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But he ignored her, as did Serena, who wanted to know, "Tell me, Dante, why did you pay me so well?" Dante matched her manic grin. "Because I had never felt so good inside a woman in my entire life." "Stop! Stop! Stop!" Marissa held her hands up. "I do not want to hear another word. I am already forgetting all that has been said. I trust you two will sort this out in a dignified manner." Picking up her skirts, she headed for the door. 139 Dante's Inferno by Evie Byrne Before she was even out of it, Dante began to undress. He enjoyed seeing Serena's eyes go wide. She began to talk fast. He let her talk all she wanted. "If I were to marry you, do you know what would happen? I would have to nag you to go to church." He pulled his shirt over his head. "And you," she continued, clearing her throat, "you would have to scold me about the price of sugar and for letting the servants cheat us." He stripped off his stockings. "Instead of doing what we want to do, we would have to spend our time among boring people nearly every night and we couldn't even sit together." His breeches hit the floor. "What is it you would rather be doing with me?" Dante purred. Her eyes moved over his body frankly and at his question, the curling smile appeared. For the first time, he saw how the smile was matched by a suggestive lowering of her eyelids. He sighed in despair. That smile had been dangerous enough on its own. "You are a strange one, Dante Valaresso," she murmured, sweeping her eyes downward. "Is this how you always conduct your quarrels?" Dante was not quarreling, he was negotiating. He knew his strengths and her weaknesses and how much he would sacrifice to get what he wanted. For that reason, he would win. She would marry him. "Only my quarrels with you, Widow Alberenghi," he answered, raking her up and down 140 Dante's Inferno by Evie Byrne with his own hungry eyes. The sun passed through her light nightdress, illuminating the curve of her waist, the parting of her thighs. His palms itched to be on her. "I trust you are well enough?" In answer, she peeled off her nightdress. She did not say she was too angry to make love with him or insist that they settle this marriage question first. For all her disguises, she was too honest a creature for that. That was one of many things he had realized since the fire. She always told the truth with her body. In the fresh morning light, she glowed like an angel. Laying down on the bed, she reached her arms out to him. For a moment, he imagined what this morning would be like if she had not lived through the night. The pain of it almost made him sob. Swallowing that fear, Dante lowered himself over her, shaking with anticipation. An answering tremor passed through her body. Before he kissed her, he breathed deep, taking in her scent, noting how she smelled like Marissa's soap behind her ear. Lower, between her breasts, she did not smell of soap she smelled of Serena. Just Serena, not even linseed oil. Her scent was part of him now. He imagined he could track her through the city by scent alone, like an animal. Under him, she hardly breathed. She waited. Very slowly, very deliberately, he brought his mouth to her throat. First, he tasted her skin, then he teased her with his teeth, and finally he sucked, knowing it would mark her, wanting to mark her as his. Her fingers tightened in his hair, her throat vibrated with a low moan. 141 Dante's Inferno by Evie Byrne When he released her throat and moved his kisses down her breast, she gasped, "Dante, I want to run wild with you. How can I do that as your proper little wife?" He growled and redoubled his efforts to make her see sense. She continued more haltingly, "I want to make secret rendezvous with you ... maybe under a bridge ... or, ah ... back at Luigi's ... and ... oh! ... what of your revenge?" Dante rolled so they lay on their sides, face to face, and hooked her leg over his hip. Lost in admiration of the smooth curve of her hip and bottom, he asked, "What revenge is that, my dear?" "For tying you up," she said, breathless. "You promised to do all those things to me. Surely you could not do them in the sacred bed of marriage?" Stunned, not to mention wildly aroused, Dante fought to keep his mouth from dropping open. Only a few thoughts traversed his addled brain, all of which were variants on a simple command to keep this woman close at any cost. He coughed, and just to be sure he understood her, asked, "You really want me to take you like that?" "I thought of it constantly," she admitted, touching his lips, offering him her fingertips to suck. "That is, until I hated you. Then I only dreamed of it at night when I could not help myself." "Dear God, Serena," he groaned, "what you do to me." After that, there were no more words. As gently as he knew how, Dante made love to her. They remained on their sides, facing one another. He tucked her hair behind her ear so that he could watch every changing expression on her 142 Dante's Inferno by Evie Byrne face. This was something he had looked forward to for so long. He drew his fingers along her cheek, down her graceful neck, caressed her white shoulder. All the while she watched him with solemn blue eyes, watched him as closely as he watched her. When he cupped her breast, taking its weight, her eyes fluttered closed. He circled around the nipple with his thumb until it grew hard. Her lips parted and she opened her eyes to slits to watch him again. In his hand, her breast rose and fell with her quickening breaths. "Serena." He dragged out the syllables because he enjoyed saying it so much. She hooked her hand around the back of his head and drew him in for a kiss, her mouth opening under his, drawing him deep. As they kissed, his hand slid around her hip to her back. Hand spread wide, he charted her supple spine, bending toward him even now, and brought his hand down over her flaring hips, the roundness of her bottom and along the satin back of her thigh, so happily hooked over his hip. It took only the slightest movement for him to slide in on her welcoming wetness. The act was so familiar, so right, it felt as if he had been doing it for a lifetime. When he first entered her, she bit her lip, but as he slid home, the smile appeared and a perfectly devilish light gleamed from beneath her lidded eyes. She circled her thumb around his ear as she had in the gondola. He did not know why she liked his ears so much, but he was so glad she did. Like sin incarnate, she began to undulate against him, squeezing him from the inside. "Easy, let me do the work." 143 Dante's Inferno by Evie Byrne Worried that she was not rested enough, he wanted her to stay quiet. Or, he corrected himself with a twitch of his lips, as quiet as possible. He held her close, distracting her with deep kisses, grinding slowly against her just enough to make her crazy. When she began to moan into his mouth, he reached down between her legs to tease her even more. "Oh," she whispered. "I want that to go on forever." "It can, if you like," he said, changing his touch. Their slow joining did not go on forever, but the sun drifted across the bed, telling Dante that time was passing. Otherwise he would not be able to tell. There was nothing but slow rocking, satin kisses, soft moans. Serena. In the end, she was on her back, remarkably quiet, her arms spread wide in complete surrender. Greedy, he watched every moment of her transformation. The creasing of her brow, her reddened mouth open in silent agony, the flush that rose to stain her face and breast. Slowly, magnificently, she arched up beneath him like a drawn bow. Her sea-blue eyes flew wide. For a moment they bore into his, and then they turned inward, going blind. Gooseflesh sped down his back when she called out his [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] |
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