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Then, suddenly, his mouth was torn from mine. Panting, and blinking into the suddenly empty darkness above me, I was, for a moment, unable to move or even think.
‘Why?’ Rolling around, I saw Mr Ambrose at the utmost end of the bed, crouching like a predator, ready to spring. But…away from me, or towards me?
‘Why? You really have to ask me that?’ His eyes were in shadow, but I could see them glitter, see them burn. Fire and ice mixed together, each as deadly as the other. ‘After what you just did? God! If you touch me one more time, I won’t be able to stop myself!’
Slowly rising on my hands and feet, I scooted towards him. ‘Who says you have to stop?’
That muscle in his jaw was beating a staccato rhythm. He was close to the edge. ‘I do!’
I was almost there. Almost with him. ‘Why? It’s not as if we haven’t done much more than this before.’
Suddenly, the cold mask of his face cracked, and through the gap, I could see the naked truth underneath. ‘Yes! Yes, we have. But…’
But.
I knew exactly which ‘but’ he meant.
But that had been on another continent, a world away from England, with its rules, regulations and gossiping mouths. But that had been in wild exotic places, so far away, so very unreal.
This, on the other hand, was very real. As real as it could get. We were in the middle of civilisation, in a palatial mansion, surrounded by people who knew our names. We were in his parents’ home, for heaven’s sake! If we did this, was there a way back for us?
I didn’t think so.
So there was only one thing to do.
I lunged forward. Grabbing a fistful of the hair at the back of his head, I pulled him towards me and kissed him. Kissed him hard. Kissed him until there was no tomorrow.
And he?
He kissed me back with ten times the force, a hundred times the need! Kissed me as if he lived for me instead of money. It was a nice thought to have, no matter how unlikely. When we finally broke apart and lay there, staring into each other’s eyes, I didn’t know what to say. But he did.
‘My little ifrit…’
A grin spread across my face. ‘Have my flaming wings impressed you?’
Reaching out, he stroked my cheek with the tips of his fingers. ‘They have, nearly as much as the fire inside you.’
How could it be that here, in the cold and the dark, suddenly, poetry flowed from the lips of the master of silence?
Because he’s never been silent for you, Lilly.
My fingers tightened in his hair, and I moved towards him. ‘Well then…prepare to be burned!’
His eyes held mine with an iron grip. ‘So, you have plans for me, Mr Linton?’
I froze.
Mister Linton?
I had warned him about that.
You want to know whether I have plans for you? Well…right up until now, I had. But after what you just said, there’s been a little plan change.
Tightening my grip even more, I pulled his face down towards me. ‘I told you,’ I whispered, ‘Tonight, you are not allowed to call me that!’
‘Indeed?’
‘Oh yes, indeed, Sir.’ Closing the distance between us, I brushed my lips against his in the lightest, most terribly teasing of kisses. He groaned. ‘You know what? I think it’s time I gave you a little lesson.’
