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Scoffing, Rukia glared at him with unvarnished ire. “Now you’ve run her off.”
“Happy to be of service.”
Meeting her eyes, he marveled at the beauty of her face, and the golden undertones of her olive skin. The keen intelligence behind her almond shaped eyes was cutting, and he found himself eager for their banter.
“Do you lack basic intelligence, Isaiah?” Rukia’s rhetorical question, spoken with a coy smile, promised a forthcoming answer in the seconds that followed. “Or are you blissfully unaware of your abrasive nature?”
Isaiah held her gaze. “Oh, I’m well aware, Elemental. It’s a calculated move on my part. Wouldn’t want anyone to think I cared.”
Rukia’s smirk broadened into a wicked smile. “Scared?”
Instead of reacting to the mischievous taunt, Isaiah merely inclined his head. “Dance with me, Rukia.”
Judging by the surprise that startled through her features, he’d caught her off guard.Again.How sweet his smugness.
Inhaling abruptly, her eyebrows pinched together in earnest before she cocked her head sarcastically. “Why would I dance with you? I have no interest in debasing myself.”
“Scared?” Haughtiness crept into his voice and he made no attempt to hide it.
Rukia squared her shoulders and looked at him expectantly. “Scared to dance with you? Try me, sparky.”
“I’ll take that as a yes.”
Before she had time to refuse, he’d placed his hand on the small of her back and gently ushered her toward the dance floor. To his surprise, Rukia put up no resistance when he encircled her with his arms. The supple curves of her body pressed into the hard panes of his, the electric touch of her skin searing him on a cellular level.
Rukia’s delicate hand coiled around his as he guided her small waist in a gentle sway. Every facet of her feminine body held him in her thrall, her enticing lips pouting ever so slightly as her chin lifted so she could meet his gaze with unflinching mettle.
Had he been a man of lesser restraint, he’d have abruptly given in to the urge of capturing her lips. But he wasn’t, and Rukia was no damsel in distress to be swept off her feet.
Cynicism punctuated every cell of her body; antagonism bled from every pore. One ebony eyebrow was raised as she held his gaze, daring him to make a single wrong move.
The subtle provocation only made him want her more.
“The last time you swept me onto the dance floor, Isaiah, sovereign of the Sylth,” Rukia baited, “I found you with your arms wrapped around another woman less than five minutes later.”
Chuckling in good nature, Isaiah softened. “My senior healer, Jaeda.”
Recoiling, Rukia snarled, “You use your position as sovereign to fill your bed?”
Isaiah lost all hint of joviality. “Jaeda and I have never been intimate, Rukia, and the fact that you’d believe I’d use my authority to coax her is beneath you.”
The Elemental was silent for a beat, her expression tightening into genuine remorse before she spoke. “Can you blame me? One of the very first things you said to me was that you’d like to bed me.”
It was the truth. Isaiah had taken a liking to the fierce woman the moment he’d met her, been infatuated with her honest and proud spirit. The fact that he’d uttered the words aloud shouldn’t have surprised her.
“Should I have lied?”
Mouth opening in response, Rukia didn’t get a chance to reply. Gideon and his wife, Rona, appeared beside them in the next instant, a dangerously foreboding look on the monarch’s features as the couple sashayed beside them.
“Rukia?”
After a moment, she managed to tear her eyes away from his to look at the other man. “I’m fine, Gideon. He’s behaving himself.”
Barely concealing the urge to roll his eyes, Isaiah merely continued to hold the enchantress in his arms. “Worried I’ll take advantage of her, Elemental?”
“Au contraire,” Gideon quipped. “Rukia can take care of herself.”
“Of that I have no doubt.” Isaiah clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth in a mocking rebuke as the other couple stepped away. “Calling in reinforcements in case you can’t handle me, Rukia?”
