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She shrugged. “Oh, probably. They might insist I leave.”
“Enid.” He appeared stricken. “I cannot allow—”
“Please.” She’d have waved him off, but she was enjoying his touch too much to remove her hands. Indeed, between his touch and that fierce, unreadable gaze of his, her insides were all aflutter.
She stretched up on her toes, purely to put her lips within easy reach—because her appreciation would hardly prevent her from setting him straight. “You will not be guilty, and you will not insult my intelligence. I perfectly understood the risks and, to be honest, none of the gentlemen present at this month’s Ball captured my interest. It is a great shame I’m not as partial to ladies—in a group, it is most fun, but alone I find myself wanting a man’s particular equipment—for there were some fine figures present. But alas, I am not. Therefore, you’ve done me no harm by extracting me from tedium.”
His throat worked, and his hands tightened around hers. “I see.”
“I rather hope you do,” she said softly.
The cool fog caressed her heated skin.
It filled the forest, turning their small glade into another world. Somewhere removed from their day-to-day lives—somewhere that invited them to toss their cares aside and embrace the moment. Perhaps they could do exactly that.
She licked her lips and swayed toward him.
He abruptly released his grip on her hands and took a step back.
His fingers appeared unsteady as he adjusted his cravat yet again, and she got the distinct impression she wasn’t alone in her appreciation of their situation. Despite the chill of the fog, heat radiated from him. And the gleam of his lenses reflected an impossible flame.
She drew in a deep breath, and the distinctive scent of arousal caressed her senses.
A slow smile spread across her mouth.
She moved toward him, reveling in how the fog slipped and slid along her feathers. “I am not sorry to leave the ball and its attendees behind. But I had been hoping for some… sport this eve.”
He froze. “Sport?”
“Sport,” she confirmed softly. “What say thee, sir?”
His throat worked, and even the thick fog couldn’t hide the bulge in his trousers.
“Want to play?” Her voice was quiet, yet she saw his body flex at her words. “Because I do.”
Still, he held his silence and his ground.
His eyes remained shrouded behind those wire-framed rounds, as if the glass had been ensorcelled to always conceal his true feelings from the world. Indeed, he was slender and human, and yet there was something infinitely dangerous about him in that moment. Something that wasn’t horns or fangs or wings, but that washed over her body and left it vibrating with need.
I want to see what happens when your control breaks.
I want to be thereasonit breaks.
She slunk across the moss until she stood before him, almost close enough to feel that hard line against her belly. Slowly, she trailed a finger down his chest, letting the faintest edge of her claw test the wool of his coat. “Mister Theodore Essex,” she breathed. “I think you are more than you appear.”
“What is it I appear?” His voice, low and rough with desire, made her feathers ruffle with anticipation.
Stretching up, she brushed his ear with her lips. “Something rather dangerous.”
“I do believe that is the first time anyone has called me dangerous.” His lips curved and his hands slowly cupped her shoulders, even as his eyes remained unreadable. His head lowered and his grip became as hard as iron bands, exerting a tantalizing pressure on her flesh. When he spoke, his low voice sent a shiver of pure lust down her spine. “I find I like it.”
Theo
A gentleman would refusewhat the lady was clearly offering.
Standing in that shrouded glade, his fingers tight on Enid’s bare shoulders, Theo knew he should escort her back to the Ball—where he would take whatever punishment was required. But for the first time in his life, he couldn’t quite make himself do the right thing.
Because that meant walking away from this moment. Walking away fromher.
