Page 104 of Mistletoe and Christmas Kisses
“...got me....”
She leaned in, her ear brushing his lips. Below the scent of smoke she smelled him and her stomach clenched.
“I...can’t win now. Beg, keep you” —Tanner coughed, chest hitching beneath the cotton sheet— “from leaving. But...watch over your shoulder...Princess. Watch for...me.” Words thickening, his head sank deeper into the feather pillow, his hand going slack in hers. “Just when you think I won’t...I’ll be there. I will. Because I told you the truth.”
CHAPTER7
Watch over your shoulder, Princess. Watch for me.
Kate did every second it seemed, seeing only tilting shadows cast from the Astral lamp by her side. The seamstress had left the dressing room twenty minutes before and had not returned. She had taken Kate’s clothing, which allowed her to do nothing but pace the small enclosure in her corset and drawers.
And pause every third step to question what, exactly, she was doing.
And when Tanner would appear.
Kate shivered, goosebumps rising, and she rubbed her arms to dispel them. Naturally, she did not want him to appear. Only, she couldn’t help but wonder if he would. His intractable tone, his warning—I’ll be there—had made it seem highly…probable.
When she first arrived in Richmond, she’d cloistered herself in her sister’s home like a nun awaiting sanctification. She’d feared looking out her window—but had looked quite often—afraid Tanner would leap from behind a hedge, swoop down, and pluck her up like a hawk. But, the days passed, and she realized that feverish, delirious men did not often honor their promises.
She walked to the window and pressed her chin against the frosty pane. Her breath against glass rendered the world outside a blurry, indistinct mess.
The door behind Kate opened. “I hope the dress is finally ready,” she said, streaking her finger through the misty circle on the pane. “It’s quite cold in here.”
“No doubt, in that get-up.” The door clicked shut. “Damned if I don’t like it, though.”
Kate’s breath stalled in her throat. She spun around, bumping the table holding the lamp, causing shadows to bounce across the floor. Across hollowed cheeks and a broad smile.
Tanner. Ankles crossed, his lean body held at a slight pitch, he lounged in the doorway as if he owned the place. Arching his brow, he glanced at the tottering table. “No more fires, please. I just recovered from the last one.”
Kate’s mind went blank, completely blank. She struggled to form a sentence as he scraped a match across the heel of his boot, cupped his hand around his mouth, and lit a cheroot—pretty as you please. “Hope you don’t mind,” he said, the damned thing dangling from his lips.
Dear God, he looked good enough to eat. No, better than edible: good enough to dive into feet first. His hair, recently trimmed, gleamed. His face, filled out in the two weeks since she’d seen him, bloomed with healthy color. His lips, oh, those lips. Powerless, a little desperate, she licked her own, while studying him studying her. His lids drooped, sheltering his pale blue gaze as he shifted and peeled off the wall.
She stumbled back, her knees quivering with...well, certainly not excitement.
Only, if he walked over on those powerful legs and touched her, it would be a little exciting.
Determined to ruin her fantasy, Tanner halted in the middle of the room, rotated a chair with the toe of his boot and straddled it, all the while presenting his easy, delicious smile. Laying his arm along the back, he lifted the cheroot from his lips and flicked ashes to the floor. His head tilted, his gaze drilling into her. “Looking mighty nervous, Princess.”
“Nervous?” Kate laughed and backed up a step. His distinct scent—soap, mint, leather—sneaked, uninvited, into her mind, screaming Tanner. “I’m simply trying to think—”
“Don’t. Please.” He grimaced and blew smoke toward the ceiling. “That’s what has gotten us into trouble all along.”
“I can’t imagine—”
“Go ahead, Princess. Imagine. I would have guessed you’d been imagining for two weeks now.” He shrugged, calm and unconcerned. “I told you I would come.”
“Yes, but—”
“A bit delayed, I’ll admit. Train from Wilmington was held up for two days. For a time, it seemed I’d have to saddle a horse and ride like hell, oh, excuse me” —he nodded in her direction— “to get here, but my luck held and with your lovely sister’s help” —he snapped his fingers, his mouth kicking high— “here I am.”
Fury, swift and sharp, nipped at her. Fury and the blessed excitement she tried to deny. “Get that crooked grin off your face. There are four loud-mouthed ninnies who have hardly spoken to me in months waiting outside this room.” She stalked forward, shaking her finger in his face. “Waiting for a woman who is trying very diligently to erase a gigantic black mark from her record. A black mark in your handwriting. If you’ve messed this up, so help me, Tanner Barkley, I will kiss...I mean I will kill, oh!”
Tanner laughed and shoved the chair aside, catching her about the waist as she raced for the door. “Whoa, love, whoa,” he said as she struggled to break free. “We don’t want to bring the ninnies scurrying in here, now, do we?” He dragged her against his chest and pressed a kiss to her neck, instantly reducing her struggle. His lips trailed to her ear, tugged on her earlobe, his tongue flicking inside. Cupping her breasts, his thumbs worked her nipples in leisurely circles.
Struggle ceased.
Kate dared her knees to hold her weight as she battled a fierce rush of desire. Though she could not halt the shift that settled his arousal more firmly, surely, against her bottom.