Keirth stepped closer to her. “I’m not a monk, you know? It’s not as if I don’t have any desire to be with a woman. You understand that?”
She took another step back. She felt overwhelmed by his presence, suddenly, as if it triggered the very feelings she wanted to deny that she felt for him. He was so very close now, and she was still fighting back that funny urge to touch him. She took another step away, and collided with the wall of the ship. “You desire me?” The thought made her heart thump.
Keirth closed the distance between them. “Who wouldn’t desire you?”
Her breath was shallow. “Keirth, when I think about you sometimes—”
“No, that’s what I mean. You’re confused. You don’t really have any feelings for me, and I don’t have any for you.”
He was so close, it was driving her crazy. To keep herself from touching him, she put her hands flat against the wall of the ship. “But you just said—”
“I said I desired you. That’s not the same thing. It’s lust, only lust, and if you don’t protect yourself, I’ll...”
“You’ll what?” She searched his eyes with her own. He was gazing down at her, and there were only inches between them.
“I won’t be able to stop myself.”
“Maybe I don’t want you to stop yourself.” That was bold. What was she thinking? She was a member of the nobility. This was highly inappropriate. But maybe she didn’t want to stop herself either.
“Ariana...”
And then he was kissing her. Keirth’s lips were hungry, his hands urgent, and Ariana found herself engulfed by his presence and the sensations that were ripping through her body. Keirth pressed against her, the wall of the ship behind her. Her hands fluttered against the ship’s wall for a moment, and then she gave into her urges and touched him. As his lips assaulted hers, she ran her hands over his shoulders and arms. He was firm and unyielding beneath his skin. He was strong and brawny.
Keirth’s hands were on her hips. He was holding her against him, and he was kissing her thoroughly, nudging her lips open so that his tongue could dart into her mouth. Ariana had never kissed with her mouth open. Her kisses had always been under the watchful eye of a chaperone, and they’d been chaste and perfunctory. When Keirth’s tongue touched hers, she felt as if a waterfall had crashed somewhere inside her, and that she was now being flooded with sweet heat, rushing out to the edges of her limbs. She felt weak, and she was glad to be supported by both the wall and Keirth. She wasn’t sure she could stand on her own.
Her fingers explored Keirth’s back, moving more frantically now, and Keirth’s hands were moving too. He sighed into her mouth, as his hands skimmed up her body, brushing the outside walls of her breasts, sending shivers rippling through her. She gasped, throwing her hands back against the wall of the ship as if she needed to steady herself, to find some kind of place to ground herself, as if she might tumble off into space if she didn’t.
But her hand hit something, and a piece of the ship’s wall sprung open on hinges.
The sound startled them both.
Keirth tore himself away from her, paling.
Ariana was finding it hard to catch her breath. She wished Keirth was still kissing her. She wanted to reach for him, but he was looking everywhere but at her.
Suddenly, he strode toward her again. Her heart leapt.
But he was examining the piece of the wall that had come undone. It opened on clusters of wires, all blinking and confusing. Keirth reached in, sorted through them, and then yanked something out. “Damn it,” he muttered.
“What?” she said.
He thrust a round metal ball in her face. Disconnected wires were trailing from the bottom of it. “Tracking device. On ships this old, they plug in differently. Why didn’t I think of that?”
Ariana felt cold all over. The heat and excitement of kissing was draining from her as she looked at the tracking device. “So, we were followed?”
Keirth shoved the device in his pocket. “Maybe. Maybe not. We could have been followed.”
She chewed on her lip, unsure of what to do.
Keirth took her by the elbow and led her out of the ship. “I’m going to scout the area around this place, see if a ship’s landed anywhere out of sight.”
“Let me come with you.” They were outside the ship, and Keirth was already dragging her down the path back to the brothel.
“You’ll slow me down,” said Keirth.
“But—”
“No.” His voice was cold and firm.
Ariana didn’t say anything. She shook off his grip on her arm. “I’m not going to run away if you let go of me.”