Chapter 6

Satisfaction threaded through Ariel when she jabbed her elbow furiously into the hard-packed, muscled abdomen behind her and felt the soft whoosh of breath at her ear. A tight smile crossed her lips as she moved away from him, putting distance between them as she fought to maintain her composure. Did he have any idea how hot it made her to hear him whispering those words so silkily in her ear? His voice was rough, a rumble of sexuality that had the fine hairs along her arms lifting in awareness. When she turned back to him, he was watching her with a grin, his large palm rubbing at his stomach slowly.

“Excellent reflexes,” he complimented, appearing more proud of her than put out. She snorted at that.

“Imbecile,” she muttered as she plopped down on the couch. “Shouldn’t you be going to sleep or something rather than harassing me?”

He lifted his brow archly as he glanced into the bedroom portion of the suite.

“When you go.” He lifted his shoulder negligently as he leaned against the doorway. “It is pretty late, you know. I think we should turn in.”

She narrowed her eyes on him.

“I don’t think so!” she snapped. “If you think I’m sleeping with you, then you’re…”

“Right.” Something about the change in his voice had her pausing, watching him carefully.

She could see the ready tension enveloping him now, his determination that she would sleep with him.

“No.” She kept her voice mild, but firm, a patient sound as though speaking to a recalcitrant child.

“I won’t argue with you,” he assured her. “You will sleep in this bed, beside me. Period.”

“No.” She repeated the word as though he hadn’t heard her. She watched his eyes lighten then darken. The gray patterns of color began to shift and move within the pupil as she watched in fascination. Amazing. She had never seen eyes react to emotion in such a way.

“Ariel, do not try my patience in this matter,” he warned her then, his voice gravelly, guttural. “It’s not up for discussion.”

“Then it better get up for discussion.” She shrugged in unconcern. “Because I’m not sleeping in that bed with you.”

Beloved… She ignored the whisper at her ear.

Keeper of the wind… Mistress of my heart… Only years of control kept her from flinching as the words caressed her senses as surely as the soft shift of air about her ear caressed her flesh. Because as much as she hated it, as much as she wanted to deny it, the voice sounded too much of the man now facing her so determinedly.

“Do you enjoy being difficult?” he finally asked her curiously as she leaned back against the couch.

“Actually, I do.” She crossed her legs and smoothed the robe over her knees automatically. “Do you enjoy being an arrogant ass?”

“It’s a hobby of mine, actually,” he admitted a bit mockingly. “Do you think I will one day perfect the art?”

She snorted at the question. “I think you already have.”

“Excellent. I always strive to do my best in all areas.” He straightened from the doorway and walked toward her.

Ariel watched him suspiciously as he moved to the couch, then sat down beside her. The small sofa left little room for her to occupy. She cast him a reproving glare as he leaned closer.

“It is a simple matter,” he said softly, his breath wafting over her ear, nearly causing her to shiver in response. “You can sleep in that nice large bed with me. A king-sized bed, with plenty of room for the two of us, so that I may be assured of your safety. Or, we can sit right here. But as close as I am to you…” She jerked as he smoothed his cheek over her shoulder. “I will begin to wonder how that intriguing little lobe of your ear will feel against my lips…” He suited words to action, catching the bit of flesh between his lips then swiping it with the warmth of his tongue.

“Stop that.” Ariel shot from the couch, staring back at him resentfully as he smiled innocently.

She could feel the caress echoing along her body, causing her vagina to ripple at the sensation, her clit to swell beseechingly. Damn him, he was evil. Pure, black-hearted evil.

“I cannot help myself.” He shrugged, unrepentant. “The choice is yours. Come to bed so that I may sleep, or we can play this little game through the night until you falter through sheer exhaustion. It is entirely up to you.”

“I don’t want to sleep with you,” she snarled between clenched teeth. He didn’t seem to care.

His expression hardened, his eyes once again swirling with a darker gray color than before.

“But I want you to sleep with me,” he replied silkily. “So which will it be, Mistress?

Do we play this game through the night, or do we sleep?”

She snarled furiously. “I’m going to cut your heart out. I swear to God, I’m going to take that dagger and dig it out piece by tiny, tiny piece.”

Genuine amusement filled his eyes then. “You are welcome to try.”

He came to his feet in a surge of strength. That strength seemed to fill the room, wrap around her, make her nearly heady with the intensity of it.

“Bedtime then,” he announced. “I will allow you to keep the gown this time, but eventually I think I would want to feel you bare against me.”

Ariel gaped back at him. Slowly, she drew in a deep, hard breath then smiled. It wasn’t a pleasant smile, and she made certain of it. It was a baring of teeth, a cold, hard warning to anyone smart enough to understand the anger pulsing inside her.

“Do you think you will, Shanar?” she deliberately cooed sensually, lowering her eyelids to half-mast as she watched him carefully now.

What was that? His pupils flared, the color in his eyes turning a light, gorgeous blue-gray that was almost entrancing.

“I think I most definitely want that.” His voice was rougher now, no longer the silky rumble it had before.

“And you think all you have to do is ask for it?” She allowed her fingers to toy with the belt to her robe as she watched him from beneath her lashes. He cleared his throat, his eyes trained on her hands.

“I can be persuasive.” He sounded much too serious.

Her eyes narrowed further.

“Ohh, I bet you could be,” she murmured, loosening the belt and slowly drawing the robe down her shoulders.

He swallowed tightly, his gaze rising to hers. What she saw then stilled the cruel words that had risen first to her lips. The ones where she would have assured him in no uncertain terms that he would never be smooth enough, sharp enough or quick enough to deserve her nakedness against him. It wouldn’t have mattered that they were a lie, that it was no more than a furious parry back at him.

But she couldn’t do it. For a moment, she glimpsed such naked, unabashed longing in his eyes that it held her speechless.

“I would never force you.” The quaint, almost old world way he had of talking combined with the sudden somber intensity in his gaze had her breathing out with fury. But not fury with him. Fury with herself.

“Oh, just go to sleep,” she muttered, jerking the robe from her shoulders as she crawled beneath the blankets. “And stay on your own damned side of the bed, too. No touching. No crowding. No blanket hogging.”

She kept her eyes averted, but she caught the flash of bare skin, the more than impressive length of a thick, savagely ready erection jutting out from his body as he walked to his side of the bed.

Her mouth watered. Now that was impressive. Evidently, all of his body was proportional; it boggled the mind.

The bed dipped, the blankets lifted.

“You didn’t say I couldn’t sleep nude.” Satisfaction filled his voice. “You are welcome to crowd me anytime, Ariel. I will make no objections.”