Slowly, Lucien grinned. Edwina gawked.
Lucien turned back to the stairs.
As Edwina said, Leah was in her bedroom though he knew this since he heard her heart beating and smelled her scent the moment he entered the downstairs hall.
When he walked through the door he saw her sitting on the chaise, her back to its arm, her legs bent in front of her. She was wearing faded jeans, a pale pink camisole and a lightweight pale green cardigan. Her feet were bare but her toes were polished a new color. Last night it was a sheer pink, tonight it was a bright fuchsia, evidencing the fact that she obviously disobeyed his command to rest and instead gave herself a pedicure. Her long, layered blonde hair fell around her shoulders in soft flips, the tendrils at her neck curving in, framing the graceful line of her throat in an invitation she likely didn’t know she was giving but one he savored.
Her head shot up when he arrived and he noted she was reading a book which she had opened on her thighs.
He turned to close the door. When he turned back, her head was again bent to the book. He watched her as he walked into the room, shrugging off his suit jacket. He continued to watch her as he threw it on the foot of the bed and moved closer. And he continued to watch her as he walked past her to the small table at the arm of the lounge.
She kept her head bent to her book the whole time, ignoring him but her heart was racing and he smelled her fear.
He bent and picked up the bookmark that was resting on the table next to a cold drink and walked to the lounge, seating himself an inch away from her feet.
Then he twisted his torso, reached out and pulled the book from her hands.
Her head snapped up and she cried angrily, “Hey!”
This time he ignored her, put the mark in the book and leaned into her.
She cringed back against the arm of the lounge, her head turning slightly to the side, the pace of her heart escalating.
Lucien ignored this too.
He deposited the book on the table, leaned in further and put a hand in the chaise on either side of her hips, his stomach and chest brushing her calves.
His eyes caught her wary ones and he demanded, “When I come to you, Leah, I want you to greet me.”
He watched her jaw tighten and the flash in her eyes and he waited for her reply.
She gave it to him. “I’m sorry, oh Great Master. Hello. How was your day?”
He smiled right before he moved.
He’d decided not to hide his heightened abilities from her. He would be nothing but what he was with Leah.
In a second he had her out of the lounge and resituated in it, stretched out on her back, Lucien at her side up on his forearm leaning over her, his lower body pressed against hers.
When he was done, her dark blue eyes were wide, her full lips parted and her breath had stopped.
“You don’t have to use the ‘great’ part, pet. ‘Master’ will do,” he teased her, still smiling.
She wrinkled her nose and glared. He threw his head back and laughed, barely controlling the urge to bury his face in her throat to get closer to her scent, her pulse, her.
Instead, when he stopped laughing, he put his hand at her fully-healed neck and ran his thumb down her jugular while his eyes watched its movements.
Then his gaze caught hers. “How are you feeling?” he asked quietly.
“Full,” she replied in a sharp, unfriendly voice. “Edwina isn’t skimpy with her portions.”
His brows went up. “You’ve eaten?”
“Yes.”
His thumb continued caressing her throat and his eyes moved back to it as he murmured, “I would have liked to share dinner with you.”
He felt her body give a small jolt, his gaze went to hers and he caught her wonder before she could hide it.