“You asked three questions, Mr Sloane.”
“All requiring one answer, Miss Hart.” He could not take her to bed without having her consent. “Unless you wish to pay a forfeit and do what I command.”
Her tongue appeared, licking the corner of her mouth, driving him wild. “What would you have me do?”
Lascivious visions burst into his mind. He’d have her on her knees sucking him to completion. He’d have her spread out before him like a feast while he gorged on every morsel. But those were pleasures reserved for a woman comfortable with intimacy. He would have to begin slowly. Arouse her to the point she was no longer abashed.
“I sent Randall to bed. I want you to play valet and undress me, Vivienne.” He’d removed his coat and belt. There wasn’t much for her to do.
Her eyes widened as she glanced at his shirt, a flimsy barrier to his nakedness. “I can be rather clumsy, not at all seductive, and am likely to remove your clothes as if you’re an obstinate hospital patient.”
Evan couldn’t help but smile. “Let me make it easier.”
He strode to the bedchamber door, turned the key in the lock, sat on the cushioned stool by the dressing table and yanked off his cavalier boots and stockings.
“Undress me in the way that pleases you,” he said, coming to stand before her. “If you wish to wrestle the shirt from my back, so be it.”
She studied him as if he were a complex puzzle.
“Don’t be shy. You’re the woman who stormed into my home, pulled a contract from your thigh belt and told me I was obliged to marry you.”
She laughed, and her shoulders relaxed. “I doubt I’ll ever forget the look of horror on your face.”
“And now I wear a different look, one I see reflected in your eyes, a longing to join our bodies and bask in pleasure.” He paused. “If this isn’t what you want, we don’t—”
“No. No, it is what I want.”
Relief coursed through him. “Then strip me naked, Vivienne.”
She found a burst of courage from somewhere. Those delicate fingers he hoped would squeeze his buttocks as he thrust long and deep, settled on his hips and tugged the shirt from his breeches.
He bent his knees and raised his arms while she drew the garment over his head and dropped it onto the bed.
The muscles in her throat worked tirelessly as she stared at his toned physique. “Most men who indulge their desires, who live life to excess, have a paunch.”
“Daventry insists we box and fence weekly. Courage alone is not enough to tackle the villains in the rookeries.”
She reached out, smoothing her hands over the broad expanse of his chest, tickling the dusting of hair, trailing her fingers down over the rigid planes of his abdomen.
Evan sucked in a sharp breath. He’d been caressed and fondled many times, never like this, never with hands that explored every contour with utter fascination.
Innocence proved arousing.
His cock throbbed with approval.
“Be warned. When you slip off my breeches, my erection will spring free.” He heard her nerves in every prolonged breath. “I’m already desperate for you, and you’re still fully clothed. How does it feel to have a pirate at your mercy?”
“Exhilarating.”
“Then free me from my constraints.”
With brows knitted together in concentration, she undid the buttons on the waistband. Taking a deep breath, she drew the garment gently down over his hips, down to his ankles. The stealing glance at his erect manhood left her wide-eyed, impressed more than fearful.
“Do you like what you see, Vivienne?” He was stark naked and aroused beyond belief.
She gulped. “I find it all rather curious.”
“Curious?” That was certainly a unique way of describing a man’s solid shaft.