Page 39 of Beguiling the Baron

Chapter 25

Tia’s chest heaved with delicious wickedness after their run across the grass. She was now locked in Hal’s chamber.

Alone with him.

She took the robe he thrust at her and shrugged into it. It pressed her wet gown against her skin, chilling her. Pulling a face, she threw it off again and went behind his dressing screen.

He spun around. “Tia, what are you doing?”

“I’m going to change out of my horrid wet things before I put this on. Have you a towel I can use?”

“Tia, no. Put the dressing gown back on and go to your room. I command it.”

She pulled at the hooks on her dress. “You don’t command me, Hal. You can ask politely, like a gentleman. It’s high time someone corrected your manners.”

“If you undress in my chamber, my manners are your least concern. Don’t you know about desire?”

Yes, she knew all too well. She’d thought about it a great deal in his absence. And was interested to learn more. As much as she could, in fact.

Slipping out of her dress, she spread it over the screen, trying to smooth out the creases. “Am I to presume you desire me?” She gazed at him over the top of the wooden panels.

He paused, arms tangled in the shirt he was currently peeling off and scowled at her. “You should never ask a man that question—it could be construed as an invitation. It’s most improper for us to discuss such things.”

The shirt was defeated and cast onto a chair. When he reached for his spare dressing gown, she knew an enormous sense of disappointment. Ducking her head, she applied herself to her lacings and swiftly removed her stays, shift, and petticoat.

Oh, how good it was to be out of the cloying, damp stuff. But she was sticky with moisture, and goosebumps erupted across her skin. “The towel, Hal, if you please.”

She peeped above the screen again and saw with a quiver of anticipation that his soaked breeches had now joined his shirt. Clutching a robe around his body, he picked up a towel and padded barefoot across the rug toward her.

It was at that point she remembered he was actually a head taller than herself and would be able to look over the screen at her nakedness. She lurched forward and pressed herself against the painted wood, praying he’d throw the towel to her without coming any closer.

Her prayer went unheeded. He came to within an inch of the screen, until she was staring up at him. His eyes were so dark they were almost black, the seam between his lips a deep line of shadow. Still damp from its soaking, his hair had lost all its golden sheen, and clung in waves about his face, accentuating the strong, masculine lines. His expression was positively hungry. No, ravenous.

She quailed but refused to back off, knowing he could see nothing but the bare skin of her neck and shoulders from this position. Hopefully, her unbound hair shielded her.

The screen rocked as he pushed his body against it from the other side. Looking determined, he placed both hands on top, on a level with her face.

He was going to tear it down and expose her in her nakedness.

Tia’s breath hitched. She hadn’t meant to be quite so provocative. The fact the man had wept for his dead wife didn’t make him any less of a man. His virility was undiminished, his basic urges unaffected.

Keep looking at his eyes, Tia, keep looking at his eyes. Put on your most disapproving face, and he’ll back down.

The screen tipped, and she grabbed for the top, holding on for dear life.

Hal smiled. Not the heart-blistering, dazzling benediction she’d seen before, but a greedy, leonine grin. In a minute he would be licking his lips like an animal before a feast. She was achingly aware of his body on the other side of the thin woodwork, his heat penetrating the panels. A mere fraction of an inch separated her quaking body from his.

Her heart sped up. Why was he was no longer covered by his dressing gown? That could not have happened by accident.

Enslaved by his fevered gaze, she stood breathless as he pressed his fingers between her own. When his eyes released hers, his attention fastened on her mouth. She wet her lips and clasped his fingers tightly.

Finally, wonderfully, he kissed her. At first only her forehead, and her closed eyelids—hot, searing kisses that made her feel beautiful and desirable. She stood on tiptoe, tilting her face, her entire body throbbing with danger and excitement.

He found her mouth. The pressure of those firm, masculine lips made her ache with yearning. She whimpered and pressed her own against his, and he angled his head, allowing her to taste more of him.

His kiss hinted at sinful pleasures, and she was desperate to learn more. She pulled away to appreciate the masculine beauty of his mouth, then leaned in to run her tongue across the heated flesh, tracing the contours of his tantalizing lips. He compelled her, fascinated her, tempted her to explore what he had to offer.

Only, she needed him to show her what to do.

He eased his hands free and cupped her face, his lips bearing down on hers as if he meant to hurt her, but the pressure was raw pleasure, and she twined her arms around his neck to stop him moving away.

Her erect nipples now rasped against the roughness of the wood in an overwhelmingly erotic fashion, and she tried to imagine what it would be like to rub them against Hal’s hot, hard body. Suddenly she wanted the screen gone, wanted it to take fire from the heat of their bodies and burn to instant ash so they could be naked and unashamed in each other’s embrace.

She moaned softly as he dug his hands into her hair and increased the pressure of his kiss. When her lips parted again, his tongue drove in hard, and as her own tongue tangled with his, flames of desire leapt in her belly, stoked by the depth and intensity of his kiss.

This was heaven. More staggering than she could ever have imagined—and she’d imagined quite a lot where he was concerned. Death, loss, deprivation, misery—all these things were swept away in the passion of the moment. Nothing else existed but the two of them, a man and a woman lost in the joy of arousal, consumed by the pleasures of the flesh.

He kissed her again with a bold certainty that thrilled her. A moment later, as if by magic, the screen was gone, and she was pressed up against the entire firm, deliciously naked length of him.

Before she had time to appreciate the shockingly sinful sensation, he scooped her up in his arms and carried her through the connecting doorway into his bedchamber.