d just handed over military secrets to the French. Would you have rather spent the night in our room where everyone knew where to find us?”

Her shoulders sagged. “No.”

Nor would she have given up a moment of being in his arms last night. But now that dawn had come, all that frightened her was once again revealed beneath the harsh light of day.

“You really think they would have come after us there?” she asked. “After they were given the diary?”

“It might not have been the French who would have paid us a call.”

Her mouth fell open. “TheBritish?”

“Possibly. I didn’t want to take any chances.”

“Then thank you for last night.” She added in a husky voice, “Very much.”

But the way he grinned at her told her that he knew she was thanking him for far more than appropriating the sailboat. So did the now familiar ache that stirred between her thighs.

“The French will leave your family alone now,” he assured her as he glanced over his shoulder toward the docks. They were less than a hundred yards from the pier. “They think they have the real diary, so there’s no more reason for them to come after Meri again, or you and the general.”

Relief mixed with the happiness blossoming in her chest.

“When we reach shore, we’ll go straight to the posting inn. You’ll have to leave behind everything that’s in the hotel. It’s not safe to go back there.”