Page 104 of In the Prince's Bed

But as he neared her, she jerked her chemise back up and scampered across the bed. Before he could react, she’d raced over to the door to turn the key in the lock. “There,” she said in triumph as she knelt to slide the key under the door out of reach. “Now youhaveto stay in bed.”

So that was her game, was it? Crafty wench. “I could call for Mrs. Brown.”

“And she’ll tell you the same thing I’m telling you—get into that bed.”

“Not without you.” He veered back toward her, stripping off his shirt and unbuttoning his trousers. “Now that you’ve started this, you had damned well better finish it.”

“Don’t come any closer, Alec,” she warned as she left the door, giving him a wide berth, “you’ve had a bad head injury. You really need to rest.”

He dragged off his trousers and threw them aside. “Take off your chemise, and get into the bed.”

“You said you couldn’t rest like that.”

Damn it, this could go on all day, and he wasn’t in the mood to dally. Edging close to the bed, he pretended to stagger. With a cry of alarm, she hurried to his side. He grabbed her and tossed her onto the bed.

“Alec, your head—”

“You wanted me in bed, didn’t you?” he rasped as he covered her body with his.

She stared up at him in alarm. “I want you to rest.”

“If you thought tempting me into bed, then abandoning me, would accomplish that, you don’t know much about men, sweetheart.” He bent his head to kiss her, but she turned her face aside, so he settled for scattering kisses over her cheek and her warm silky neck.

She went limp beneath him and twined her arms about his neck. “Don’t blame me if you collapse in the morning.”

“It was your idea.” Nuzzling her ear, he then laved it with his tongue.

“I…couldn’t think…of how else to get you back in bed.”

“This is working very well.”

“But Alec—”

“Shh, sweetheart.” He nibbled her ear lobe. “I’m busy ‘resting.’ ”

A choked giggle escaped her. “Oh, Alec, I missed you and your joking so much. Did you miss me?”

“Every hour of every day since I left.” Then he captured her mouth with his.

Would he ever get enough of her, of this? It was all he could do not to take her right now, part her legs and bury himself inside her. But she was still barely initiated into the pleasures of the bedroom, so he settled for kissing her with all the fervor he’d kept banked for two days.

He would undoubtedly regret this later, but right now, he could no more push her away than he could stop breathing. He’d spent too many nights hungering for her, too many days craving her company.

When he was with her like this, he forgot all his sins…except for the one of wanting and needing her, far more than was wise. He ravaged her warm mouth and plundered her supple breasts through her chemise, storing up pleasures for when she punished him for his deceptions.

By the time he could bring himself to drag his lips from hers, they were both gasping for breath.

“Well,” she whispered, eyes alight, “I think you did miss me.”

He dragged up her chemise, then searched for the hot, juicy center of all her need. Reveling in the mew of a sigh she uttered when he stroked her, he muttered, “Apparently you missed me, too.”

“Only every hour of every day since you left. That’s the real reason I came here, you know.”

He didn’t want to be affected by her words, but he was. He’d never expected to find a wife who matched him desire for desire…whoneededhim. Her open affection humbled him.

And scared him out of his mind. Because he at last realizedthiswas what he wanted: Katherine needing him despite everything, Katherine wanting him for who he really was.

Only she didn’t know who he really was. She might not love him or claim to want more than a practical marriage, but she wanted a husband she could trust. And he’d already denied her that. Once she found out…