But he had risen from the bed and crept up behind her. His arms encircled her, and he murmured, low and close to her ear, “I’m very, very clever.”
She let out a nervous laugh. “Or part cat.”
She felt him smile. “That, too,” he murmured. And then, after a pause: “I missed you.”
“I—” She wanted to say that she’d missed him, too, but he was too close, and she was too warm, and her voice escaped her.
He leaned down, his lips finding the soft spot just below her ear. He touched her, so softly she wasn’t even sure it was a kiss, then murmured, “Did you enjoy yourself this evening?”
“Yes. No. I was too…” She swallowed, unable to withstand the touch of his lips without making a reaction. “…anxious.”
He took her hands, kissing each in turn. “Anxious? Whyever?”
“The jewels,” she reminded him. Good heavens, did every woman have this much trouble breathing when standing so close to a handsome man?
“Ah, yes.” His hand found her waist, and she felt herself being pulled toward him. “The jewels.”
“Don’t you want—”
“Oh, I do,” he murmured, holding her scandalously close. “I want. Very much.”
“Gareth,” she gasped. His hands were on her bottom, and his lips on her neck.
And she wasn’t sure how much longer she could remain standing.
He did things to her. He made her feel things she didn’t recognize. He made her gasp and moan, and all she knew was that she wanted more.
“I think about you every night,” he whispered against her skin.
“You do?”
“Mmm-hmm.” His voice, almost a purr, rumbled against her throat. “I lie in bed, wishing you were there beside me.”
It took every ounce of her strength just to breathe. And yet some little part of her, some wicked and very wanton corner of her soul, made her say, “What do you think about?”
He chuckled, clearly pleased with her question. “I think about doing this,” he murmured, and his hand, already cupping her bottom, tightened until she was pressed against the evidence of his desire.
&n
bsp; She made a noise. It might have been his name.
“And I think a lot about doing this,” he said, his expert fingers flicking open one of the buttons on the back of her gown.
Hyacinth gulped. Then she gulped again when she realized he’d undone three more in the time it took her to draw one breath.
“But most of all,” he said, his voice low and smooth. “I think about doing this.”
He swept her into his arms, her skirt swirling around her legs even as the bodice of her dress slid down, resting precariously at the top of her breasts. She clutched at his shoulders, her fingers barely making a dent in his muscles, and she wanted to say something—anything that might make her seem more sophisticated than she actually was, but all she managed was a startled little, “Oh!” as she became weightless, seemingly floating through the air until he laid her down on her bed.
He lay down next to her, perched on his side, one hand idly stroking the bare skin covering her breastbone. “So pretty,” he murmured. “So soft.”
“What are you doing?” she whispered.
He smiled. Slowly, like a cat. “To you?”
She nodded.
“That depends,” he said, leaning down and letting his tongue tease where his fingers had just been. “How does it make you feel?”