She held his challenging stare. “I do.”
“As a friend?” Another step. She felt as if she were being stalked by a panther, and her pulse pounded in wicked anticipation. She really shouldn’t be enjoying it this much.
She lifted her shoulder in a delicate shrug. “Don’t worry, there’s no danger of me reading too much into it. I understand it will mean nothing to you. You’ll just be doing me a favor.”
His final step brought him directly in front of her and she was forced to tilt her chin to look up at him. He was deliciously tall, at least six inches taller than Charles. How he thought she’d mistake them, even in the dark, was a mystery.
“Charles didn’t kiss you as a friend.” There was a bitter edge to his tone. “He kissed you as a man who wants to bed you.”
She gazed up at him defiantly. “Well then, perhaps you can pretend the same thing. Do you think you can?”
A muscle twitched in his jaw as he sent her a look that made her heart gallop wildly. She prayed he wasn’t going to deny her.
“I’ll give it my best,” he drawled.
Kitty stood stock still as he raised his hand and slid his fingers into her hair. Slowly, almost as if he were giving her a chance to change her mind, he closed the distance between them until they were nose to nose. His brows rose in a hint of challenge.
She didn’t move an inch.
His thumb skimmed over her cheek, then slid beneath her jaw, exerting the slightest pressure to angle her head to the perfect position. “Close your eyes.”
Kitty nearly laughed. He’d said the same thing in the tower, but she wasn’t going to question him this time. She simply let her lids flutter closed and suffered the teasing anticipation of his warm breath shimmering over her skin an instant before his lips met hers.
For one second the kiss was gentle; reverent, almost chaste.
And then James threw propriety to the wind and kissed her.
It wasn’t a smooth, controlled seduction. It was angry and passionate, deliciously uncontrolled. The blatantly carnal invitation of a man who wanted so much more than friendship. His tongue coaxed her lips apart then thrust inside to tangle with her own, and Kitty kissed him back with breathless enthusiasm. His lips clung to hers, shaping, teasing, claiming, and she closed her eyes, savoring every sensation, the familiarity of his strength and scent.
The dizzying pleasure of it made her knees go weak, but just as she was about to throw her arms around his neck and beg him to never stop, he pulled back.
James dropped his hands to her shoulders, but he didn’t release her. A lock of his hair had fallen over his brow and he looked slightly stunned, as if he couldn’t believe what they’d just done. Then his lips quirked up in that confident way that made her stomach do a flip.
Kitty’s heart was thundering against her ribs, her lips tingling with sensation, but she still had a confession to extract from him. She curled her fingers into a fist, pulled back her arm, and punched him hard on the shoulder.
Chapter Ten
“Hey!” James exclaimed. “What was that for?”
Kitty pinned him with an accusing glare. “You toad, James Cashell.”
He dared to look as if he were the injured party. “You asked me to kiss you, remember?”
“That’s not what I’m talking about, and you know it.”
He had the grace to look a little guilty. His eyes darted away.
“Charles Willingham does not kiss like that,” she said firmly.
He glanced back at her with a scowl. “Like what?”
“Like the man who kissed me in the tower.”
He stilled. Only the cheerful sound of birdsong and the distant crash of waves intruded on the sudden silence. He parted his lips to argue, but she wasn’t finished.
“Admit it. That was you last night, wasn’t it?” Her heart was pounding so hard she felt lightheaded.
The hands on her arms tightened, and his gaze burned into hers. And then he closed his eyes and dropped his head.
