The Defiant Wife (The Three Mrs #2) - Jess Michaels Page 0,70

the haven for many a man who had shared Rhys’s title over the years. And yet it still fit him. It was orderly and tidy, papers stacked just so, few knickknacks to disrupt the flow of the room.

Behind her, he rattled the bottles on the sideboard and poured himself a drink. He downed half of it and then slammed it down on the top. Amber liquid sloshed onto the wood, but he didn’t seem to notice.

“What were you thinking?” he shouted, at last asking the question she had been waiting for since the moment he stalked up to the table at the Stag and Serpent.

“I was thinking that I need to establish what Rosie is doing,” she snapped.

“You could have left that to us,” he snapped.

“You think she would talk to you considering she murdered your brother in front of you? She is more likely to speak to me than to you. We were once…friendly, even if it was a lie. She knows me.”

He stared at her, some of the heat fading from his expression. “That is…that is actually a good point.”

“Thank you,” she said softly.

“But it does not negate the fact that you went wandering into a place that could have been very dangerous—”

“I wasn’t alone,” she interrupted.

His gaze narrowed further as he continued, “—inquiring after a woman who committed murder, not to mention held you at gunpoint a mere few weeks ago.”

“With Abigail at my side,” she insisted again.

He fisted his hands. “I don’t give a damn about Abigail.” His tone was so sharp that it brought her up short. “How do you not fucking understand that, Phillipa? I’m upset you went there, I’m upset you endangered yourself.”

Here they were, right back to where they’d started. Loving each other without any hope that it could go beyond a moment in time. She drew a few breaths to calm herself, since he didn’t seem to be able to do so.

“What Rosie did before, she did thanks to Erasmus’s lies and prodding. I felt certain she wasn’t a danger to me again, so I had to take the risk for Kenley.”

She thought that would appease him, make him see the value in what she’d done. Instead, he took a long step toward her, closing the gap between them. “How many ways can I say it, Phillipa? I don’t want you taking risks at all. Not for anyone, even Kenley. You are too…precious to me.”

She bent her head as pain slashed through her, powerful and hot. “Rhys,” she whispered.

He didn’t answer, but put a hand beneath her chin, tilting her face toward his. She forced herself to look at him, drank him in, his beautiful face so close to hers, his bright eyes dilated with desire and emotion. And when he took her lips, she didn’t pull away. She couldn’t. She wanted this too much for prudence.

And once he touched her? Well, there was no such thing as prudence anymore. His fingers dug into her hair, tilting her face for more access to her mouth. She tugged the buttons of his coat, popping one off before she drew her hands inside, reveling in his warms as she bunched her fingers against his muscular back.

He pushed her across the room until her backside bumped his desk, and then he lifted her there. His hands were shaking as he unfastened her dress, but hers were too while she shoved his jacket aside and went to work on his shirt. His mouth dragged down her throat, his teeth scraping delicate skin, his fingers pushing into her hips as he tugged her closer.

She whispered his name against his shoulder while she pulled his shirt from his trousers. He released her long enough to pull it over his head and she murmured her approval before she latched her mouth against his chest. She swirled her tongue around one flat nipple and traced her hand down his stomach.

He pulled away from her, panting, and for a moment she thought he might end this madness. Instead he tugged her from the desk, yanked her dress down and kicked it aside. Now when placed her back on the desk and stepped between her legs, her chemise pushed up, her drawers parted, and it wouldn’t take anything for him claim her.

Only he didn’t. His mouth slowed on hers, like he was savoring her now. She wrapped her arms around him more tightly, surrendering to his heat and his strength, drawing in his scent and memorizing all of it. One of