"So, what's on these handkerchiefs of yours?" he inquired.

"What?"

"Are there flowers, mayhap? Something light and feminine for you to tuck into your reticule?"

She blinked. Is he really talking to me about handkerchiefs? Inhaling deeply, she tried to clear her brain enough to respond.

"They're...um...they're not for me. I'm embroidering monograms actually, for my brother. His birthday isn't too far distant. A man can always use handkerchiefs, I thought."

"Very true. A most considerate gift, especially since you are making them with your own hands." Rafe bent forward and pressed his mouth to her throat, his fingers gliding upward from behind to unfasten the first of the buttons that ran along the back of her gown.

Her eyelids fell to half-staff.

"What color did you choose?" He popped another button loose from its mooring. "You know, for the thread?"

Thread? Mercy, how can he think about thread?

"Hmm, it's blue," she sighed. "Dark blue on white silk squares."

He caressed the skin at her nape, then dusted a line of kisses over her jaw to her ear. Taking the fleshy lobe between his teeth, he gave it a little nip.

Fire shot along her nerve endings, flashing from her ear all the way down to her toes. She arched in his lap, his erection swelling thicker against her in response.

"And what color do you prefer?" he asked. "What's your favorite?"

"My favorite color?" Her bodice sagged, full-length velveteen sleeves gathering around her elbows.

"Mmm-hmm."

"I...oh...p-purple. It's purple."

"A regal and passionate color. I approve. You'll have to wear a purple frock for me one of these days. You would look radiant in that shade."

His fingers moved with an easy dexterity against the laces of her stays. "And your favorite food? What's the one victual you simply cannot resist?"

Her head buzzed, trying to keep hold of the conversation when her body was awash with urges of the most elemental kind.

"Oh, I...I'm not sure. I like many things."

"Pick one."

Stay laces slid free, her corset growing looser by the instant. Desperately she searched her mind. "Chocolate. I love chocolate."

"In bonbons, or do you like it best grated into milk?"

"Hmm, it's lovely in milk. I often have h-hot...chocolate for breakfast."

He dotted her collarbone with a seductive line of kisses. "I should have known."

"Known what?"

"That you'd like it hot. Hot and steamy and thick."

Something deep inside her convulsed.

With the last of her laces undone, he eased off her corset, then cast the whalebone and linen to the floor. Her breasts pressed against her chemise, nipples taut and faintly visible beneath the sheer silk. She trembled, knowing that all that lay between her bare flesh and his bare hands was the pull of a single slender white ribbon.

She waited, her breath shallow, her senses afire.

"What about books?"

"Pardon me?"

"Books? What authors do you enjoy reading, or are you like most ladies and prefer paging through copies of La Belle Assemble?"

Her brows furrowed. I can barely think, and he wants to know about authors and books?

Shifting against his muscled thighs in restless frustration, she fought to stay sane.

"I...like books and the...um...fashion pages too. But why? Why do you want to know?"

He paused and met her gaze, his green eyes blazing with intensity and a wild passion she realized he was forcing himself to hold at bay. "Because I want to know you."

"But why? Our arrangement is temporary. Why do you care who I am, when you can have me regardless?"

And that was the plain truth. Given their agreement and her undeniable desire for him, he needn't have spoken so much as a word to her. He had only to lay her down and have his way.

"Because, temporary or not, we're lovers," he told her. "For right now you're mine, and I want to know the woman in my bed. I want to know you. Who Julianna Hawthorne is. What she likes. What she thinks and desires and dreams."

Her heart squeezed out a quick double beat beneath her breasts, Rafe's words touching her down to her soul. In a single moment, he'd shown more interest in her, and respect for her, than her husband had granted her in all the years of their marriage.

The knowledge proved a powerful aphrodisiac, her core turning molten, her limbs pliable as warmed wax.

"Jane Austen," she blurted out.

"Hmm?" he murmured, as if he'd forgotten his own query.

"You...asked who I like to read. Jane Austen. I liked her book S-Sense and Sensibility."

He smiled, long, devilishly appealing dimples appearing in his cheeks. "And here I thought you'd name a poet. Lord Byron, perhaps."

She shook her head, rubbing her cheek against his as he bent to nuzzle her throat again.

"Lord Byron is far too t-tragic a figure."

Rafe moved lower, brushing his lips over the tops of her exposed cleavage.

"F-Far too enamored of himself and his talents...myriad though they may be. I much prefer...Miss Austen."

"And I much prefer you," he stated on a purring growl.

Straightening, he clasped a hand against the back of her head, then crushed her mouth to his. All of Rafe's questions ceased as he demanded nothing less than her full participation, urging her to respond without restraint or hesitation, his arms strong and steady and reassuring around her.

Julianna capitulated on a joyful sigh, giving herself over to the rivulets of pleasure coursing through her veins like lava. Pleasure that only increased when he finally tugged on her chemise ribbon to bare her breasts.

Sweeping the straps down her arms, he cupped an eager globe, thumbing one already taut nipple to an even tighter, aching peak. She moaned into his mouth, his tongue taking advantage to forage between her open lips.

He tasted delicious-of wine and warmth and man, a combination she found both potent and inviting. Kissing him back, she tangled her tongue with his, then surprised herself by conducting her own exploration. Over hard teeth and smooth inner cheeks she roamed, lapping and licking at all the sleek wet heat she found, losing herself to the sensations.

This time his groan filled her mouth. She smiled against the vibrations.

Wanting more, she tried to lift her arms, hungry to run her hands over him, needing to hold him closer. But she couldn't escape, discovering that her elbows were trapped within the cloth of her gown and chemise.

She twisted, but to no avail.

Apparently realizing her dilemma, Rafe smoothed his hands along her upper arms. Yet when he might have freed her, he hesitated, holding her in place instead.

In a kind of divine torture, he arched her back to give himself more room, then lowered his head, fastening his mouth to her flesh with the voraciousness of a gourmand indulging in a magnificent feast. Suckling deeply, he widened his lips over one breast, circling his tongue around her nipple in a devastating sweep before pressing the nub against his teeth.

She shook in his grasp, feeling every nibble and pull all the way to her feminine core. Alternating, he drew upon one breast then the other until she thought she might shatter apart.

Then, as abruptly as his torment had started, he stopped. Releasing her, he yanked the sleeves and chemise straps off her arms, leaving her clothing bunched at her waist.

Fitting his hand to her hips, he lifted her off his lap and stood her before him.

Now, she thought, now he'll take me to the bedroom.

She only hoped she could manage the trip, her legs so weak she feared she might fall along the way. Maybe Rafe would carry her.

Stripping off her dress, he tossed it onto the nearby sofa.

She expected him to stand, but he reached down a hand to unbutton his falls instead. Her eyes drank in the brazen sight of him, long and thick, rigid with arousal.

Reaching out, he turned her so she faced away.

She was still adjusting to his actions when he caught the hem of her petticoat and raised it to her waist, caressing her naked thighs and over her buttocks in sweeping strokes that made her tremble and ache. Wet heat gathered in a heavy rush between her thighs, her legs quivering.

"Rafe, please," she moaned, certain she might fall.

But she needn't have worried, held safe within his powerful grasp.

"I've got you, sweeting," he said. "Come and have a seat. I promise you'll like it."

A seat?

Before she had a chance to wrap her mind around his comment, he walked her back, moving her so that her feet and legs were splayed on either side of his own. Pressing his knees outward, he spread her wider, then wider still, leaving her open and completely exposed.

Even then, she didn't fully understand his intent until he tugged her downward and fit her straight onto his shaft.

Then she understood everything.

"Oh!" she cried. "Oh, God."

"Oh, God, is right."

Taking her hands, he set them on the chair arms and wrapped her fingers around the wood. Pumping his hips, he burrowed himself deeper.

"Hook your feet around my ankles and lean forward," he commanded, his breath soughing against her neck in a warm, panting gust.

Forward? How could she?

But she saw the way when he looped an arm across her chest and stomach, using the corded strength of his forearm to cradle her. Arching, she leaned out, enough to let him slide fully into her aching depths.

Head hanging, she struggled to catch her breath, her entire body on fire as if she'd been dipped in liquid flame. She felt Rafe everywhere. Inside her and around her. His will suddenly her will, as if they shared a connection of more than the corporeal.

He kissed her neck and cheek, then set his hips in motion, thrusting first hard, then soft. Shallow, then deep.

Eyes closed, she let him take her, allowing each sensation to arc and zing through her, dazzling as a fireworks display. But her body had its own ideas and without even realizing, she began to press back, grinding down even as he shifted up.

Rafe groaned and pumped harder, making her cry out with each and every heated stroke. Her fingernails dug into the chair arms, her fists clutched in a death grip around the carved wood. Gasping and clawing for air, she wondered how much more she could take, already dizzy on a surfeit of pleasure.

As if sensing how close she teetered to the edge, Rafe kissed her neck again, then spread her thighs even wider with his knees. One solid thrust buried him impossibly deep, so deep her inner muscles instantly began to spasm around his hard, hot length.

And she was lost, bliss roaring through her, harsh and earth-shattering as the most fearsome storm. Dimly, she heard herself scream, limbs shaking, her whole body awash in unimaginable ecstasy.

On an oath, Rafe shifted his hold upon her, bending her back against his chest as he reached down to grasp her hips inside his splayed hands. Controlling her movements, he drove himself into her in a wild rhythm, over and over, the power of his thrusts igniting her own need once again.

Rafe gave a rough shout, claiming his release only seconds before her own. Quivering and spent, they slumped together back into the chair, her legs dangling next to his own.

At length, he angled her head onto his shoulder and claimed her mouth, their kiss slow and sweet and drowsy.

"Let's go to bed," he murmured. She nodded, but neither of them moved.

Shifting, she curled against him to stroke a palm over his chest, his skin damp from their exertions.

"So, tell me," she murmured. "What is your favorite color?"

His eyes widened, a smile spreading across his mouth. Tossing back his head, Rafe began to laugh.

Chapter Eight.