Threads of Desire (Spellcraft) - By Stone, Eleri Page 0,3

band at his wrist, but that wasn’t what caught her attention. His sleeve pulled back just far enough to reveal a strip of taut golden skin covered with springy black hair. He was the kind of man who would have hair on his chest. He must shave his face twice a day if he planned to go out in the evening.

A low chuckle brought her gaze up. “Why did you do it? A man who has no qualms about beating a child won’t hesitate to abuse a woman. He’s a dangerous enemy.”

She searched his face. “Is this about blackmail?”

“Only a friendly conversation.”

“We’re not friends.”

His face hardened and for the first time tonight, she could see past his civilized mask. What she saw scared her. She was suddenly, excruciatingly aware of her vulnerability, and all of the daring plans she’d made about exploiting him melted like wax in the sun. She’d thought to grab hold of his lust and use it as a leash to tame him, but there was more than simple lust in his eyes. There was patience, intelligence and a complicated desire that she could barely understand, let alone hope to use. He was Kalar of House Azi and she was a poor woman he’d plucked from the streets for his own unfathomable reasons.

This was a mistake. A terrible mistake. She climbed to her feet, sputtering some excuse about how it was time for her to leave, but he stood too. Moving faster than she would have credited, he came around the table to stand in front of her, blocking her way. His fingers slid behind her neck, thumb settling beneath her jaw.

“I wouldn’t blackmail you.”

“You would.” A man like Kal, an aristo, wouldn’t be above blackmail. She knew all about powerful men and how far they would go to have their way.

“We’re being blunt now, are we? Very well. I don’t want to be your friend, Ily.” His free hand found the slit in her tunic and then hooked in the sash at her waist. “Or your savior.”

Hot skin, the cool slide of the ebony band at his wrist. And she waited, fear and excitement warring inside her. He paused, the backs of his knuckles stroking the vulnerable skin of her belly as his dark eyes searched her face. Was he waiting for permission to go further? She’d already offered herself.

“I can’t afford to give you a cut on my profits. Even if the rugs sold for full price, by the time I paid you and the vendor, I’d lose money.” She wet her lips and his gaze fixed momentarily on her mouth. He wanted blunt, she could do blunt. “I want you to help me sell the rugs and I want you to waive your fee.”

She didn’t move, not when his hand dropped from her neck, not when—with excruciating slowness—he began to push her skirts down over her hips.

“The offer you made me earlier, it still stands?”

“I thought that was understood.”

A smile, self-mocking and faint. “No, Ily. When I touched you in that alley, I only wanted to be certain you understood exactly what you were offering. I wanted you to consider it carefully before you came here tonight. You can’t propose such things lightly. The next man might not let you go.”

“You didn’t,” she whispered, remembering his body, his hand, rough fingers tunneling into flesh. “You—”

He looked up, eyes glinting like diamonds. “I let you go.”

His thumbs dipped to the inner curve of her thighs, stroked slowly over sensitized flesh. “And you came back to me.”

She could leave now and he wouldn’t stop her. He was giving her a chance to run away. He practically dared her to do it. But she didn’t. And that was on her. She saw her chance to escape but didn’t take it. Instead, she stayed frozen in place, trapped like a snake by his eyes and the slow moving pull of his hand. As her skirt slid down her thighs, his open hands followed, the touch of his palms light as the whisper of fabric falling from her body. He touched her softly, reverently. The crease where hip met thigh. The edge of dark curls. She was damp, tingling with readiness, hot and needful. And he held back, even though she could see a matching hunger in his dark eyes.

He only touched her sex when she whimpered and arched restlessly toward him. Then he cupped her as if he had every right to, explored her gently, pressing his other