Seduction in Mind

'If you don't mind.'

'If I minded… Sam… you wouldn't be here right now.'

He opened his mouth to speak, thought better of it, and closed his mouth.

She chuckled, understanding the reason for his restraint. 'How gallant you can be.'

He tipped his head gently toward her. 'I have my moments.'

Her gaze traveled slowly down his well-formed body and settled on his obvious arousal. 'Because of your erection.'

'Do lady painters use that word?'

'This one does. And yours is very fine and the thought of feeling you inside me is tantalizing in the extreme.'

Her words added dimension to his rigid length, and he found it necessary to take a small breath before speaking. 'I'd suggest doing whatever it is you still wish to do quickly, or you're going to find yourself backed up against the wall and fucked standing up.'

It was her turn to require the sustaining breath before speaking, the image he evoked intensifying the throbbing between her legs. 'I'd prefer a bed the first time.'

The implications in the words first time sent a heated rush through his senses. 'Clothed or unclothed. You've about a minute to decide.'

She moved from the doorway. 'Unclothed,' she said, and walking to a tapestry screen set in the corner of the studio, she added as she disappeared behind it, 'Come and see me in a minute.'

He rapidly counted to twenty and, impatient, followed her. Walking around the screen depicting Leda and the Swan against a vivid scarlet background-an appropriate subject in his current ramming-speed frame of mind-he came to an abrupt stop. The screen hid the entrance to her bedroom, and from the size of the bed dominating the small room, he'd say the lady he was about to fuck knew what she was doing. It wasn't the bed of a tyro, nor of a lady for that matter, if he subscribed to the conventional meaning of the word. The bed would be more appropriate in a seraglio, its headboard and canopy ornately carved and elaborately gilded, the entire structure swathed in diaphanous tulle and even though those silken draperies were white, it wasn't a virgin's bed.

'People tend to have that reaction to my bed.'

'People?' A low, faint growl underscored the word.

'I have women friends too.'

'And what the hell does that mean?'

'What would you like it to mean?'

He exhaled slowly. 'You're enjoying yourself, aren't you?' She was partially undressed, standing to the left of the door, her gown at her feet, her chemise and drawers lace-trimmed silk and pristine white.

'You forget, I live outside the aristocratic world by choice.'

'Not always. Not this afternoon at the races.'

'Mostly I do,' she corrected herself. 'Because I wish to separate myself as much as possible from people who ask the kind of questions you just asked. And if I wish to have women friends who are more than friends, I will, as will I cultivate the kind of men friends I wish. I hope that's clear… Sam.'

'As a bell… Alex.'

'Then I'll meet you in bed.'

It wasn't as though he made love only to deferential women. The range of females in his life ran the gamut. And he was the least likely man to demand submission. But this splendid woman, this image of incarnate femaleness, was so blatantly challenging, he found himself responding to her with a kind of brutish authority, as though some contest of wills were about to commence.

'If you don't mind,' she said with a smile, taking note of the sudden rigidity of his stance.

'I'm trying to maintain my equilibrium, and don't say people always say that.'

'I wouldn't think of it.'

'Good.' Kicking off his shoes, he began unbuttoning his coat because he was going to fuck her regardless of the modicum of contention she provoked, regardless of the fact that she evoked so extraordinary a lust, he should be wary, or that he found it necessary to tamp down the violence she inspired.

A small, heated silence ensued as they undressed, both struggling with the tumult of their emotions, both driven by ungovernable desires, both unfamiliar with such loss of control.

And then Alex swore softly, unable to untangle a knot in the ribbon threaded through her chemise neckline.

Sam dropped his shirt on the floor. 'Let me do that.'

'Are you sure you want to?' She had her own provocations to deal with.

'I'm sure,' he insisted, crossing the short distance between them. 'And I don't want to fight.'

'At least not until after,' she replied crisply.

He was standing very close. 'We don't have to do this.'

His powerfully muscled chest, nude, inches away, only added to her discomposure. 'Speak for yourself. I wasn't out last night. Or the previous night for that matter.' She grimaced. 'Actually, it's been a fortnight now that I think about it, which accounts for-'

'Then it's not my chivalry.' He smiled.

Her gaze dropped to the rampant bulge in his trousers. 'Not unless that goes with chivalry.'

'It does.'

She found herself smiling back. 'Definitely chivalry, then. And I'm feeling as though I might attack you soon, when I've been trying to restrain myself since-'

'Yesterday.'

'Yes. Satisfied? Since the moment I saw you at Leighton's.'

'I thought so.'

'You needn't sound so smug.'

'I'm not smug, just pleased.'

'Then you may please me now as well.'

'Now? Here?'

She shot him a stern look. 'I'm not giving up my bed. Untie this knot.'

'Is that an order?'

'It is.'

He grunted softly, an almost inaudible sound.

'You don't take orders.'

'No.'

'You feel your authority is at risk?'

'Strangely, yes.'

'We're just going to make love, not meet on the field of battle.'

His mouth quirked faintly. 'With you, I'm not sure.'

She offered him a sportive look. 'Should I be concerned?'

'You are all alone,' he noted teasingly.

'And you are'-she reached out and ran her palm down his erection-'very large…'

He drew in a constrained breath. 'You probably shouldn't do that if you want to get to your bed-'

'Do this?' She drew her fingertips up the length of his engorged penis, the soft wool of his trousers warm to her touch.

'Be careful, darling. At this point I can't guarantee politesse.'

'If I were looking for politesse, I wouldn't have invited you in.'

'That's it,' he said, scooping her up into his arms.

'And if you feel the need to give any more orders,' he added, striding toward the bed, 'you're going to have to do it lying on your back.'

'Hurry,' she whispered, twining her arms around his broad shoulders.

He quickly looked down.

'That wasn't an order,' she breathed, her eyes half closed. 'Just-please…'