Dageus left when Chloe got in the shower. It was either leave, or join her, and she was not yet ready to permit what he needed. Wiser not to imagine stepping into the shower behind her, taking her slippery, wet body in his arms, getting his hands on those magnificent bare breasts. He'd have her in Scotland anon, and there in his beloved land, he would claim her completely.
She would have let him kiss her, he'd seen it in the dilation of her eyes, in the softening of that lush petal-soft mouth.
But there was much to do before they left, and a skilled lover knew there were times when heightening a woman's anticipation was far more seductive than satisfying it. So, with a provocative bit of aloofness, he'd resisted the kisses he might have claimed and shown her instead what she was denying herself. What she could have if she but said the word. All of him, his insatiable desire, his need, his stamina, his determination to pleasure her as no other man could. Slave to her every carnal wish. He knew she'd seen the heavy weight of his testicles betwixt his legs and the thick head of his shaft below them as he'd taken the last step.
Best she get acquainted with his body now, in slow degrees.
He smiled, as the cab came to a dead stop in bumper-to-bumper traffic, recalling her soft, shocked little gasp. The knowledge that she had never been touched by another man inflamed him. He swallowed, his mouth dry with anticipation.
She'd given him a list of things she needed, and had told him her passport was in her jewelry box. She'd said aye. She'd agreed to come with him. He'd not liked the thought of having to coerce her.
He may not have yet seduced her into his bed, but he'd succeeded in seducing her into his life in countless other ways, each an invisible, silken knot, binding her to him as he lured her deeper into his world.
He was obsessed with her, as he'd never been with any other woman. He wanted to tell her more of his story. He'd been testing the waters last eve, feeling her out, trying to determine how much she might be able to take. He'd never once considered telling a woman aught about himself—particularly not one he hadn't yet bedded—but the possibility of a woman such as Chloe knowing what he was and choosing to be his woman anyway made the blood burn like fire in his veins. A part of him wanted to cram his reality down her throat, forcing her to accept him, with no excuses offered. A wiser part of him, the man he'd used to be, warned against such ruthlessness.
Slowly. He need employ utmost care and caution if he hoped to achieve his aim.
Late last eve, while watching her dither over which artifacts to choose, he'd realized with startling clarity, that it wasn't merely her body he wanted in his bed, he wanted all of her, given without reservation. He wanted it nigh as much as he wanted to be free of the evil within him, as if the two were somehow intertwined. And the animal in him sensed her killing weakness: Chloe was a lass who could be trapped by the man who won her heart. Netted and kept for life. His strategy was no longer simple seduction; he was vying for the core of her, her very lifeblood.
A woman such as she—entrust you with her heart? his honor mocked. Have you lost your mind as well as your souls?
"Haud yer wheesht," he growled softly.
The cab driver glanced at him in the rearview mirror. "Eh, what?"
"I wasn't talking to you."
And if you somehow manage to win her, what, then, will you do with her? his honor taunted. Promise her a future?
"Doona be trying to steal my now," Dageus gritted. " 'Tis all I own." And since her advent into his life, the now held more interest for him than it had in a long time. He was a man who'd succeeded at living since the eve he'd turned dark, only by doing it hour to hour.
Shrugging at the cabbie who was now watching him with blatant unease, he reached in his pocket, double-checking to be certain the list and her key were there.
The key wasn't. Thinking back, he realized he'd left it on the kitchen counter.
Though no one was more adept at breaking and entering than he, he did it only when necessary. And never in broad daylight.
He eyed the backed-up traffic impatiently. By the time the cab driver got them turned around in this mess, he could, like as not, be back at the penthouse on foot.
He shoved fare through the slot and stepped out into the rain.
Chloe shaved her legs with one of Dageus's razors (studiously ignoring the cheeky little voice that volunteered the wholly unsolicited opinion that a girl didn't need to shave when it was so cold out, unless she was planning to take her pants off for some reason), then stepped out of the shower and smoothed on lotion.
She moved into the bedroom, slipped into panties and bra, then packed a few things in the luggage he'd set out for her while the lotion absorbed into her skin.
She was going to Scotland.