Once Upon a Winter's Eve: A Spindle Cove Novella by Dare Tessa

Author:Dare, Tessa [Dare, Tessa]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Samhain Publishing, Ltd.
Published: 2011-11-14T23:00:00+00:00

As he caressed her thigh, Violet’s breath left her lungs in a long, languid sigh.

“Violet.” His lips grazed her throat.

Was this truly happening? Was she truly allowing it to happen, again?

As he kissed her neck, he nudged her chin upward. She let her head roll back in implicit surrender. While his hot tongue drew wicked patterns on her skin, she stared up at the ballroom’s Christmas splendor. The unlit chandelier branched high above. Lush red and green swags festooned the columns, and gold-foiled cut stars dangled from the ceiling beams.

He bent his head to her décolletage, nuzzling the exposed tops of her breasts. He trailed little kisses along her neckline. All the while, his questing fingertips climbed the slope of her inner thigh. His touch, while rougher than before, still left her damp and yearning. Just as it had that first night.

“Let me show you,” he murmured. “There’s so much pleasure to be shared.”

He slid his hand between her legs.

Oh. Oh, so good.

Her nipples drew to tight points as he stroked her there. She twisted a little, letting the sensitive tips chafe against the restrictive boundary of her corset. He was teasing her, and she teased herself. Making the ache so sweet, so good. Making everything worse.

“Yes,” he moaned, pushing aside the folds of her drawers. “This time, I’ll do right by you.”

His words gave her the jolt of reality she needed. He’d do right by her, he said. How, precisely? By using her body, then leaving in the morning?

“Stop.” She clamped her thighs together, trapping his fingers. “Stop.”

He kept right on kissing her cleavage. “Darling, I promise, this time I’ll make it good. Better than good. We can make bliss, between us. Greater joy than you’ve ever dreamed.”

He stretched his trapped fingers, striving to reach her intimate flesh.

She tightened the vise of her thighs. “Truly. Do you truly believe you can stumble in here tonight, rave nonsense in an obscure language, drug my protector, and—despite the wrong you did me last time—convince me to lie back and lift my skirts for you? Here on the floor, in the center of a ballroom? Do you really think I’m that foolish?”

“Well, I…”

She sniffed. “Of course you think I’m that foolish. Why wouldn’t you? After all, I am the same girl who followed you up to your bedchamber and surrendered her virtue whilst our parents played cards downstairs—with no offer of marriage on the counterpane, much less declarations of tender love. It shouldn’t be any great trick to seduce me tonight. Is that what you’re thinking?”

He shook his head. “No. No, I—”

“I’m a fool.” Her voice broke. “Too easily dazzled to resist. Too dimwitted to pause a moment and consider the consequences. Too stupid to know what an orgasm is. ‘Oh, Violet,’” she mimicked. “‘Let me show you how good it can be.’ Well, allow me to show you something, Christian.”

She raised the pistol and pressed the barrel to his temple.

He cringed. “Violet, for the love of God.”

“Remove your hand. Now.” She relaxed her thigh muscles just enough that he could slide his hand free.

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