Page 32 of Seducing the Knave

She sat up in a rush.

He was gone. So was her knife.

The skirts of her petticoats were bunched and wrinkled across her lap, revealing nearly the full length of her stocking-clad legs all the way up to her bare thighs.

Mumbling an expletive beneath her breath, Elle rose from the bed then paused to press her hands flat against her stomach, where the trembling had not yet subsided.

What on earth had just happened?

The man had gone from warm and sleepy to menacing and cruel in a heartbeat...then just as quickly shifted again to tender and intimate before sliding into rakish amusement. His behavior made her head spin. And also seemed to light her body on fire.

He was unlike anyone she’d ever known before. He confused her and infuriated her by turns. But he had stayed true to his word. He hadn’t ravished her. He hadn’t even kissed her.

Not that she’d wanted him to.

As long as the scoundrel kept to his promise to get her safely to London, she’d just have to find a way to endure his wild and moody manner for the remaining hours of their journey.

She did her best to dress quickly. Unfortunately, her corset proved to be a frustrating challenge. Loosening it last night had been difficult in itself, but tightening it was another thing entirely. In order to fit into the slim bodice of her gown, the corset would need to cinch her in quite tightly. But with the laces running up her back, she couldn’t twist her arms around to the angle required to pull the corded string with enough strength.

“Time’s up.”

Max’s voice came from rather close behind her, causing an instant flare of alarm through her body. She hadn’t even heard him reenter the room.

Her breath caught sharply and she didn’t immediately answer. But he must have realized the situation as he added, “Just do away with the cursed thing.”

She refused to turn around as she replied curtly, “The fit of my gown requires it.”

A rough sound rumbled from his chest and then he was there—standing behind her. His legs stirred the fall of her petticoats and his breath warmed her shoulder. His large hands covered hers where they grasped her corset strings in tight fists.

“Let go.”

Two words. Quietly commanding. Smoothly insistent.

“I’m fine,” she muttered through clenched teeth.

His voice lowered his voice to a dark whisper. “Ye can admit to needin’ me, luv. I won’t tell a soul.”

With a huff of annoyance, she retorted, “I don’t need you. I can manage well enough.”

“I said let go,” he repeated in a near growl.

To fight him now felt unnecessarily anti-productive, especially since she knew full well that she did need him. Why on earth did she feel such a constant need to be contrary around him? Was it simply that she felt compelled to challenge him as much as he did her?

As her hands loosened on the strings, his tightened, taking them easily from her grip.

“Take a breath in,” he whispered. “And out. Slowly.”

Sparks of sensation made her light-headed but she did what he asked. The corset tightened, compressing her lungs and forcing a breathy puff of air through her lips. After he tied the strings in a knot, she would have stepped away. But when she raised her gaze from where it had been fixated to the floor, she was surprised to spot her reflection across the room.

The oval mirror was tucked into the corner near the tub and gave a full view of her standing in her undergarments with her hair falling in messy curls over one shoulder and Max standing behind her. His height and the trim, muscled breadth of him were unnerving when taken in such close visual comparison to her petite form. Her head was practically tucked in beneath his chin and his shoulders fully framed her own and then some.

A tingling awareness of his total physical dominance trickled through her, tightening her breath as a trembling invaded her belly. And though he’d lowered his hands to his sides after tying off her corset and not a single part of him touched a single part of her, she somehow felt held by him.

Suddenly breathless and strangely light-headed, she sought his gaze in the reflection only to find him staring quite intensely back at her. Even the distance and the slight distortion of the mirror could not dim the feral gleam in his eyes.

Her entire body responded with a swirling storm of sensation through every corner of her being. Her blood heated in a rush, her insides turned molten, and her thoughts scattered like sparks in the dark.

Something deep and powerful seemed to pass through them in that moment.

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