She gazed up at him, disbelieving his answer. “How do you know?”
“Experience. Masculine intuition. The most obvious sign is your aversion to being touched.”
He raised a finger to her cheek to stroke gently. “Ah, progress. You didn’t flinch from me this time. It leads me to hope that someday I’ll hear you whispering words of sweet surrender.” His expression was warm, gentle, as his thumb traced her lower lip. “I warn you, nothing short of your complete surrender will do.”
His thumb dipped to brush the inner corner of her mouth in a blatantly sexual gesture. Vanessa’s breath caught in her throat, while a spark of fresh anger kindled inside her. For weeks now Damien had played his nerve-shredding game of cat and mouse with her, and it had reached the point of cruelty.
“If you brought me here to seduce me,” she muttered, regarding him with a baleful glare, “I wish you would hurry up and be done with it.”
He went still. “I brought you here to show you the bath,” he replied levelly. “If I intended to seduce you-” He bent his head. “-I would move closer… like this.”
His warm breath touched her cheek. Vanessa froze, waiting for the warm brush of his lips. Yet he didn’t attempt to kiss her. Instead he drew a ringer along the delicate line of her collarbone. “You really are utterly enchanting, you know.”
The heat in his voice passed through her skin, making Vanessa shiver with a keen awareness. Damien Sinclair was a dangerous devil who possessed the power to bewitch her.
His hand wandered with tantalizing slowness, leaving a fiery trail after its passing, driving her anger away. Vanessa shut her eyes, fighting the relentless urges he stirred in her, wondering how she could resist this man whose raw virility gave him sensual power over any woman he wanted.
A moment later she felt him move. To her surprise he had slipped easily from the ledge into the pool. The level was not deep, reaching just above the knees, but the water swirled around his thighs, calling attention to the swelling at the groin of his breeches. He was boldly, unmistakably aroused, Vanessa realized.
When he noted the direction of her gaze, his mouth curved wryly. “As you see, your attractions fascinate me.”
Disconcerted by his boldness, she glanced away, but he would have none of her modesty. With a languid finger beneath her chin, he made her lift her gaze.
She went still, riveted by his tender expression. His scrutiny brushed over her with an intimacy as physical as a stolen kiss.
“Will you not trust me, angel?”
She wet her lips, staring at him. She was certain he could see the thickly beating pulse in her throat.
“Let me kiss you. I promise I will stop whenever you wish.”
Mutely, Vanessa gazed up at him, desperately trying to ignore the temptation of his beautiful mouth, yet it was impossible. She wanted his kiss, his touch. It was foll
y to think she could escape his spell.
His hand was moving on her throat. His slow finger strokes vibrated through her, thrumming softly at her senses. She felt her resistance weaken at the enticing wickedness of his expert caress. Yet it was his gaze that held her captive. Behind the soft seduction of those warm eyes was a promise of gentleness, of passion beyond anything she could imagine.
“Sweet siren, let me…”
His dark lashes lowered. His head was bending, his beautiful mouth descending toward hers.
She sighed at the first taste of his mouth. His lips were warm and vibrant and oh so magical.
The last of her resistance fled as his palms framed her face. His tongue slid delicately into her mouth, meeting hers. At the hot sensation he aroused, she softened against him helplessly.
Responsively he deepened his kiss, smothering her with intimate tenderness and sensuality, drinking her in. It was a long, long moment before the kiss ended… but then it was only to move his lips hotly across her cheek to her ear. “You taste so sweet… like a rare wine.”
His deep, velvet voice reached out to touch her, feeding the wild recklessness that was building inside her.
Vanessa swallowed in an effort to slow her jagged breathing, yet there was a heavy ache between her thighs, a melting, heated yearning deep inside her that she was powerless to deny.
He must have known the effect he had on her, for he drew back slightly. “Surrender feels right, doesn’t it?” he whispered.
Yes, she wanted to say, but the words remained trapped in her throat.
He moved closer, bringing his body inch by inch against hers. His eyes held hers, hot and silvered, as he eased her legs open with his knee. Her breath shallowed. To her shock, Damien drew her into the water slowly, so that she rode his granite-hard thigh.
Her body remained taut and tense as his strong arm encircled her waist, pulling her in to the heat of him. Beneath her skirts, she could feel his rigid flesh pressing against her softness.