“What do you think?” He refused to let her make him feel guilty. She was his wife, and tonight he meant to have her. “I’m going to take a bath, Natalia. When I’m finished, I expect you to be waiting for me.”
Then he pushed away from the table and stomped out of the room.
* * *
Natalia sat on the edge of the immense featherbed in the green bedchamber, running a brush through her loosened hair. Her nerves were frayed to the breaking point, and she hoped this familiar routine would calm her.
It wasn’t working.
Every small sound made her jump, and she clutched the edges of her thick flannel nightgown more tightly around her throat. She’d worn the ugly prudish garment in an attempt to cool Dylan’s passion, but she knew her efforts would prove futile…
Perhaps shehopedthey would prove futile.
The conversation she’d had with Clarice filled her mind. But the things her stepmother had told her seemed so strange. She still wasn’t sure how the whole thing could even be possible.
After a brief knock, Dylan slipped inside her room and locked the door behind him. She froze, the brush still tangled in her hair, her heartbeat accelerating at the sight of him.
Fresh from a bath, with his dark hair slicked back from his face, he wore nothing but a midnight blue robe. Belted at his lean waist, the heavy satin gapped to reveal a thin slice of his chest. She stared, mesmerized by all his silky golden skin. Realizing what she was doing, she looked away, jerking the brush free and taking a few strands of hair with it.
“You should have waited for me to answer the door.” She tried to make her voice cold and haughty, instead of weak and needy. “It was very rude to enter without permission.”
He shook his head, refusing to be baited. His intense gaze never left hers as he strode toward her. “God, Natalia. You’re so beautiful. I’ve dreamed of seeing you like this, with your hair all loose around your shoulders.”
“Don’t do that.” Natalia felt breathless and uncertain, seduced in spite of herself. Was he lying or telling the truth? She didn’t know. Didn’t want to know.
“Do what? Compliment you?” He came closer, until he stood directly in front of her. So close his thighs brushed her knees. “You’re determined to make this as difficult as possible, aren’t you?”
“Why should I make it easy?” She tried to move back, but he leaned forward and trapped her with the seductive heat of his body. She inhaled deeply—a mistake, because he smelled wonderful. Clean, with the barest hint of sandalwood and something that went even deeper, something that was pure Dylan.
“Well, if you meant to make it hard, you’ve succeeded.” He laughed, a deep rich sound.
Her gaze flew to his, reading his silky amusement, yet unsure what she’d done to cause it. “What are you talking about?”
“Let me show you.” Holding her gaze, he lifted his hands to the belt of his robe.
She made a sharp shocked sound but couldn’t find the words to tell him to stop. After all, this was what she’d been waiting for, wasn’t it?
He hesitated, his gaze locked with hers. When she said nothing, he smiled and continued. As much as she feared falling under his spell, she couldn’t resist following the path of his large elegant hands. She watched as he untied the belt and the heavy material fell away. The fabric slid from his broad shoulders and pooled with a silky swish on the floor at his feet.
Then he stood before her. Naked. Proud. Aroused.
She stared, overwhelmed by his masculine beauty. His shoulders were immense, much broader than any gentleman’s should be. Fascinated, she let her gaze drift over the sculptured swells of his chest, and then drop to the muscled ridges of his flat stomach. He was lean in the hips—she skipped over what came next, not daring to let her gaze linger—and his legs were long, powerfully built.
Unable to resist, she glanced back up, focusing on the part of him that thrust from a thick nest of dark hair.Hard. Now she understood. Her limited knowledge of what transpired between a man and woman turned upside down.
“It will never work,” she whispered with complete certainty.
He chuckled. “Oh, love. It will work. I promise.”
Before she could protest any further, he reached for her hand. Holding her gaze with ferocious intent, he closed her fingers around his thick shaft.
They both gasped at the intimate contact.
She’d never thought it would feel like this, so incredibly hot and hard. It was also silky soft, vulnerable in some way. “You go too far.”
“No, Natalia.” He squeezed her hand more tightly. “I haven’t gone nearly far enough.”
She tried to pull away but only succeeded in stroking his thick length from base to tip. This seemed to inflame him even more. She could feel his pulse, thundering beneath her hand.
