Patience’s heart fluttered like a wild bird trying to escape her rib cage. Her mind fled back over the evening in reverse order. Supper. Dressing for supper. Taking the book to James. Underlining a passage with a trembling hand. The blot of ink on the yellowed page. Choosing the passage. Reading.
She inhaled.
Despite what happened earlier, what she had chosen—she could not change it now and knowing what was about to come next both excited and terrified her.
Her heart felt as if it were lodged in her throat.
James loosened his neck cloth as he strode confidently across the room and took a seat in one of her chairs. “Come here,” he commanded.
Patience’s bottom lip trembled. He was really going through with it. The scenario had begun.
Briefly, very briefly, she closed her eyes and then she moved closer to where he sat with his legs spread casually. It was such a masculine posture that it rendered Patience to a quivering mass of nerves.
He regarded her, his dark eyes flashing as his gaze drifted down the length of her body before lifting once more.
Her blood thickened and heated and pulsed so hard her ears roared.
His eyes locked with hers. “Take off your dressing gown.”
Trembling, she slowly untied the ribbon that held her dressing gown together in the front. She opened it and shrugged it off her shoulders.
Something akin to a moan escaped James’s mouth. “That’s it, love. Take it off for me.”
Tingles skittered from her scalp down her spine and arms. Patience wriggled out of the heavy fabric and was at once aware of the loss of its warmth—and protection. Part of her felt exceedingly vulnerable. Another part of her wanted to give herself completely to the man sitting across from her.
She twisted to lay the dressing gown on the bench at the foot of her bed.
“No.” James’s voice startled her. “Let it fall to the floor.”
Patience complied and the embroidered damask whispered as it pooled around her bare feet.
James shifted in his chair. “I can see through your nightgown.”
Instinctively, Patience crossed her arms over her breasts.
“Oh, no you don’t,” James warned. “Put your arms down.”
She exhaled as she forced herself to put her arms back to her sides. Her gaze fell to the pile of damask at her feet.
“Look at me, love.”
Slowly, she lifted her gaze and when her eyes met his everything within her tightened to the breaking point. Exhilarated, she held his lustful stare. One corner of his mouth twitched into a knowing grin, deepening the lines in his face.
Patience had never felt more alive than she did at this moment.
“Now, take off your nightgown. I want you naked.” His voice washed over like a lover’s a caress and at once, she found herself readily dragging up the long hem of her fine cotton nightgown.
Cool air brushed her calves, her thighs—higher. Her hands shook. She was totally, completely, utterly naked underneath.
“Don’t stop,” he urged.
Summoning all the courage she possessed, she pulled the nightgown higher. His gaze lingered at her thighs and Patience lost her resolve. She squeezed her eyes shut.
“Open your eyes,” he demanded.
The harsh utterance startled her and Patience’s eyes snapped open.
“Don’t think to hide from me like a scared goat,” he said. “You do that once more and I’ll turn you over my knee.”