Her gaze lifted to his. “Yes, why?”
“If you recall, I paid a small fortune for that dress,” he said, letting his gaze drift over the shimmering silk. “Which gives me certain privileges.”
Taking her hand, he pressed a kiss to the thin skin at her wrist. Need bolted through him when she jolted.
Threading his fingers through hers, he turned and headed down the marble steps toward the gardens.
To his surprise, she didn’t resist.
“Where are we going?” she asked breathlessly.
He didn’t reply, because he didn’t want an argument.
But he measured his steps and kept his grip firm as he weaved in and out of the other guests, then took one of the covered paths toward the dance floor in case she tried to bolt. The tiny lights embedded in the vines made it feel as if they were walking through a tunnel of starlight toward the low, pounding bass beat.
He quashed the romantic thought.
At last they reached the dance floor. He stepped onto the wooden boards and swung her into his arms. She grasped his shoulder to steady herself, allowing him to clasp her waist and tug her securely into his body.
Her soft curves yielded and the hunger that had been driving him since yesterday lunged. He moved easily to the music and she followed instinctively, for once allowing him to lead without an argument.
The pulsing beat in his abdomen became more insistent.
Damn, but he had always wanted to tame this woman. To hear that soft sob of need again which had come out of her mouth five years ago when he had lost himself in her kiss.
He knew he should fight the urge. She was Dario’s sister-in-law—he was supposed to be protecting her until he could return her to the bosom of her family. Protecting her from men exactly like him, who only had the ability to take, never to give.
But with her body moving sinuously against his—the strands of her hair touching her neck where he wanted to feast on her skin, her deep, emerald eyes wary but the pupils dilated with arousal, the fairy lights flickering off the shiny gloss on those far too kissable lips—he was losing the will to care about anything but the persistence ache in his crotch.
Her hips brushed tantalizingly against the thickening ridge in his pants. And he absorbed the kick of adrenaline when her brows shot up her forehead.
“Caine?” she gasped.
“Perhaps you should call me Jared, in the circumstances,” he murmured, amused despite himself by the shock on her face. “Don’t look so surprised,” he added. “You’re a beautiful woman, Katherine. And I’m not a monk.”
“I know,” she said. “I can feel the evidence.”
The bold statement, delivered with a refreshing lack of vanity or subterfuge, made a strange thing happen. He felt it bubbling inside his chest, like a volcano about to blow, and before he could contain it the laugh burst out of his mouth.
A smile split her face and suddenly her light, effervescent laugh was matching the deep chuckles reverberating through his chest, drawing the gazes of the other dancers.
The adrenaline surged.
When was the last time he had laughed at anything? Probably the last time he’d sparred with this woman. Back then she’d been volatile and reckless, reminding him far too much of himself at that age.
But tonight he couldn’t seem to resist the urge to play with her. To provoke her the way she’d once provoked him. And take the vulnerability out of her eyes.
As their laughter died, her tongue flicked out to add moisture to the glossy sheen on her lips and the arousal which had subsided for a few precious seconds shot straight back to his crotch.
He groaned. Turning her in his arms, he pressed his hands to her shoulders and whispered against the soft hairs nestled under her ear, “I think we better get off the dance floor before I’m unable to walk.”
“Okay,” she said, her voice barely audible above the grinding pulse of the music.
He spread his fingers to press his hand to the bare flesh exposed by the dress’s plunging back. His smile died as they made their way to the tables laden with a variety delicacies sweet enough to tempt even the most discerning palate.
“Are you hungry?” he asked.
She glanced at him and nodded. And somehow he knew neither of them was talking about food.