Secrets, Spies & Sweet Little Lies (Secrets & Spies)

by Kingston, Tara

  Of all times for him to lose his head over a woman. He’d always prided himself on his common sense and logic. But at the age of thirty-one, he was acting like a smitten schoolboy.

  His duty was to protect Emma, even from himself. And yet, he’d called her bluff, throwing out the invitation to a midnight rendezvous like a challenge.

  If she came to him, he wouldn’t be able to resist her.

  With any luck, her teasing smile and sultry touch had been nothing more than an act. By this time of night, she’d probably locked herself away in her room with the quilt tucked up to the frilly lace on her collar.

  But if she came to him, he’d never have the strength to send her away.

  * * *

  Emma stared at the clock on the bedside table. Nearly midnight.

  Was Cole waiting for her? Or had he fallen into an exhausted slumber, not expecting her to take up the gauntlet he’d cast at her feet?

  She’d slipped out of her day dress, removed her corset, and covered her chemise with a kimono-like dressing gown that belonged to one of his cousins.

  I won’t settle for one night.

  She’d seen the truth in his eyes. He’d meant every word.

  He didn’t seek a quick tumble to sate his hunger.

  He wanted her.

  The thrill in her heart bolstered her courage. She felt bold and determined and fearless. And yet, her pulse thrummed like harp strings beneath nimble fingers and her stomach did a series of acrobatic little flips.

  If she went to him…

  When she went to him…

  What passed between them would be indelible. There’d be no turning back. But this would be her choice.

  Cole had given her that gift, the time to decide—the time to choose him, or another path, another man, another future.

  Tugging the dressing gown’s sash snug around her, she tiptoed from her chamber. Shoeless, she tread noiselessly over the scrubbed oak floor, stopping at the end of the corridor.

  At the door to the room she knew so well.

  Swallowing hard against the lump in her throat, she lifted her hand and knocked softly.

  He beckoned her to enter, the words a husky rasp. Her breath hovering in her lungs, she turned the knob. The door swung open without so much as a creak. The breath eased from her lips in a little puff. And then, it caught again as her eyes lit on Cole.

  He lounged on the bed, hands lazily behind his head. The glimmer of an oil lamp danced over the strong, etched planes of his face and the dark stubble emerging on his jaw. A wave of feminine yearning washed over her. There’d be no turning back. She needed him. More now than ever.

  His gaze lingered over her face. As his mouth hitched into a half-smile, another wave of desire swept her away.

  Bare to the waist, his dark trousers skimmed his hipbones. Despite his deceptively relaxed position, corded muscles in his upper arms bulged, taut with restrained strength. Deep brown hair feathered over his broad chest, tapering over the flat plane of his abdomen to a sleek line that disappeared beneath his waistband.

  Emma’s mouth went as parched as sand beneath a desert sun.

  She’d seen him unclothed before. His state of undress should not leave her speechless and breathless and utterly lacking coherent thought. But somehow, matters had been different when he was ill and she’d nursed him through the fever that ravaged his body.

  Now, he eyed her with the hunger of a vital man in his prime. Every nerve in her body hummed with the force of his need. Traces of his scent—shaving soap and bay rum and the man she adored—teased her nostrils, stirring her longings.

  His eyes narrowed and his brows quirked.

  “Emma, do you intend to close the door…or are you leaving yourself an escape route?”

  In response, she pressed the door shut and turned the key.

  “I’ve no need for that.” A miracle that she could utter the words when her heart crept into her throat.

  He shifted on the mattress, slinging his long legs off the bed. Her stomach did another elaborate somersault as his feet hit the floor. His smile faded as he prowled toward her. “Is that so? You don’t look entirely sure.”

  Oh God, how could she speak when her heart galloped and leapt and throbbed?

  She pulled in a slow draught of air, as if that would calm her rampaging pulse.

  He reached for her, cupping her cheek against his palm. “I won’t do anything you don’t want me to do. You know that, don’t you?” When she nodded, his hands dipped lower and he caught the ends of the sash in his hands, tugging her close. “Tell me what you want, Emma.”

  She managed a smile as her heart’s mad dash slowed to a trot. “I’d think that would be readily apparent.”

  He coiled one arm around her. “Would you like me to kiss you?”

  When she nodded, she thought he’d claim her. Instead, he drew the pad of his thumb over her lower lip.

  “You’re so damn beautiful, Emma.”

  His hand glided down her back, settling low on her hip. The hard ridge of his arousal pressed into belly. He wanted her. There was no denying that. And yet, he caressed her cheek, drinking her in with his eyes

  “Tell me why you came to me tonight.” The warmth in his gravel-edged notes warmed her like a slow-burning fire.

  “For you.” Though scarcely louder than a whisper, the truth bridged the distance between them. His body went taut.

  “Do you want me to touch you?”

  “Yes.” The simplest of words, and yet, her answer held the power to change her forever. Not only her body, but her heart. Her soul.

  Her sash floated to the floor. Gently, he stripped away the gown. The silky fabric glided over her shoulders, drifting to pool behind her heels as soundlessly as a leaf coming to rest on the forest floor.

  His sharp, indrawn breath spoke louder than any poetic phrase he might utter. He dipped his head, anointing her newly bared flesh with kisses as tender as they were fiery.

  Shuttering her eyes, she drank in the decadent sensations. Cole’s lips blazed a path from her earlobe to the hollow at the base of her throat. His mouth lingered over the spot between her collarbone and shoulder, ruthlessly extracting soft moans and sighs with each heated caress.

  “After tonight, everything will be different.” He kissed her again, a gentle sweep of his lips against hers. “There will be no going back.”

  An unspoken plea burned in his eyes. She coiled her arms around his neck, meeting his gaze. Sweet emotion scalded the back of her throat. But this was no time for tears. This was a time for joy. Threading her fingers through his hair, she dragged his mouth to hers.

  “I want you. Only you.”

  “Emma, you don’t know how much I need you.”

  The touch of his lips sent ripple after ripple of delicious need though her. She molded herself to the solid strength of his body. His kiss was a claim staked to her heart.

  When he eased his mouth from hers, the intensity of his gaze shot a current of pure longing to her core. Her knees wobbled, but he held her secure in his arms.

  “Emma, I need you to listen.”

  She nodded, though what she wanted to do more than anything was kiss him again.

  “I won’t settle for just one night.” Edged with passion, his pronouncement set her heart into another fierce gallop.

  Choking back the scalding emotion welled in her throat, she raised up to press her mouth to his.

  “I know.”

  And then, he claimed her again, the heat of his kiss searing her to the core.

  Cole’s touch was pleasure incarnate. His lips traced a sensual path along her nape to her shoulder. His warm breath teased her as his rigid shaft nestled against the softness at the crux of her thighs, tempting her to total surrender. She arched her back to cradle his length while his hands explored her, each brush of his fingertips against her flesh tender, reverent.

  He tugged her chemise up and over her head, whisking the thin gown from her body.

  �
��You’re more perfect than I ever imagined.”

  She flushed clear to her toes. If only she’d thought to douse the light. As if reading her thoughts, he slowly shook his head.

  “You’re not going to hide in the darkness. I want to see you.” He let out a breath. “All of you.”

  She covered her breasts with her hands. “This is quite unfair. I’m standing here without a stitch to cover me—”

  His arms went around her, stealing away the words perched on the tip of her tongue. A smile curved the corners of his mouth, and suddenly, her feet no longer touched the ground. He held her, a willing, delighted captive in his arms.

  “A man could get used to this.” Carnal interest gleamed in his eyes as he carried her to the bed. His gaze swept over her, warming every inch of her flesh. He studied her, his expression solemn, reverent.

  “You’re beautiful, Emma. Even prettier than I imagined.”

  His confession scorched her already heated skin. “You thought about me…like this?”

  He nodded. Slowly. As if recalling a fond reminiscence. “Every damn night.” His mouth hitched at one corner. “And most of the day, too.”

  “And when I bathed…in the stream?”

  The corner of his mouth went higher. “Especially then.”

  “I knew you were incorrigible.”

  Another shake of his head. Slower. More deliberate. “Nope. Just a man.” He lowered himself to the bed and stretched out beside her. His hand combed through her hair, lingering and gentle. “A man who wants you more than he’s ever wanted anything in his life.”

  The raspy notes of truth in his voice sparked a blaze of joy deep within her. How she wanted this man. She needed his touch and his kiss and his love. She needed him, with a desperation that was new and wondrous and utterly breathtaking.

  But she couldn’t surrender. Not entirely. Not yet.

  “You’re still incorrigible. I knew you peeked at me.”

  His shoulders lifted and fell. “Not as much as I wanted to. If my common sense hadn’t won that argument, I would have peeled that flimsy shift off your body and had you right then.”

  A decadent image filled her head. She hadn’t thought it possible to feel more heat kindling in her skin.

  She was entirely mistaken.

  “Outside? On the grass?”

  “On the grass. In the cabin. Under the stars, with your back to a tree and your legs wrapped around me.”

  Oh, my. The very thought of giving herself to Cole…under a midnight sky, consumed by passions both tender and carnal…

  Primal longing coiled in her belly.

  He watched her for the span of a heartbeat, then another, seeming to read her thoughts. The sensuous curve of his lips nearly undid her. She was ready to curl her fingers over the waistband of his trousers and drag her down to him.

  Still, she couldn’t concede how desperately she wanted him.

  “Now, I get to see you.” Was that really her voice, soft and breathy and wanton?

  “We’ve got all night.”

  He sounded so calm, so reasonable, and yet, an undercurrent of passion infused every gravel-edged word. Wrapping one trouser-clad leg over her, he rained soft kisses over her throat.

  “Let me love you, Emma. All night.”

  She reached for him, her hands trembling as she explored his torso, savoring the texture of compact muscle and crisp, dark hair beneath her fingertips. Notes of musk blended with the essence of a clean, healthy male to create an intoxicating elixir. She drank it in.

  The feel of him. The smell of him. The taste of him as her tongue darted out, anointing him with each fleeting brush against his skin.

  His hands swept over her body in unhurried exploration. She moaned, barely a whisper of sound, and clasped his shoulders. Her untried body pressed to his in an instinctive motion, pleading without shame to bring their love to its ultimate fulfillment.

  “I need you, Emma,” he murmured against the curve of her throat. “So damn much.”

  He cupped one breast, his callused skin teasing her with delicate, tender strokes, drawing the most delicious pleasure from each touch. His head dipped, taking the place of his hand. His tongue circled one nipple, then the other, until her flesh peaked beneath his mouth’s gentle caress.

  Cole traced the pebbled buds until she moved against him in a wordless cry for fulfillment. And then, he ruthlessly upped the stakes. Seeking and finding the aching flesh at the junction of her thighs, he concentrated his attentions on the exquisitely sensitive nub at her core.

  A hushed moan escaped her and she murmured his name, needing his touch, needing him.

  “Ah, Emma.” Masculine satisfaction flowed through his husky rasp like a caress.

  Kissing her with leisurely abandon, he increased her sensual longing. Stroking small, tender circles with his thumb, he parted her with his fingers, exploring her softness while he teased her to the brink of a hunger unlike any she’d ever experienced.

  Emma arched against the gentle invasion, each panting breath an unspoken plea for more. She reached for him, brazenly working the buttons on his pants. He placed his hand over hers.

  “Not yet.”

  Guiding her to the hard ridge of his arousal, he pulled in a breath that seemed a hiss. “Feel what you do to me, Emma.”

  The rigid length beneath the fabric of his trousers pulsed, living steel beneath her touch. A fresh wave of carnal heat dueled with a lightning jolt of panic. Her pulse sped and her mouth went dry as desire swirled at her core.

  “It’s so…you’re so—”

  Cole throaty laugh warmed her like a well-kindled fire. “You will be ready for me. Our bodies were made to be together.”

  She splayed her hand over his chest. Muscle tensed beneath her touch. His skin was smooth, yet coarser than hers, and the sable whorls on his chest tickled her fingertips.

  “You’re hard…everywhere,” she murmured.

  “A man’s supposed to be, all those places where a woman’s soft and curved and beautiful.”

  She met his gaze with a shy smile. “I want to see you.”

  He grinned that slightly lopsided smile of his. “Anything to please a lady.”

  Her fingers resumed the task of freeing him. One button released, then another. His arousal escaped the confines of his trousers.

  She curved one hand around the velvet smooth shaft and traced its length. Learning the feel of him. Learning how the most delicate touch of her fingertips against his male flesh could cause him to grit his teeth, as if fighting for control.

  Learning he was as much hers to pleasure as she would be his.

  Cole dragged in a breath, his chest expanding and contracting with an almost violent effort. With an agile movement, he shed both his pants and his drawers and kicked them away.

  He prowled over her. His heat and his scent and his touch enveloped her, and she drank it in with a thirst she knew could never be entirely quenched. His heavy arousal pressed to her softness, and he kissed her, the caress both tender and desperate, a tantalizing promise of the claim he’d stake.

  “You’re ready for me, Emma.”

  The words weren’t spoken as a question, but she read the hesitation in his eyes. He wouldn’t claim her until he was absolutely sure she wanted this. Wanted him.

  “Yes.” The single word came out like a murmur against his lips.

  He reached for her hands, twining his fingers with hers. And all the while, his body nestled between the cradle of her thighs. She opened to him, welcoming his possession.

  She closed her eyes, drinking in every sensation as he entered her. Stretching her. Filling her. Embedding his body within hers.

  He stilled. Emma’s lids fluttered open, and she saw the strain of control etched on his brow and the set of his jaw. He’d come to that barrier she was supposed to treasure, the tangible manifestation of her innocence.

  He didn’t want to hurt her. Didn’t he realize the agony if he pulled away would be far greater than the
fleeting pain his possession would inflict?

  She canted her hips, urging him on.

  “There will be no turning back.” Again, his eyes questioned her, giving her this one last reprieve.

  “I want this,” she managed, a miracle when her heart seemed to have stopped and her breath came in ragged pants. “I want you.”

  He squeezed her hands, and then, he plunged into her warmth, filling her completely.

  Pain broke through her desire-cloaked haze. Sharp, yet fleeting. A hushed cry escaped her, and he stilled, whispering words of love and adoration and desire against her lips.

  His arousal pulsed within the sheath of her body. Perspiration beaded on his forehead, and he released one hand to draw a feather-light fingertip over the curve of her face. Lowering his head to press light kisses along the slope of her throat, he tenderly rekindled the fire in her core.

  As her breaths steadied, his body rocked in an easy rhythm, gently stirring her arousal until she tangled her fingers through his hair. Instinct drove her movements, and she drew him in, deeper and deeper, bringing their glorious sensual tension to a shattering peak.

  Wild with passion, she clutched his back as the cascading sensations swept her away from shore like a rogue wave. Her inner muscles convulsed around his length, the force of her climax propelling her to a swirling abyss. She could only cling to him, trusting him with her body, with her heart.

  Cole muffled her cry of pleasure with mouth, his tongue twining with hers in a final caress before he surged into her.

  The powerful thrust filled her more completely than she’d ever dreamed. His body shuddered and he groaned, a deep, animal sound. Feminine satisfaction surged within her.

  “You’re mine, Emma.” The words were ragged and hushed and infinitely tender. “And you always will be.”

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  A nightmare tore Emma from her slumber. Rubbing her sleepy eyes, she rolled onto her side. Moonlight slivered between the curtains and the window, casting the room in iridescent silver and shadows. The faint beams danced over the strong planes of Cole’s face. He shifted in his sleep, mumbling a few barely audible words as he reached for her. His nearness comforted her, and she nestled against his chest, his heartbeat thrumming beneath her. How she’d longed for such closeness, the sense of connectedness with a man that transcended pleasure and passion and pain.