Page 96 of A Wicked Game

“And I suppose if we ever have children,” Harriet said softly, “I’ll be responsible for creating even more dastardly Davieses.”

He turned to her. “Do you want children?”

Harriet considered this for only a moment. “Well, yes, I’d like to have some eventually, if possible. But I want you to myself for a little while first, if you don’t mind? I want some adventures with just the two of us.”

Morgan nodded. “That’s fine with me.”

Harriet sent him a naughty glance from under her lashes. “Speaking of adventures… I assume there are some beds in this ridiculously large house?”

His brows rose in wicked interest. “Why, Miss Montgomery. Surely you’re not suggesting we make use of them?”

She took the candle from his hand and started up the imposing staircase. He followed with flattering alacrity.

“As a matter of fact, I am.”

Chapter Forty-Two

The first bedroom Harriet found sported an imposing four-poster bed, and she sent Morgan an accusing look when she saw it had already been dressed with fresh linens, pillows, and a luxurious-looking counterpane.

“You, Morgan Davies, are extremely presumptuous.”

“Hopeful,” he amended with a chuckle. “I was hopeful. As a captain I learned to plan for all eventualities.”

He took the candle from her hand and went around the room, lighting an assortment of lamps and bending to kindle the fire that had been laid in the grate. When he finished, he came to stand in front of her, and the hungry look in his eyes made her heart pound in earnest.

His gaze dropped to her lips; they tingled in response.

“When I was alone, locked in my cell, I closed my eyes and imagined you there with me.”

His voice was serious, but she couldn’t resist teasing him, just a little. “You wanted me to suffer too? To share in your punishment?”

He shook his head. “If you’d been there, neither of us would have suffered. I would have passed the time by kissing you. Making love with you. Hours would have stretched to infinity. Time would have ceased to exist. I could have stayed in there forever. All I need is you.”

Her heart felt like it was opening like a flower. “Perhaps you should demonstrate?”

His gaze flashed back to hers and her heart somersaulted at the wicked promise she read there. “My pleasure.”

His fingers, when he slid them around the nape of her neck, were warm and ever so slightly rough, and when he kissed her she felt time slip away, just as he’d promised.

“Wait!” she panted breathlessly. “This time, I want to see you naked.”

His face was a picture of surprise, which quickly changed to a look of arrogant amusement. “Iknewyou’d hate not seeing everything. An incomplete map drives you insane.”

Harriet scowled at how well he knew her. “It’s only fair. You’ve seenmenaked.”

“Very well.” He gestured to one of the large wing armchairs that flanked the fire. “Take a seat.”

Bemused, and enchanted by his playfulness, she sank into the chair, and watched with unashamed enthusiasm as he made quick work of stripping off his jacket and cravat. He toed off his boots, then pulled the tails of his shirt out of his breeches and sent her a teasing, questioning glance.

She made a regal motion with her hand. “Off with it, Davies.”

“Aye aye, ma’am.”

Her mouth grew dry as he tossed the linen aside to reveal the glorious expanse of tawny chest and a ridged abdomen sprinkled with hair.

Dear Lord, he was beautiful.His arms rippled with muscle and her fingers itched to touch him, to feel the astonishing topography of those dips and curves. He was an entire continent: flat planes and mountain ridges,blue-veined rivers and shadowed clefts just begging to be explored.

She meant to tell him this. But all that emerged from her mouth was a strangled wheeze: “Huhhhh.”

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