“Did you hear what she screamed at the marshals before they dragged her out?” Luc asked.
“Saying that she’d tried to persuade Martin not to get the artwork? Yes, I heard. Interesting language, huh? She was probably telling the truth. As far as she was concerned, Martin was wealthy enough; she wasn’t worried about future generations. And keeping the artwork on his estate probably shook her even more. She knew very well the search was on for that stuff and likely knew he was under suspicion.”
“I’d say she had good instincts,” Lucas agreed gravely.
Her smile widened. “Well, anyway, it was nice of Martin to break down and confess so we wouldn’t have to stick around for the trial and testify. Our statements made a big enough splash in the newspapers.”
“Big enough for your father to notice, anyway. Did I hear him apologize to you at the wedding?”
“You did. Surprisingly enough.”
Lucas turned her around gently and gazed down at her. He heard, in her steady voice, the sound of a child who had wanted affection so desperately for so many years—and had received none at all. “Give it time, love. Maybe they’ll never change. But maybe they will.”
Kyle slipped her arms up around his neck, smiling. “I know. It isn’t so important to me now, Luc. You’ve given me so much more than I ever expected.”
“I love you,” he murmured, kissing her with tenderness and a slowly building need.
Somewhere between the window and the bed, their robes fell away, and golden morning sunlight followed them warmly.
Feeling so incredibly loved and wanted, Kyle smiled at her man. Her lips parted beneath his, turquoise eyes only half open, beautifully dreamy as they looked into his own. The need to touch him was a constant one, and she obeyed her needs willingly. Her hands molded his shoulders, traced his spine slowly, feathered along his ribs. One silken leg moved slowly to brush his hip in a smooth, tingling caress.
He lifted his head at last, breathing harshly, their gazes locked in a rising fire. He felt one of her hands slide over his chest, the other along his ribs. Her lips were swollen, beautifully red and trembling, her breasts lifting and falling quickly with her shallow breaths. She was looking at him, he realized, moved, as if he were everything she had ever wanted out of life, everything she had ever dreamed of.
And no fantasies of godlike men were reflected in her beautiful eyes this time. No glittering gold dust. No shaky pedestal. Just a deep and enduring love for the man she had chosen.
He knew then that he would have gone through those ten numbing years again if he could have been promised the look in her eyes now. Everything—the pain and self-doubt, the bitterness and anger, the loneliness—every ragged emotion he had felt in a decade was worth this.
“Luc, I love you.”
The feelings inside him were almost too much to bear, fierce and sharp and wild. And as much as his heart felt, his desire drove his body. He willed control, finding it a struggle as always but needing to luxuriate in this because he could never get enough of her, because he loved her and needed her so much. His hands moved to shape rounded flesh, his mouth surrounding the hard, throbbing tip of her breast. Her soft whimper of pleasure sharply increased his own, but Lucas found a thread of control and hung on fiercely.
He traced the valley between her breasts with his lips, moving slowly downward over the quivering flesh of her stomach. His tongue dipped hotly into her navel, and he felt a stronger quiver shake her, heard a faint sound from her. He slid his hands along her slender legs, rubbing slowly over the satiny skin, fascinated by the feeling of her warm body, finally moving back up along her hips and under them. He kissed the sensitive hollows above each leg.
He could feel the restless heat of her and murmured something low in his throat, soothing, his fingers seeking the slick, hot center of her desire. Kyle moaned softly when he found it, sending shock waves all through her, and her body twisted in a sudden, helpless reaction.
She could feel his lips touching her thighs, caressing, moving ever closer to the tormenting fingers. Her legs trembled, and there was a molten heat in the pit of her belly, burning her, bringing her so vividly alive that she ached all over. She wanted to scream, to let out some wild cry of need and pleasure and agony. And she did cry out, softly, when she felt his lips touch the ache. She cried out wordlessly, her nerves splintering, all her breath leaving her for an instant in a gasp.
She felt that wonderfully familiar feeling, as if she were stretched tightly, about to break into pieces, her heart pounding against her ribs with thuds she could feel strongly. All her consciousness seemed to focus on him, on what he was doing to her, and if she could have found words and forced them out, she would have asked him why he was doing this, why he was tormenting her this way.
But she could find no voice, no words, and the plea in her mind was a desperate, growing agony. Her head moved restlessly on the pillow, and her breathing was shallow, ragged. Primitive little sounds came from her throat, tangled and hurting. She didn’t think she could stand it; her entire body rebelled against the torture, twisting, and her heart was choking her with its fierce pounding.
He moved finally, rising above her with a taut face and blazing eyes, every muscle rigid and quivering. Kissing her deeply, the whispered hoarse words of love into her mouth.
His own control broke into splinters, and his body joined hers in a sudden thrust. Kyle cried out, her eyes widening, conscious of nothing but the sheer pleasure of him deep within her. There was an emptiness now filled, and the ache in her was partially satisfied. She cradled his body, her limbs moving to enclose him, feeling the strength and power of him, feeling her heart and his pounding together.
Kyle could feel her body reaching, stretching mindlessly for something almost beyond reach. But it was there and she knew it, knew Luc could take her somewhere glorious. And she clung to him, murmuring a plea she didn’t hear, the emptiness in her filling … filling … bursting suddenly in a mind-splintering explosion of sensations far beyond pleasure. Her entire body shook, heat searing her flesh and her soul, and her cry was a breathless sound of exaltation.
Lucas groaned harshly when her body contracted around him, his own body surging toward release. He buried himself in her, the white-hot strain of his need giving way suddenly in a burst of sheer ecstasy.
Lying drowsily at his side, Kyle suddenly remembered Zamara’s advice on how to hold a man. Grinning a little, she decided it couldn’t hurt to try it. Knowledge like that shouldn’t go to waste; it would be criminal. And why shouldn’t she try it? Later, maybe. When she had the strength to move.
“What are you smiling about, love?” he murmured.
“Oh, nothing.” And there was nothing wrong with it, after all. Seducing a much beloved and loving husband. Nothing wrong with it at all.
Lucas raised his head and studied her smile. “When did you turn into the Mona Lisa?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” But she could feel the smile.
“That smile.” He showed her a look of mock uneasiness. “Now I know why that smile fascinates people. It’s three parts evil, dammit.”
“You’re imagining things.”
“I am not. You’re up to something, wife. I know you are. What are you up to?”
“Not a single thing, darling.”
But she was, of course. And late that night, after a candlelight dinner and a seductive nightie that didn’t have much chance to seduce before it wound up on the floor, she let him know just what she was up to.
“Three parts evil,” he managed in a drained, somewhat dazed voice long into the night.
“I’ll have to thank Her Highness.”
She had to explain, of course.
Later.
EPILOGUE
KELSEY GAVE HIS boss a wary look as he came into the office. “You wanted to see me?”
“I have an assignment for you, my boy,” Hagen told him briskly.
Making himself comfortable in the vi
sitor’s chair, Kelsey frowned. “I don’t know, boss. You’ve gotten too damned good at matchmaking lately for my taste. I’m nowhere near ready to get married.”
Hagen stared at him, wounded. “Do you really believe I would deliberately lose my best agent?”
“Deliberate,” Kelsey said, “has little to do with the matter. You’ve hit more bull’s-eyes by accident than on purpose.”
“It won’t happen again,” Hagen said definitely.
“Let’s not take any chances,” Kelsey begged. “No female partner this time, all right? Don’t send me to a tropical island, or to the back of beyond, or to a secluded estate, or even to a large city. I think that covers it.”
Hagen stared at him.
“I’m not ready to get married,” Kelsey repeated firmly.
“You’ll be working with Derek this time.”
Kelsey blinked. “Derek? Your outlaw Derek? The man who never believes a single, solitary thing you tell him? The man who doesn’t use guns? That Derek?”
“That Derek.”
After a moment Kelsey said slowly, “Must be some job if you’ve roped him into it.”
“It is, indeed. And we know almost nothing about what’s going on. You two will be on your own.”
Kelsey cursed his curiosity.
But he sat forward to listen.
BANTAM BOOKS BY KAY HOOPER
THE BISHOP TRILOGIES
Stealing Shadows • Hiding in the Shadows
Out of the Shadows
Touching Evil • Whisper of Evil
Sense of Evil
Hunting Fear • Chill of Fear
Sleeping with Fear
Blood Dreams • Blood Sins • Blood Ties
THE QUINN NOVELS
Once a Thief • Always a Thief
ROMANTIC SUSPENSE
Amanda • After Caroline
Finding Laura • Haunting Rachel
CLASSIC FANTASY AND ROMANCE
On Wings of Magic • The Wizard of Seattle
My Guardian Angel (anthology)
Yours 2 Keep (anthology)
Golden Threads • Something Different
Pepper’s Way • C.J.’s Fate
The Haunting of Josie • Illegal Possession
If There Be Dragons • Rebel Waltz
Larger than Life • Time After Time
In Serena’s Web • Raven on the Wing
Rafferty’s Wife • Zach’s Law
The Fall of Lucas Kendrick
To my sister, Linda Lancaster,
who penned the verse
Kay Hooper, The Fall of Lucas Kendrick
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