The Red Lily (Vampire Blood #2)(49)

       
         
       
        

Approaching lightly, she grazed a hand from his taut shoulder down his arm. "Nikolai?"

He flinched but didn't move, continuing to stare at the vast snowy hills rolling away.

Inhaling a deep breath, she positioned herself in front of him. He'd left little room between himself and the casement, so she was forced to squeeze in close and grip his shoulders. With her body so near his, their chests touching, he finally broke his distant glare out the window and lowered his gaze to hers.

"I don't want you to be angry, but you must understand the importance of our mission."

"It will matter little if we die in the fulfilling of it," he snapped, his hands still clasped at his back.

She brushed a hand down his chest. "I am surprised you are afraid of such a thing as death." Lifting her wandering hand, she brushed her fingertips along his granite jaw, trying to soothe him.

He caught her hand and leaned into her palm, closing his eyes briefly before giving her the full force of his supernatural gaze-intense, lethal, and razor-sharp. "I am not afraid of death." He pressed a kiss into her palm, the slow, sensual act weakening her knees. "I am afraid of losing you."

The stark admission of his feelings knocked the breath out of her. But then he made it worse by crowding her farther back against the window ledge, her bottom resting on top. He braced his legs on either side of hers and cupped her face with both hands.

"I'd rather take you away to some safe place and hide from the world so there is no one but you and me. I'd rather let the world bleed than put you in danger's path one more day."

Somehow she managed a small smile, even as he hovered his tempting mouth so close. "When this is all over, we can return to my cottage in Silvane Forest. I've done a fine job of hiding from the world there. And I never knew loneliness until-" She faltered, gathering strength to say what she longed to say.

He grazed his lips across hers, like the brush of silk. "Until what? Tell me, my sweet."

She clenched her fists in his shirt and finally admitted aloud, "Until you." Refusing to take the cowardly way out, she raised her gaze and met his fierceness, head on. "Ever since we first met and you went away with Marius and Arabelle, I have longed for you. Daily. Nightly. Desperately. I want nothing more than to have you near me."

His brow bunched into a frown. "You never said a word of this before."

"How could I? You have always been flirtatious. But so are many men I encounter at the market. I thought you might be indifferent."

He scoffed. "Indifferent?"

In a punishing kiss, he swept in, brutal and hard, his tongue tasting and devouring, evoking a soft moan from her throat. After a long, bruising kiss that set her body on fire, he pulled back and pressed his forehead to hers. 

"I can't take chances with your life, Sienna. It would cut me too deep if anything should happen to you."

"It is my decision. We return to Dale's Peak tonight."

"Damn you, woman," he ground out, breath coming fast. "Why won't you listen? You could be killed. So could I."

"Then we die for a good cause. Look at Mina. She already suffers for her part in helping us."

"Yes. Precisely. Look what the queen did to her."

"Even more reason to do all we can to arm ourselves so we can fight." She slid a hand over his nape, the muscles in his neck still tense. "And here I thought you were fearless?" she teased.

"I was fearless when it was only my life at stake. Now I have so much more to lose." He slanted his mouth over hers more gently, lining her lips with his tongue, then supping at her mouth with wet, warm kisses as if she were the most delicious of delicacies. "I wish I could kiss some sense into your pretty head." He nipped again. "But I will surrender to your wishes. I'll take you to Dale's Peak."

She darted her tongue along her lip where he'd nipped her. He hadn't broken the skin and, heaven help her, she wished he had.

His eyes dilated, following the flick of her tongue.

She let her hands wander down his chest and abdomen, wishing to feel the hard body beneath with no barriers. "We have many hours before nightfall." She lifted a hand and traced a fingertip along his parted lips, catching sight of his sharpened fangs. "Take me to bed, Nikolai. Make me yours."





Chapter Fourteen

Nikolai would never forget this moment. A gray pall covered the sky, casting a soft light through the window panes. The quiet drift of snow floated to the earth. Two five-tiered candelabras flickered on either side of the vast bed, dusting the room in gold. Sienna undressed with her back to him, letting her dress pool on the floor.