Page 29 of Seducing the Knave

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IT WAS ONLY A FEW HOURS later that Max came fully awake in a swift and sudden rush of awareness. A childhood sleeping on the streets did not allow for anything else when the slightest sound could indicate an impending attack. Assessing his surroundings in the span of an exhale, he determined there was no threat. Just the slight shifting of the female beside him as she slowly stirred to wakefulness.

By the light filtering through the thin curtains, he guessed dawn was breaking. They’d need to be on the road again soon.

Though fully alert now, he still hadn’t moved, so he felt it the second his traveling companion recalled she wasn’t alone in the bed. Her body jolted with sudden tension and her breath caught on a soft gasp.

It was the gasp that did it for him.

If not for that light, breathy sound, he might have allowed her to rise and put a little distance between them before he revealed that he was also awake.

Instead, he just wanted to make her gasp again.

With a low, rumbling groan, he rolled toward her warmth, throwing his arm haphazardly across her middle.

The sound she made was more a strangled whimper than a gasp, but he enjoyed it all the same. And he wanted more.

Giving another sleep-roughened sound, he curved his body around hers. She still lay as she’d fallen asleep, curled on her side facing away from him, and he discovered that her petite form fit perfectly in the concave arch of his. Her rear pressed warmly to his groin and his lips drifted against her nape. He couldn’t resist brushing his mouth more purposely over her skin.

Soft as the finest silk.

Breathing deep, he drew in the scent of warm woman threaded through with hints of violet. It was intoxicating and he automatically tightened his arm around her, drawing her closer. It hadn’t been his direct intention, but he wasn’t mad when he felt the soft weight of her breast pressing against the edge of his hand. Of their own accord, his fingers flexed, seeking more of that feminine fullness.

She gasped then. A sound as sensually stirring as any he’d ever heard. There was undeniable innocence in that swift inhale. A hint of fear and uncertainty he was oddly tempted to soothe. And the suggestion of something else. Something seductive and unexpected.

He was surprised she didn’t immediately shove at him to escape. Aside from the brief tensing, she hadn’t moved at all.

As her breath slowed to an even rhythm, he felt her relax. Her spine softened and she shifted her legs, sliding the knee of her top leg higher on the mattress—causing her rounded rear to bump gently against him.

Max grinned, welcoming the rush of lust to his loins.

He might be gifted with her pleading moans far sooner than he’d expected.

“You said you wouldn’t ravish me,” she said calmly, her voice unwavering.

“I’m not,” he murmured thickly against her nape, loving the feel of her soft skin on his lips. “This is fine enough, but a ravishing is a helluva lot more fun.”

She shifted again, subtly adjusting her position beneath the cover of the blanket. Before he could register what she might be doing, he felt something cold and sharp—like the point of a bloody blade—prod his ribs.

“Is it still fine?” she asked, not even bothering to hide the smug gratification in her tone.

Instinct and anger shot through him like lightning. Ignoring a brief slice of pain, he grabbed her wrist and forced her hand and the knife to the mattress above her head. At the same time, he threw his bare leg over hers and lifted his torso to push her flat to her back beneath him.

Gentian-colored eyes widened in shock and that damned pouty mouth opened on another blood-heating gasp.

“That was a mistake, princess,” he growled.

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