His kiss wasn’t gentle this time, and she didn’t want it to be. She squirmed against his arousal, needing to be closer.There. The arm circling her waist clamped tighter, imprisoning her against him in the small, dark space where only the two of them existed.
Edgar kissed her, their tongues tangling. Rough hands stroking her cheek, her shoulder, covering her breast.
She melted into his hands, abandoning control.
Edgar. A name like the edge of a knife, like a scar across her heart.
She leaned back against the wooden walls, something pressed into the tender flesh of her back. Sharp little shards of necklace reminding her of the penitent’s shirt, the lash of guilt.
She’d been having thoughts wider than the confines of her life.
Wicked, ungrateful girl. Too proud. Too willful.
Claim his lips to banish the harsh voices, to become new and reborn.
The inside of the stage like a bird’s nest, and she the fledgling.
The feelings that beat their new wings in her heart were small, and could be easily crushed, like eggshells.
So powerful. The play of muscles beneath his shirt. His body so different from hers, towering and hard as granite.
A delicious burst of danger, calling her name.
Breathing harsh against her neck as he stilled for a moment. “Mari,” he said. “My goddess. What are we doing?”
“I summoned you here, Edgar,” she said, shakily.
“We can’t stay here.”
“I know. But my hair is caught in this collar.” And her heart had been captured as well.
She turned away from him, lifting as much of her hair off the back of her neck as possible. “Here.”
Tugging gently, he tried to extricate the necklace. It stung her scalp until her eyes watered but she couldn’t cry out.
“Blast,” he whispered.
“What’s the matter?”
“What is this thing made of, needles?”
“It’s made of thin gold shards and rubies and if you break off a piece, Lady India will kill you.”
“I’m well aware of that. But now one of the buttons on my coat sleeve is caught as well.”
“What if I—”
“Don’t twist like that!”
Now they were even more entangled.
“What if you shed your coat?” she asked.
Shed his coat. What a brilliant idea.
And while he was at it, why didn’t he just strip off her gown as well?
His shirt and trousers.