As if a part of him knew exactly what she wanted.

"Yes?" he asked hoa.r.s.ely. Why are you torturing me? his stiff posture seemed to say.

"Could I have a towel?" she whispered.

Relief eased his tension a little. "Of course. Sorry. I thought I gave you one."

She could not take her eyes off him. "I don't see it."

"It's right over here." His hand slipped away from the doork.n.o.b and he returned, rounding the tub toward the clean, folded towel that lay in plain view.

He reached for it. Just as he turned and started to hand her the towel, Sophia rose from the tub without warning, water coursing down her body.

Gabriel's lips parted as his gaze ran helplessly down the length of her.

Her stare was locked on his face while his gaze homed in on her jutting nipples, tautened with the chill.

Lifting his arm with a blind motion, he offered her the towel, clutching it with a white-knuckled grip.

She shook her head and commanded him in a whisper: "Dry me."

His eyes flickered, l.u.s.t in their blue depths; she waited, watching his resistance crumble before her eyes.

Gabriel took a slow step closer. He dropped his gaze as he shifted the towel in his hold.

She closed her eyes and bit back a soft moan as he touched the soft cotton to her skin.

Acutely aware of his every move, she felt his hand draped in the cloth follow the curve of her shoulder, down her back, over the curve of her backside. Her chest heaved.

When she felt his lips skim along her shoulder in burning hunger, she lifted her hand and raked her damp fingers through his black hair.

Pressing her cheek with his fingertips, Gabriel turned her to him, lowered his head, and kissed her with drugging depth. She wrapped her arms around his neck and clung to him, a hot wave of desire pouring through her. Her pulse reverberated as he ravished her mouth. This kiss was more purposeful, but every bit as delicious as before. She was amazed all over again at everything-his warm, smooth lips, the tickling chafe of his scruffy jaw against her chin, the silken delight of his tongue caressing hers.

She could feel the tension thrumming through his tough, rugged frame as he slid his hand beneath her hair and drew her even closer by her nape.

When she quivered with yearning, Gabriel paused, mistaking her tremble for a chill. "Come, we mustn't let you get cold," he whispered protectively. Still holding her hand, he moved aside and steadied her as she stepped out of the tub. At once, he returned to the task of drying her, kissing her body as he went.

Sophia wove on her feet a bit, dizzy with delight. Before long, he was on his knees before her, inching the towel down her legs with his lips pressed to her stomach. She braced her hands on his broad shoulders to keep from falling, for his nibbling kisses had her simply light-headed with pleasure. She began slowly twining her fingers through his longish hair. Its texture felt silky-soft to her wondrously sensitized fingertips.

All of her nerve endings had been awakened to dazzling receptivity by his kisses and the light, feathery glide of his hands on her body.

A soft moan escaped her when his roaming lips caressed her nipple. The heat of his mouth thrilled her down to her toes as he captured the swollen peak of her breast on his tongue.

His unshaved chin tickled and chafed the tender skin of her bosom, but not for the world would she have complained. He sucked on first one breast then the other as though she were made of the most addictive confection and he could not get enough. Within a few more minutes of this delicious torment, she feared she would go mad. Her hands seemed to take on a will of their own, clutching at Gabriel's shirt, trying to undress him. She nearly tore the white linen off his back in her need to get her hands on his bare skin.

"Sit down," he ordered gruffly, pausing only long enough to peel his shirt off over his head for her.

She just stared at him, on fire, her chest heaving, too disoriented to quite absorb his words.

Flushed and panting, Gabriel cast her a devastating smile and gave her a bit of much-needed direction, guiding her down onto the chair where he had left the clothes he'd brought her.

Put in her place, she looked at him attentively, biting her lip, and barely able to think what he might do next. Alexa-who knew of such things-had told her a bit about what went on between a lover and his lady, but the wicked shine in Gabriel's deep blue eyes made her wonder if mere words could do these deeds justice.

"Are you warm now?" he murmured.

"Very. Aren't we-" She gulped at her own audacity. "Going to your bed?"

"Soon." He laid his fingertips on her knees and gently, with an almost delicate motion, parted her legs.

"Oh, dear G.o.d." She jerked with a violent shudder of response as his mouth began to do to her most private regions what it had just finished doing to her b.r.e.a.s.t.s.

At first, she did not know what to think. Then all thought spun away like a spool of silken thread unraveling, and all that was left was intense sensation and her sense of glorious trust in this man.

He astounded her with his attentions, though he was ruthless in making her accept what he wanted to give. Her embarra.s.sed resistance melted away as he stoked the fires in her blood. The hot, wet, luxurious stroking of his tongue opened her senses wide, his fingers gently penetrating her in preparation for his manhood. Before long, Sophia was draped over the chair in pure abandon, her head back, her hair spilling down behind her, her legs rested on his shoulders, and Gabriel was feasting on her, absorbed in his splendid barbarity.

He had her completely mesmerized, hanging on his every whim. Her body arched in sinuous motion, begging for more in brazen hunger. Then, just when she seemed to hover at the brink of some enormous precipice, he stopped.

"Now we can go to my bed," he whispered as he pulled away, panting heavily.

She looked at him in astonishment, then started laughing, she wasn't sure why.

He gave her a quick but extremely rakish smile as he lifted his forearm and brushed her wetness off his chin.

Left to hunger, Sophia shook her head at his devilish cruelty. Still kneeling, Gabriel sat back on his heels and gestured toward the adjoining chamber. "After you."

"Humph." She poked him lightly in the chest with her toe. He laughed. She rose, dragging her hand through his hair as she brushed past him slowly.

He watched her pa.s.s with riveted attention. He rose to his feet and then pinched her backside lightly as he followed close behind her. When she squeaked in protest, he picked her up and tossed her onto his bed with a pirate grin and a gleam in his eyes.

She climbed under the covers while Gabriel pulled off his boots. As he joined her on the bed, she reached out and touched him in eager admiration, caressing the sleek muscled planes of his chest. He greeted her touch with a welcoming sigh. She slid her hand lower, letting her touch glide down over the chiseled muscles of his stomach. But when she noticed the scar in the center of his torso, she winced in sympathy for him. Kissing her fingertips, she pressed them lightly to the healed wound.

His hard face softened in a wistful smile.

Staring deeply into her eyes, he eased atop her.

For several quiet minutes, they just lay together, gazing at each other and kissing lightly. Sophia petted his smooth, powerful back. With his elbows planted on either side of her head, he trailed his fingertips over her cheeks and smoothed her drying hair back from her forehead.

"You're really lovely, Sophia," he whispered.

"So are you," she replied with a faint, dreamy smile. Running her hands down his back and savoring every inch of his velveteen skin, she slipped her hands inside his loosened breeches, molding her palms over the manly curves of his muscled b.u.t.tocks.

He lifted an eyebrow when she squeezed both firm cheeks with a low, naughty laugh.

"Enjoying yourself, hm?"

"Immensely," she answered with another wayward giggle.

He kissed her, but Sophia went on caressing him. Gabriel moved onto his side next to her, wordlessly offering even more interesting areas for her exploration.

While he played with her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, she slid her hand down the front of his body; she watched his rapt response in fascination when her wandering fingers encircled the rigid girth of his arousal. A brief wince of pleasure tightened his face. The sound of his low groan roused an eager flutter of b.u.t.terflies deep in the pit of her stomach. She squeezed him, stroked him.

His skin was so blissfully warm to the touch.

He closed his eyes as she began to pleasure him in the way that Alexa had once informed her that the males of the species enjoyed being caressed.

Her brazen lady-in-waiting had demonstrated the technique on one of the fight sticks with which Leon made Sophia practice some of her self-defense techniques. But although she had collapsed in red-faced laughter at the time, the lesson came in handy now. Indeed, the solid size of Gabriel's straining phallus quite reminded her of the formidable bamboo rod with which she could break a person's kneecap when provoked.

She turned her face to his and sought his intoxicating lips once more, kissing him as she sought to give back every ounce of pleasure he had given her. His groans entranced her.

Good G.o.d, it was surely for the best that this delicious man could not belong to her, Sophia thought, for she knew she'd be horribly possessive of him with all her royal temper. If he even looked at another woman, she'd probably be tempted to have the girl thrown into some dungeon.

With another restless sigh full of desire, Gabriel rolled onto his back, pulling Sophia atop him. As her long hair swung down to veil them both in privacy, she smiled at him.

He did not smile back. His eyes were very serious, almost pensive.

"What is the matter?" she asked in a breathless whisper.

"I want to ask you a question, Sophia. And I want you to answer me honestly."

She paused while he wrapped his arms around her naked waist. "All right."

"My brother, Derek." He paused almost grimly. "He's sent me a virgin, hasn't he?"

Her eyes shot open wide.

"Oh, G.o.d," he groaned at her guiltily astonished look.

"Am I that bad at this that it shows?" she cried, pulling back a small s.p.a.ce.

"Of course not," he said in a strangled tone. "I've merely done this enough to recognize someone who hasn't. This has gone far enough, Sophia. I'm not going to make love to you, no matter how much I might want to."

"Why?"

Letting out a low sound of frustration, he captured two fistfuls of her hair and hugged her to him. "What am I going to do with you? What a silly question!"

"I don't understand. Are you angry at me?"

"No. I'm angry at Derek. For torturing me." He opened his hands and let her hair sift through his fingers as she pulled back and gave him a crestfallen look.

"Don't you want me?"

He scowled at her. "Don't be a fool. You should not be doing this. You should not be for sale."

"You're lecturing me? Now?" she cried.

"Your virginity," he specified through gritted teeth, "should not be for sale. You can't be that desperate. Better you should keep to Gypsy ways and steal than sell yourself."

"I beg your pardon, I can do what I want with my body!" But as her craving for him cleared just a bit, of course she saw the blasted man was right.

She could not make love to a commoner. Not for her first time, anyway. Sooner or later, she'd have to wed some foppish Continental prince. After all, her maidenhead was one of the most important resources that she had to keep in store to save her country.

Oh, blazes.

She felt horrible for starting all this. Selfish and rotten. And insanely frustrated.

"Are you going to pout now?" he demanded.

"I don't pout!" She glowered at him, then relented a little. "I'm just not sure I understand."

He shook his head. "It's not that difficult. I'm not your husband."

"What would I do with a husband?" she scoffed.

"You don't have to make this any harder than it already is," he replied. "You know d.a.m.ned well I'm going out of my mind for you. I wanted you from that first second in the barn."

She lowered her lashes, then bent her head and kissed his throat. "Oh, Gabriel. I want you, too. So much," she murmured as she ran her hand down his side.

His skin burned as with fever to the touch and was moist with the lightest sheen of sweat.

"All the same, I don't deflower virgins," he said stoically.

His rather pompous resolve irked and amused her simultaneously. Though she knew he was right, she still was not used to taking no for an answer.

"Very well." With a show of obedience, she slid off his body to lie beside him. But then she reached down and took his throbbing hardness in her hand once more.

He shuddered.

"So, you don't deflower virgins," she conceded in a wicked whisper, skimming her lips along his neck. She paused when she reached his earlobe. "What do you do to them?"

Gabriel moaned aloud. "That's it." As his pa.s.sion broke loose, he flipped their positions with renewed ardor; in the blink of an eye, she was on bottom and he was back on top. His ma.s.sive erection glided against her teeming wetness-but not in.

Sophia panted, thrilled down to her toes as he flirted with the possibility of taking her. Do it, she thought, staring into his eyes.

But he wouldn't. The silken head of his member stroked the soaked threshold of her core, only stoking her fire, tormenting her. No mercy, indeed. The Iron Major would not yield to temptation, would not drive it in and fulfill her crazed need the way the beating drums of instinct yearned for him to do.

"Please," she blurted out in spite of herself, unable to fight her desire.

"No." His eyes burned like blue flames in the night.

The poor man had to fight both their l.u.s.t as she spread her legs wider, wanting him for all she was worth. But his control was such that he rationed out just a bit more of the dizzying pleasure-without satisfaction.

"I shall go insane," she panted.

"Mmm, be patient, Sophia."

"I can't. I want you. Why are you doing this to me?"

"You started it. Don't worry. It'll be worth it." He sent her a sly, seductive glance, then kissed her chin. "One day you'll thank me for this."