“Too breathless to speak?” he mocked with satisfaction.
Too breathless with worry, she thought, and sighed heavily, her racing heart having finally slowed.
His manly pride assumed her response meant one thing. “Never experienced a satisfying kiss, have you?”
Catherine felt herself bristle. He had the nerve to believe her a harlot and the gall to assume she was an unsatisfied one.
Lucian rested his arm over his eyes and smiled. “Perhaps that’s why you’ve gone through a string of lovers, none have ever fulfilled you.”
The words rushed from her mouth before she gave thought to the consequences or to the sarcastic tone in which she delivered her remark. “And naturally you think you could fulfill me.”
With his first movement she realized her mistake, but to move a mere fraction from him would show her concern, so she remained still.
Lucian turned on his side, bracing himself on his elbow and resting his head in his hand. His other hand casually reached out and his fingers played with the pearls that lay directly over her breast.
“Yes, Catherine, I could easily fulfill you, but I wouldn’t give you the satisfaction.”
Catherine kept herself from tensing as his fingers brushed over the shirt where it covered her nipple and especially when he carelessly, but she assumed deliberately, dragged the pearls across her breast. She needed a response that would annoy him enough to at least move him away from her. He was close, much too close, and his nearness was causing her stomach to flutter nervously.
“But think, Captain, you could be the talk of London. I would sing your praises, or is it prowess, to the aristocracy.”
Her remark hit bull’s-eye. His fingers released the pearls, tossing them away to fall to her side. He once again fell onto his back.
“I don’t like repeating myself, Catherine, though I will remind you one more time. I don’t plan on giving you the satisfaction. I will leave you —”
Relief ran through her. He would leave her alone once again.
“— To imagine what you have missed in having me as a lover.”
Catherine hid her smile beneath a practiced frown. “You upset me, Captain; I surely shall not sleep tonight.”
“If sleep escapes you this night it is your own fault. Just don’t toss and turn and keep me awake, and stay to your side of the bed.”
Catherine couldn’t believe her ears. He actually planned on sleeping in the bed with her. She wondered if she attempted to agitate him just a wee bit more if it would be enough to chase him from the cabin, or enough to –
She didn’t want to think about the repercussions, and she didn’t want him sleeping with her. She spoke before she lost her nerve. “Very well, Captain, though —” She paused just enough for a dramatic effect, then continued on a sigh. “You overestimate your kissing talent. I have experienced better.”
Lucian had had enough. He turned on her so swiftly that she rolled away from him startled. He rolled her right back and right beneath him and then proceeded to demonstrate just how exceptionally talented he was at kissing.
He took her breath away. She didn’t even have a second to think about what was happening and in only seconds she couldn’t think. His tongue and his mouth took command of her and saturated her with such drowsy sensuality that she lost all focus on time and reality.
As he feasted on her, he caused her to hunger. A hunger she had never experienced, and a hunger that only he seemed capable of satisfying.
He dragged his mouth from hers and trailed wet kisses down along her neck then up to her ear. “Tell me,” he whispered almost breathless himself. “Tell me you’ve been kissed like that.”
His powerful kisses had stolen her ability to speak and if she could she would not be able to tell him anything but the truth. With only the experience of a few stolen kisses from some ardent suitors, Catherine had never had a man claim a kiss such as the one the captain had just demonstrated.
Too long in her response, Lucian once again urged one from her. “Tell me or I will test my skills on you again and this time I will pleasure myself until you cannot stand it any longer.”
She could hardly bear the breathlessness she experienced now. She couldn’t imagine it being worse— or better? She shook her head and whispered the truth. “I’ve never been kissed like that.”
Lucian rolled off her and gave her a persuasive shove to her side of the bed. “Now go to sleep… if you can.”
He turned, reached out, and extinguished the oil lamp, bathing the cabin in darkness.
Catherine could think of no appropriate response, nor did she wish to give one. She turned quietly on her side, tucking her hands beneath the side of her head and pulling her legs up almost to her chest.