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I realized then I was shivering slightly.
Liam untied his weapons from the horse and urged me inside, one hand at the small of my back. He knelt at the hearth of a stone fireplace that seemed large for the tiny cottage. Wrapped in my cloak still, I watched Liam work at lighting the fire on the cold hearth. Clearly no one had been here for some time. Another chill ran through me.
Liam cursed softly as the tiny flame he nursed went out yet again.
With a heartfelt wish, I lit the fire. Not difficult at all.
Liam started back in astonishment, then looked over his shoulder at me. “That’s the second time I forgot the company I’m keeping.”
“Liam—about those rules. You should know—”
He rose and walked up to me. Calloused fingers touched my cheek. “Whatever part you wish to give.” He ran his fingers over my hair, the way he might gentle a horse. “Shiny as a raven’s wing,” he whispered. “Trust me, Lady Sorceress.”
I nodded, unable to speak. His fingers tightened in my hair and his lips dove to claim mine. I tried to relax into it.
“Would my Lady Sorceress remove her cloak?” He raised his head, watching my face intently.
I unfastened the cloak and let it drop to the floor. His eyes darkened and he ran his hands down my bare arms.
“I hoped you’d be wearing this dress still, which clings to you like night itself.” He bent to rain kisses on my shoulders, then my throat when my head dropped back. His arms slid behind my back to support me and I gave myself up to them.
“A lot of poetic words for a soldier,” I remarked, losing the words in a gasp as his mouth brushed the upper curves of my breasts. I tried not to think of Rogue holding me like this. Of the profound thrill of his lips on my skin.
Stay in the moment.
“All warriors are poets, don’t you think?” He raised his head, caramel eyes serious. “We deal death—what is more profound than that? And this. This a warrior also knows—the other side of death’s coin.” He dropped his eyes to my bosom. Holding me arched back in his muscled left arm, he raised his right hand to lightly trace the curves, then looked into my eyes with a wicked gleam. “This is what I wanted to do in the feast tent, when I saw your nipples peaked for me.”
He slid one finger between my breasts and pulled the dress down abruptly so my breasts sprang free. I gasped and his grip tightened on me. He licked lavish strokes around my nipples, on the so-sensitive undersides of my breasts, then returned to the nipples to lip at them. I fell back in his arms, concentrating on enjoying this. I strangled a startled cry when he nipped one nipple, then drew it into his mouth hard and fast.
“You can call out,” he muttered. “There’s no one near enough to hear.”
I must have tensed at that because he looked at me, then set me on my feet. I struggled to pull my head together, strangely embarrassed to stand in front of him with my breasts bare, shining wet from his attentions.
“You still look for ambush here?” he asked, face grave.
I closed my eyes, then gave in and folded my hands over my bosom, hiding myself from his too-intent stare. He waited.
“Yes,” I finally said. “I’m not what you call a trusting soul.” Scarred, broken and bleeding was what I was. Funny how Rogue seemed to understand that about me, alternately bullying and coaxing me, not letting me think too much.
All mind-reading, most likely.
And why the hell was I thinking about goddamned Rogue?
Liam ran his hand down my hair, until the ends filtered through his fingertips.
“I want this.” I made my tone firm.Convincing yourself?whispered the sneaky voice. “Tonight I don’t want to be a sorceress. I just want to feel like an ordinary woman again.”
“I haven’t much experience in the ways of sorcery.” He brushed his fingers over my hands, then slowly guided them down to my sides. “But I know something about pleasuring women. Let me pleasure you, Lady Sorceress.” He knelt down so his head was level with my bosom and dipped his head to lay a kiss on each trembling pink nipple, like a hummingbird tasting flowers.
“Call me Jennifer.”
“Lady Jyn.” His voice slid around the kisses. “Let me undress you.”
I turned and held up my hair, explaining how to draw down the foreign zipper. His nibbling kisses slid down my spine as the black dress fell away from me. Liam turned me and gave me his hand to step out of the pool of my dress. Still kneeling, his head came to my chin, even in my heels. As he swept my nearly naked body then met my eyes with that wicked smile, the surge of desire from him hit me like a drug. I soaked it in, shaking off the uncomfortable memory of Marquise watching me with avid Christmas-ornament eyes.
“Will you leave the shoes on for me, for now? I’ve never seen anything like them, but they seem made for a naked woman, for sex.” His hands tugged in my hair, pulling my head back while he feasted on my rib cage, on my belly.
“Where I come from,” I told him, “some people call them come-fuck-me shoes.”
