Tempting Danger: Sinclair and Raven series

by Vella, Wendy

  “Nicholas?”

  He was standing in the doorway looking inside when he heard her voice. Turning, he found Alice a few feet away.

  “Why are you lurking about in our gardens?”

  She wore a coat pulled on over her nightdress. Boots were on her feet, and all that beautiful raven hair was loose around her shoulders, just like when she came to him in the visions. She looked like a deliciously rumpled angel.

  “Go back to bed, Alice.” The words came out gruff.

  Of course she didn’t, Alice was nothing if not consistently willful. Instead she moved closer. Nicholas felt the ridiculous urge to run... very fast in the opposite direction.

  “I don’t understand why you are here.” She stopped close enough so all he had to do to touch her was reach out a hand. His fingers itched to run a long ribbon of black silk through them as he kissed her.

  “How did you know I was here?”

  “Something woke me. I looked out the window and saw you.”

  “You saw my face from your window on the second floor? I thought Wolf and Dev were the ones with heightened vision.” His voice was remarkably calm considering his heart was thudding hard.

  She didn’t want to answer him.

  Another thought occurred to him. “Tell me you are speaking the truth and saw me from your window, and that you were not wandering about out here alone?” The thought made him go cold. “Alice, you can’t—”

  “No. I knew it was you because... well, because I just did. I felt it was you.” The last words were almost whispered.

  He knew what she meant. It was no different for Nicholas; he felt when Alice was near.

  “Alice, you need to go back to your room now.” Nicholas said the words with more force than they required.

  “I know.” She didn’t move. “Are you all right, Nicholas? The fire was so horrible for you, to lose everything like that.”

  “I am well. Now please, Alice. Go to your bed.” Even as he spoke the words, his fingers closed hers inside his.

  “Why are you here, Nicholas?”

  He pulled her closer, and then backed into the gazebo, taking her with him.

  “I was checking you were all safe.” He couldn’t come up with a convincing lie, so he settled on the truth.

  “All of us? Have you been around all the houses in this street that have a Raven or Sinclair inside them?”

  “Maybe.”

  “You have.”

  “I have,” he grunted, uncomfortable with her words.

  “That is a very nice thing to do.”

  “I’m not nice,” Nicholas said, pulling her closer. So close that her body lightly brushed his. “In fact, right now my thoughts are anything but nice, Alice. You need to leave.”

  “I know.” She rose to her toes and kissed him.

  It was like a flame igniting kindling. His body sparked to life. The day’s emotions suddenly caught up with him. Nicholas wrapped her in his arms and kissed her with all the need and hunger he felt. His appetite for this woman was ferocious; he’d just hidden it behind a veneer of civility. The veneer was now ripped away.

  “Open your mouth.”

  She did, and he took their kiss deeper, his hands finding the opening of her jacket and sliding inside. He cupped her buttocks and moved up her body, mapping each curve.

  “I can think of nothing but you.” He breathed the words against her lips.

  “I am the same.” Her hands were on his shoulders, touching his neck, moving wherever they could reach. His control was in tatters.

  “This is folly, Alice.” He gripped her waist and eased her back off his aching body. He must try one more time. “I will take you back now.”

  “I don’t want to go back.”

  “Wh-what are you doing?”

  She was unbuttoning her jacket. Nicholas felt a surge of lust so fierce it nearly forced a moan from his lips. He watched as she dropped the coat, and now stood before him in a white nightdress. Moonlight showed him the curves beneath. The gentle swell of her breasts, the sweet outline of her limbs.

  Nicholas could smell her; soft and alluring, her scent seemed to wrap around him, enticing him.

  “I am not brave enough to do the rest before you.” Her hands went to the buttons at her neck. “Help me, Nicholas.”

  And with that one innocent plea, he closed the distance between them again. Slipping a hand beneath her hair, he cupped her cheek.

  “God help me, I cannot resist you.”

  He took her lips again, placing light touches on her mouth, easing the soft, trembling lips apart. He could taste her sweet innocence, and never before had he felt such an intense need to be with a woman. His body fired to life; blood flowed through his veins, urging him to pull her closer.

  Her hands pushed the jacket off his shoulder, then he felt her fingers on his waistcoat. He stepped back and removed them, his eyes holding hers.

  “Alice—”

  “No words, Nicholas.” She pressed her fingers to his lips. “Please, I want this with you.”

  He took her hand, kissing her fingers. “I cannot offer for you until there is no longer any danger. I will not allow anything to happen to you.”

  “I know that.”

  “But we will marry, my sweet.”

  “Yes.”

  “Be sure, Alice.”

  “I am, very sure.”

  She reached for the hem of her nightdress, and his breath lodged in his throat as she eased it up and over her head, exposing her lovely body.

  “So beautiful,” he rasped, mapping every inch of her with his eyes, right down to the delicate turn of her ankles. Lifting a hand, he touched the curve of a full breast, moving to circle a taut nipple with his finger. Her eyes closed as he continued the gentle torment.

  “Just feel, Alice.”

  “I-I… it feels wonderful. I have never experienced the like before.”

  “I should hope not.” He growled the words against her lips.

  “Barty and I kissed, but it was never like this.”

  “I don’t want to hear about you and him.” He pushed the hair behind her shoulders and kissed her neck.

  “I’m sure your experience is vaster than mine,” she babbled. “Women are not forgiven for promiscuity like men.”

  Her words forced a bark of laughter from him.

  “Be quiet now, Alice.”

  “I was just—”

  “I know, now be quiet.” He cupped her breasts, then lowered his head and kissed them.

  “Ohhh.” Alice’s body jerked at the sensation. She could do nothing but feel. Every touch, every kiss heightened the growing need inside her. His gentle caresses were like a form of torture that had soft sighs and moans coming from her lips.

  She felt his hands on her stomach and tensed as one moved lower.

  “I will not hurt you.”

  “I know.”

  His eyes held hers as the hand descended, fingers now stroking the curls above her thighs.

  “How do you know?”

  “Because you are a good man.”

  “And yet here I stand on your brother’s property about to ravish you, an innocent, and can do nothing to stop myself.”

  “But I wish to be ravished; that is the difference.”

  His fingers moved lower, and then he was there, his hand stroking her secret places. He touched the soft folds, then the hard bud between her thighs, and Alice felt the tension inside her climb to an unbearable height. It was wicked, delicious, and more than she had ever hoped to experience. Each touch, each sensation had her wanting more. She was so totally focused on the man who held her and the riot of sensations he was creating within her. And then he slowly pushed his fingers inside her, once, twice, and Alice felt the tension bubble over as wave after wave of ecstasy crashed through her.

  Nicholas pulled her into his chest as she slumped forward.

  “That was q-quite spectacular,” Alice found the strength to say into his neck.

  “Qui
te spectacular?” The words were hoarse in her ear.

  “Exceptionally spectacular?”

  “Better, but there is so much more, sweetheart.”

  Alice shuddered as he lifted her hair and caressed the length of her neck.

  “I want to touch you too, Nicholas. I have little experience, but with your direction....”

  “You do not need experience or direction, Alice, just touch me.”

  She unbuttoned his shirt and pushed it from his body. Mapping every inch of his chest with her hands, Alice acknowledged how fine he was. Each muscle was defined, the planes of his stomach taut.

  “Barty is flabby.”

  “Alice,” he growled.

  “I am teasing you. I have never seen him without his shirt.”

  “Excellent. I would have to kill him if you had.”

  She almost believed him, but he was a good man, she reminded herself.

  She kissed his brow and cheeks and then placed a hot open-mouthed kiss like he had with her at the base of his neck, which made him moan. Her hands continued to stroke his chest, down to the waistband of his breeches.

  “More,” he whispered, urging her lips to his for a kiss. “I need more of you, Alice.”

  “Yes.”

  He grabbed her hand and tugged as he walked backward to where a daybed stood.

  “It seems Lord Chartley needed somewhere to rest as he ran between houses.”

  She watched as he sat and removed his boots, then returned to his feet to lower his breeches. He was beautiful, even if what she saw terrified her.

  “I could never have a husband that wanted another,” Alice managed to get out before her throat dried up completely.

  “Is that a warning for me, Alice?”

  She shook her head as her eyes went slowly down his body.

  “I— You are beautiful.”

  “No, you are beautiful. If you must compliment me, I am handsome. Men don’t like to be beautiful.”

  “But you are.”

  He reached for her, settling both hands on her hips.

  “Come here, sweetheart.”

  Alice felt her stomach flutter at the endearment. He settled her on his thighs, hers outside his. She felt exposed.

  “It’s all right.” He kissed her again. Slow and sensual, gently reawakening her passions. Wicked fingers touched her, stroking the tension back to an unbearable peak inside her once more.

  “Be sure, Alice?” He rested his forehead on hers. “There is no going back after this.”

  “I-I don’t want to go back. Do you?”

  His laugh was forced. “Is that a trick question? Because I’ve wanted you since that first kiss we shared.”

  “Oh... really?”

  “Really. Trust me to keep you safe, Alice,” he whispered as he pulled her closer until she could feel him there, pressing at the entrance of her body. His hands cupped her breasts, large thumbs stroking her nipples, and she arched toward him, eager for more. He pushed inside her, past her innocence, until he was buried deep inside her tight sheath.

  “It’s alright, sweetheart,” he soothed as she pressed her face into his shoulder. “You feel so good, Alice.”

  She felt stretched with him inside her, and yet she wanted this, felt so much emotion that it nearly choked her.

  “Take control, Alice. Rise on your knees and lower yourself back down.”

  Slowly she braced her knees beside his hips and rose. “Oooh,” she whispered as she sat back down. The sensation was unbelievable. Her muscles clenched around him as she repeated the action, the glide of his swollen flesh teasing her inner walls was almost more than she could take. There was pain, but also pleasure. So much pleasure.

  Nicholas cupped her hips and came off the bed as she dropped down, a move that made them both moan. Soon the sound of their harsh breathing filled the small room. Alice caught her lip between her teeth to stop further sounds.

  “No! I want all of you, Alice. Let me hear your cries of passion.”

  She did cry his name out loud as she felt it again, that wonderful rush of ecstasy. Nicholas followed, crushing her to him. He then fell backward onto the bed with her still in his arms. She felt his hand on the back of her head; it was a gesture Wolf often made. Protection, I’m here for you.

  “Alice, are you all right?”

  “I am, however, I have grave doubts I can use my legs again.”

  He laughed into her hair. In that moment, she felt closer to him than anyone in her life before. It was almost overwhelming.

  “We will marry, Alice.”

  “I’d always hoped that when the time came, someone would ask me nicely.”

  He lifted her high until her eyes were level with his.

  “I want you for my wife, shrew.” He kissed her gently. “Please.”

  “Oh well, as you asked so nicely.”

  “Besides, from what I understand about you Sinclairs, you cannot marry unless you save your future intended, and you’ve done that with me already. Then there’s the small matter of you not being able to hear when I’m close—”

  “Who told you that?”

  “Cam.”

  “It’s true,” Alice said, resting on his chest once more. “And extremely unusual when you’ve heard everything your entire life.”

  “I like it.”

  “I do too,” Alice admitted.

  “But we cannot wed until the danger has passed. This goes no further than between us. I cannot have someone using you against me.”

  “Nicholas, I don’t want you hurt, and surely it is better if—”

  “In this I will not be swayed, Alice. I can’t allow someone to harm you because of me.”

  “Oh, very well.”

  She did not know how long they lay there talking, but it was the most wonderful night of her life. He shared his past with her, and she heard how much the man he’d been still affected him.

  “Gambling is an addiction to me, Alice.”

  “And you have no wish to do it again?”

  “I don’t and won’t gamble for money. The only reason I would ever be forced to do so would be if I had no other choice.”

  “Then let us hope that never comes to pass. Nicholas, I met a lady today called Meggie. She lost a child also.”

  “Another one,” he sighed.

  She told him about what she’d learned.

  “Mrs. Adley again.”

  “I don’t want you hurt, but something must be done.”

  “I will take care, I promise, Alice. But I cannot back away from this now.” He rolled until she was beneath him. She saw the emotion in his eyes as he looked down at her. Felt it in her heart.

  “I know you cannot, but please be careful.”

  He kissed her. “I care for you very much, Alice Sinclair.”

  “And I you.”

  “It’s you who come to me at night in my visions. You who demand that I find those babes and return them to their parents.”

  “Oh, Nicholas, really?”

  “Really. You stand there in a white dress with your hair flowing around your shoulders, looking like an angel. Demanding I do something. You consume me both night and day, Alice.”

  “It is no different for me.”

  “Good. I have no wish to suffer alone.”

  Those words were enough for now. A promise of the future that they would share. There was no talk of love, but there was time for that. For now, she would hold her happiness inside and wait for the day when she could let it free.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  “What is the report on the damages to your home, Nicholas?” Dev asked.

  He was in the breakfast parlor eating with the family... all of them. The twins, Warwick, and Mathew, who was exact image of his father but ate with the same ferocity as his uncle Cam.

  “Not good, I’m afraid. The inside is completely gutted. I will need to find somewhere else until I can decide what to do.”

  “You can stay with us, Uncle Nicholas,” Hannah sa
id. She sat to Nicholas’s right, Meredith on his knee, making eating difficult as every mouthful he put to his lips she wanted in her mouth.

  “Have you told him?” Wolf and Cam wandered in, followed by Max.

  “Good morning, and no I have not. I was getting around to it,” Dev said.

  “’Lo.” Meredith beamed at her uncles.

  “It has been four days since the fire. I think it time you told him,” Wolf said, picking up Hannah and hugging her close.

  “Told me what? Is Alice all right, and Kate?” he added quickly.

  “My sisters are their usual annoying selves.”

  “Mathew, is that a moth on the window?”

  The boy fell for the ploy by Cam and looked left. His uncle stole the large slice of ham from his plate.

  “Right then, let’s go,” Max said. “On your feet, Nicholas.”

  “But where am I going to?” Handing Meredith to Somer, he followed the men from the room.

  “All will be revealed shortly.”

  Four nights ago, he’d made love to Alice. Sweet, sensual love that left him reeling. Left his heart full and his chest tight with need for her. He hadn’t seen her since, and the longing was growing each day. But this was for the best.

  He wanted Alice safe, and for that she couldn’t associate with him. If whoever was responsible for burning his house saw them together, they’d know what lay between them. Their families would also know, and they would demand answers. As it stood, he wasn’t entirely sure they hadn’t begun to suspect, especially Cam.

  “What are you not telling me?” he asked, hoping someone would answer.

  “Patience, Nicholas. Now tell us, what is happening with your investigations? Has Mr. Spriggot unearthed anything?” Cam asked him.

  “No. I saw him yesterday and apprised him of the latest news. Plus what Alice told me.”

  He realized too late where she had told him. As she lay on his chest, relaxed and sated after they made love.

  “What did she tell you?” Wolf’s brows drew together.

  “She has not told you?” Nicholas looked away. Wolf saw too much with those eyes of his, as Dev did.

  “If she had, I would not be asking.”

  He told them about the other woman, Meggie Todd, who Alice had come across that day she was shopping.