She lay beneath him, spread and open to his gaze and touch like a pagan offering to the gods. An offering to him.
He cupped the fullness of her breasts in his hands, lightly dragging his thumbs across the tight pink peaks. Violet gasped in pleasure, her hands coming up to cover his own, a sight that sent a surge of desire straight to his already throbbing cock. Her nipples were so sensitive, so incredibly receptive to his slightest touch. Payen took one between his lips, whipping it with his tongue before he nipped it gently with his teeth. She writhed beneath him, lifting her hips in silent invitation—one he accepted, sliding between her full thighs to push the eager length of him against her hot dampness.
He loved the feel of her. Loved her taste, the texture, the way she moaned. He loved the way she smelled, all heat and moist female, sweet and delicious.
He sucked and pulled at her nipple until it stood red and distended, and her fingers pulled at his hair, then he turned his attentions to the other breast. When he had her grinding herself against him, the slick little cove of her sex beckoning, he knew it was time to move on.
He moved down, planting kisses along the undersides of her breasts, the soft flesh of her rib cage. He swirled his tongue around the small pool of her navel and nuzzled her soft, round belly with his jaw. She shivered against the rasp of his stubble, gasped when he grazed her with his fangs.
Payen knelt between her legs as her hands clutched at his shoulders. The warm, salty scent of her arousal filled his nostrils, flooding him with a longing so great it took all his will to control it.
He parted the lips of her sex with gentle fingers. The first pass of his tongue was a quick lick just to lift her hips off the bed. The second was firmer, had more purpose. Violet moaned her approval, digging her heels into the mattress as she lifted her mons to his mouth. Payen licked again, this time coming in closer so that the light beard on his lip and chin brushed her sensitive skin, so that he could use both his lips and tongue on her.
He laved his tongue relentlessly against her little hooded friend until she was fairly sobbing with pleasure. Then, he slid two fingers into her slick pussy, curving them upward to stroke the tiny ridged wall there. Violet’s hips lifted as her moans intensified, then, Payen pressed his lips against the sweet flesh of her inner thigh and bit.
She came so hard she soaked his fingers as her muscles clamped around them like a vise. Her cries echoed throughout the room and his male pride preened knowing that at least one crewman had to have heard the effects of his prowess. There wasn’t a man alive who was worth his salt who didn’t understand what it was to make a woman scream with pleasure.
Payen’s smugness was short-lived, for the next thing he knew he was on his back and Violet was on top of him, straddling his hips and plunging the wet heat of her down onto his aching cock with such abandon that soon the sheets were tearing under the force of his fists and he was shouting out his own release as Violet sang out for a second time. Just as the tremors began to subside, Violet lowered herself over him so that she could sink her fangs into his shoulder and he into hers, sending another wave after wave of pleasure through each other.
“That was nice,” she said later, tucked into his shoulder as they lay together on the torn and damp sheets.
Payen laughed. “Nice? Woman, you’ll be the death of me.”
Rolling toward him, she lifted herself up onto her elbow. A thick curtain of sable hair fell over her shoulder to pool on his chest. “The death of you? Hardly. I think I’m the life of you, Payen Carr.”
He had to agree, but he pressed anyway. “I lived for centuries before you, you impertinent little chit.”
“You existed,” she corrected arrogantly. “You didn’t start living until that first night with me. Admit it. That’s why you ran away.”
He stared at her. She never failed to amaze him. Lifting a finger, he trailed it down the satiny curve of her cheek. “You’re right. And I almost died when I thought I lost you. I would have followed you into death, Violet. I was so stupid not to see it before, but I would have ended my own life just to find you in another.”
Tears dripped down her cheeks, and Payen’s own eyes burned as well as dampness threatened to spill over.
“You don’t have to turn your back on the Templars,” she told him. “I won’t stand in the way of keeping your promises to them.”
Pulling her close he kissed her. “I love you.”
Violet opened her mouth, but Payen silenced her words with his own. She didn’t have to say she loved him. He felt it in his bones, just as he knew that he could indeed keep his promises to the Templars. In fact, he planned to. But those vows would come a far and distant second to the vows he made to his wife.
About Kathryn Smith
My husband says I have the best job in the world. The only thing that could top being paid to do what I love is if Avon Books decided that all their authors had to be hand-fed chocolate by Hugh Jackman, Gerard Butler, or John Cusack. But my husband probably wouldn’t think so much of my job then, so instead I’ll let him feed me chocolate and go on being forever thankful that I have the best job—and husband—in the world.
www.kathryn-smith.com
By Maggie Shayne
DEMON’S KISS • LOVER’S BITE
By Jeaniene Frost
ONE FOOT IN THE GRAVE • HALFWAY TO THE GRAVE
By Terri Garey
A MATCH MADE IN HELL • DEAD GIRLS ARE EASY
By Kathryn Smith
TAKEN BY THE NIGHT • NIGHT OF THE HUNTRESS
Copyright
This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Weddings From Hell copyright © 2008 by Margaret Benson. “HAPPILY NEVER AFTER” copyright © 2008 by Jeaniene Frost. “GHOULS NIGHT OUT” copyright © 2008 by Terri Garey. “THE WEDDING KNIGHT” copyright © 2008 by Kathryn Smith. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
EPub © Edition APRIL 2008 ISBN: 9780061736902
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