What the Earl Desires (9 page)

“I did not spend time with them.”

Over her shoulder and down the exposed arm, raising the hair on her skin in the process. He gathered one hand in his and brought it up to his lips where he pressed them to the inside of her wrist. Directly over the pulsating vein.

“You are a woman of mystery, Najja. And I have many, many questions for you.” He kissed each fingertip as he spoke until he finally placed one against her palm. “But not right now. There is something much more important to me right now.”

“Wh…what is that?”

“Finding out how good you taste.”

Her knees almost gave out. He released her hand, his head lowered as he trailed his tongue along the path his fingers had taken from her ear to her shoulder, his silken hair brushed against her making her long to sink her hands into it and hold him closer to her.

“You smell like spiced roses and vanilla, Najja. Do you know how much it affects me?” His voice pitched low, darkly sensual and full of the promise of endless passion.

“No,” she whispered digging her fingers into the wood behind her.

Without preamble, he captured the hand he’d previously kissed and brought it back between them, to rest against his breeches and the hardness contained in them. “How about now?”

Her fingers flexed around his shaft eliciting a guttural groan from him. “Yes luv, just like that.”

She felt feverish. All she could think about was stripping off his clothes and seeing how he looked in the flesh. Dropping to her knees and servicing him as she’d seen women do for the sultan and his men. She squeezed again and moved her hand slightly up and down. His moan empowered her.

Colin nibbled along her neck, one hand settled over her breast and he teased the tip into a hard point. Her fingers around him tightened and he expelled another harsh encouragement.

You are not allowed to have emotions. You have a job to do. Nothing else.
Father’s words reverberated through her and she stiffened.

He backed off, confusion in his eyes, although his hand continued to massage her breast. “What is it?”

“You…you came for a kiss,” she said withdrawing her touch from him. “This is not a kiss.”

“It leads to kisses.”

She wavered.

He backed away from her and sat on the side of her bed, dominating the mattress with his size alone. His white shirt, black breeches, and golden skin all blended perfectly with the blue shades making up the room. It didn’t matter the room was almost completely shrouded in darkness, she could see him.

“Come here to me, luv.”

The silken command moved over her, creating even more of a maelstrom within.

“I thought you wanted your kiss.”

“I do.” He tilted his head to the side. “And I will be having it as soon as you come over here.”

“To the bed?” Lord, she sounded like a dupe.

He chuckled but the sound didn’t put her at ease. It was as if he enjoyed tormenting her. “To the bed.” He waggled the fingers on one strong hand. “Come, Najja. Our agreement was the time and place of my choosing. The time is now and the place I choose is here, the bed.”

So he had. Forcing movement into her legs, she trod over the thick Turkish carpet to pause before him. With him seated, they were almost eye to eye. Lord, he was large, the firm physique definite proof of his active life. And for the moment he was here, for her.

Colin gripped her hips and drew her between muscular legs until the bed prevented her from progressing further. She gulped, his heated touch seared her. Ever so slowly his hands left her hips and slid up her bare arms. The hair on her arms stood on end as his callused palms moved up, higher and higher.

She felt exposed. Vulnerable. Out of her depths. It wasn’t as if she’d not been in this type of situation before…well, she had not. Bedchambers were one thing but being in them with a man like Mr. Faulkner, entirely different. All her training as a seductress vanished the moment he came in her thoughts. She felt untried. Virginal.

You are a virgin
, her mind reminded her.

A fact Father never knew. Some days even she couldn’t recall that. But she had enough intimate knowledge of herbs and drugs to always ensure she never had to go through the actual mating with a male. And until this one before her now, she’d never wished to.

“What are you thinking so hard about, luv?” he asked in a sotto voice, his fingers moving in deliciously simple yet most distracting circles upon her upper arms.

“I am here as requested, Mr. Faulkner. Perhaps we should get this over with.”

The green of his eyes hardened with anger and she mentally cursed her wayward tongue. Men and their egos.

“Colin. In a rush?” he asked, words clipped with fury.

She longed to sink her hands into that hair upon his head and hold him to her while he did whatever he wished. “No.”

The storm in his gaze lessened slightly while his hands resumed their upward quest. His fingertips trailed along her shoulders and neck until they sank into the hair at the back of her head.

“Your hair is like silk,” he murmured drawing her closer still. He bypassed her lips and nibbled along her jaw and toward her ear. “How do you manage to smell so enticing?”

He liked how she smelled? “Th…this is not kissing.”

His chuckle was positively decadent. “This is my kiss, Najja.” Colin drew back to stare in her eyes. “You said my time and place, would you prefer a more
intimate
kiss?”

There was no mistaking his meaning. She felt wanton and wanted his fingers there, touching where she knew was slick with her wetness. Her mouth was drier than the deserts of the plains she’d spent time upon. Could he…he wouldn’t…would he? The challenge in his eyes told her he most assuredly would.

She held his gaze and lifted her brow in perfect imitation of him. “As you say, it is
your
kiss, Colin.”

The storm raged again and he growled low before jerking her head to his. His mouth slanted over hers similar in fury to the tempest which had showcased the night their lives intersected. He licked along her lips and when she moved, he tightened his hold then delved his tongue deep into her mouth.

Sensations flooded her. He tasted rich, masculine, and heady. She’d heard tales of kisses like this that could turn a person into a quivering mass but until this moment, she had never experienced one. Never had a man’s tongue in her mouth been pleasurable before now.

A groan slipped up and out only to be captured by his relentless mouth. His tongue slipped through her lips like he owned her. Dominating her, she gave in and let him. She sagged against his powerful chest and allowed him to support her. Their tongues slid along one another, him encouraging her with a deep throated moan.

This kiss was drenched with possessiveness, raw hunger, and intensity unlike anything she’d known existed.

“Touch me, luv,” he muttered before increasing their exchange again.

She sank her hands into the cool silken waves he called hair, it smoothed over her skin like water. Eyes closed she barely noticed when he lifted her with one hand to straddle his lower body. All she knew was he felt delicious between her spread legs. In and out his thick tongue plunged making her squirm as longing filled her. A longing for something more, to find some sort of completion.

His touch skimmed her breast and the tip hardened to a point, craving more of his scandalous caress. She whimpered and rubbed against him which in turn created a rumble from his chest. She rocked again. And again. Only when she felt his touch at her waist did she wrench her eyes open and end the kiss.

Dragging her mouth from his, she stared at him while her heart pounded out of control. He stared at her, his nose flaring with every deep breath he ingested. Colin moved his eyes from her face down to the blatant tell of her arousal. Her breasts remained pebbled and the blouse she wore couldn’t hide that fact. His gaze was wild when he returned it to hers.

Before he could say a word, she slithered off his lap and put a bit of distance between them. “I believe that seals the deal then, Mr. Faulkner.”

Eyes narrowing he growled, “Colin, damn it. Call me Colin.”

“Colin.”

He pushed up from the bed and stalked toward her. She refused to show fear or cower so she lifted her chin and held his gaze the entire way. Not that she feared he would physically harm her, more like she feared her own reaction to this man who made her think of nothing but nakedness, sex and lots of it.

“You want me to leave?” Honey dripped off his words enticing her to take a taste. Just one more. What harm could it do?

“It is not a matter of what I want or not. Your part of the deal was for a kiss. You got that.” For the life of her she wanted him to stay. Longed for him to lift her in strong arms and carry her to the bed. Undress her and…

He continued to approach until there was no space between them. “I will leave for now, Najja, for we both know what is about to happen if I stay. But we have a lot to figure out between us. I want that intimate kiss, more than you could possibly know.” Colin lowered his head and brushed his lips along hers, tenderly. “Good night, luv.”

She found herself alone and with shaking legs, sank to the thick blue and brown rug and dropped her head into quavering hands. By the gods, what had she done? This was not the way for her to act. She was here to do a job, nothing more.

At least
the deal is sealed and I know Jo will be in good hands when I leave.
Still trembling, she got to her feet and made her way to the bed where Colin Faulkner had shattered the bubble she’d erected around her heart and crawled in. His scent still present and she didn’t wish to acknowledge that it made her feel all the more comfortable having it in her nose as she drifted off to sleep.

She woke early unsure if she truly felt rested or not. Seated on her trunk at the end of her bed she barely looked up from where she strapped on her sais when the door opened and Jo stuck her head in.

“Morning, Najja.”

“Morning, Jo. I am almost ready.”

She didn’t try to hide the weapons, Jo knew she carried them with her all the time. As well as her other weapons. Tying the final rawhide strip, she glanced up to see her friend watching her with a mischievous sparkle in her brilliant blue eyes. Immediately she became suspicious.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

Narrowing her gaze, she slid the sai home and placed her booted feet upon the floor. “Since when do you lie to me?”

“When do you lie to me?” Najja frowned confused by Jo’s question. “I have done no such thing.”

Jo crossed her arms drawing the purple muslin tighter. “Then tell me,” she demanded with annoyingly smug satisfaction, “why I saw Colin sneak out of your room last night, looking all kinds of satisfied.”

Drat.

Colin woke up with his shaft as hard if not harder than it had been when he had finally made it into bed. He couldn’t get the memory of his kiss with Najja out of his mind. She’d tasted even better than he imagined she would. Her lips were soft and pliant beneath his and her response…

He groaned in defeat, wrapping his hand around his engorged length. The intoxicating aroma that covered her skin. The fire in her response to him. Hell, he’d never been so close to responding to raw lust as he had at that very moment with Najja. How he’d managed to walk away and leave her alone there…well, it was anyone’s guess because he sure as hell didn’t know how it had been accomplished.

Even now, alone in his huge bed, fingers tight around his cock, all he could call forth was Najja’s image. Pumping his fist up and down, he expelled an earthy lament and increased the speed of his strokes. To him it was Najja who gripped him so firmly. Najja whose hair trailed along his skin. Enticing him. Tantalizing him. Arousing him to the point of…

It rose from the soles of his feet to engulf him in a wave of mind numbing pleasure. He shuddered from the force of his release and melted back against the mattress, limbs weak and shaking, body dotted with beads of sweat. Still, he craved the real woman, not his mental image of her.

“Good morning, sir.”

His gaze jerked to the open door and glared at his valet. How long had the man been there? Had he seen him…

“What Berry?” he snapped embarrassed. “How long have you been there?”

Blue eyes barely blinked. “Just arrived. Did you ring for me?”

It amazed him how easily Berry had gone from being a medic in the Navy to his valet. There were times things were as they had been but there were times, like now, when he would have never known this man had done anything other than be a valet. His face had no expression on it.

Sitting up, he ignored the sheet which pooled around his waist as well as the chill the fire couldn’t quite banish. He got up and dressed in haste before moving to the windows and staring out. Frost sprinkled elegant spider webs all along the massive panes of glass. The wind whipped up whorls of fallen leaves and bent some smaller trees with its force. Damn it looked cold.

Soon he had made his way down the stairs oddly excited to find himself in Najja’s presence once again. He’d prefer to be alone with her but that would come later.
I will see to it.
He fought back the grin that threatened at the sound of Jo’s voice. For where there was Jo…there was Najja.