Darkness Bound (29 page)

“Are we going to discuss this? Do you want to have the others here while we have this discussion?” Sean said.

“We don’t have time.
I
don’t have time.”

“It’s all about Leigh, isn’t it?” Sean said. “She’s front and center for you and it’s not going smoothly. What happened when the two of you came—”

“Get out of my house and make sure that cottage is so tight a tick couldn’t get in. If she makes a move, you move with her and you let me know.”

He didn’t watch Sean leave but he winced when the door slammed. Blood beat hard at his temples. Leigh had told him to wait on the porch—and he’d take any bet she didn’t realize what that had felt like for him.

Maybe it would be as well if he and Leigh didn’t see each other tonight. The kind of intensity building in him could be too much for either of them to handle.

“Coward,” he told himself quietly. “You’re afraid she won’t come. Maybe never again.”

He could go up there and say he’d come to meet her. Or he could call her. If he were honest with himself he’d admit he expected her several hours ago, that he had started for the door at every sound. If she weren’t deliberately staying away she’d be here by now. He didn’t want to push her more than she had already been pushed.

The dark blue shirt he wore was made of soft cotton. He hadn’t put on one of his comfortable old favorites. He had
chosen
this shirt because he wanted Leigh to like it. If he had ever done such a thing before it was too long ago for him to remember.

She wasn’t going to come.

Somehow she had sensed he was conflicted and would stay away until he made the next move.

Things needed to be put right with Sean. What had just happened between them was wrong. And they needed to discuss the call Leigh had talked about from some unknown man. Why hadn’t he raised that with Sean? Brande’s pack was becoming a bigger and bigger threat. Niles had no doubt it had been one of them who telephoned Leigh.

All he could think about for more than two seconds was Leigh. They had issues, big issues, and they wouldn’t be dealt with this way.

He rotated his shoulders, trying to loosen himself up, and went to the front door. Listening in to her mind wouldn’t be right but he was sure she was up at Two Chimneys thinking about him.

When he opened the door to leave, she stood there with knuckles raised to knock.

Niles caught hold of her wrist reflexively and swung her inside. One look at her wide eyes and he let go. “Sorry. You caught me off balance. I was coming to get you.”

“I thought you’d come a long time ago,” she said quietly. “But you left so quickly, I wasn’t sure what you wanted to do.”

“You left me. On the porch, remember?” he said.

“I came back out—it was only a minute or so later—and you’d left.”

A dog told to wait on the porch should do as he’s told.
He was blaming her for nothing. She intended nothing—or had she?

“Let me take your coat,” he said.

“Are you sure you want—”

“I want to take off your coat. I want you with me and I never want to be apart from you again, ever.” This was not the moment to take her into his arms. He didn’t trust himself. “You belong with me. Things aren’t the way they must be yet, but we can change that. We don’t have any choice but to move forward, but we can’t afford to make mistakes.”

“Meaning?” she said.

“That call you got. The threatening one. Are you sure you didn’t recognize who it was?”

Leigh thought about it. “There was something familiar about the voice, but I don’t know who it was.”

“You heard what Saul said,” Niles told her. “We’re in a war—not you—us. You can help the most by not making me wonder what you’ll do next.”

She pointed her steepled fingers at him. “Niles, I…
You change. You say different things and I don’t know what to believe.”

“I don’t change. I’m not always sure about you is all.”

Leigh shrugged out of her own coat and handed it to him. “What’s happened, Niles? Did I do something you don’t like? If I did, I don’t know what it was and there’s never an excuse to just get mad at someone for no reason.”

But he had a reason.
“That’s true. Sit down by the fire and warm up.” He indicated the L-shaped gray couch. It was the most comfortable piece of furniture he owned. Not that he’d ever cared before.

Leigh remained standing, watching him.

“I’m scared,” Niles said, surprising himself. He smiled uncomfortably. “Scared of losing you, that is. I can’t make myself believe you’ve accepted me as I am—all of me. I know I’m asking you to do what should be impossible—”

“I love you,” Leigh said. “All of you. What do I have to do to make you believe me? If I didn’t love you I’d be gone. It’s too scary here but I’d fall apart if I was somewhere else without you.”

He glanced away. “You know how to destroy a man’s tough front,” he said. “I wish I could just carry you away and pretend I don’t have to keep the wolves from the door.”

“How will we stop them?” she asked quietly.

“They’re going to make a move and it’ll be soon. My people will be ready for them.” He looked her over, realized his lips were parted and he was staring. “I think the fire’s good,” he said, turning away. But he had to look at her again.

“What’s the matter?” she said.

“You’re so beautiful.”

She turned bright red with the patches of white that always formed around her freckles when she blushed. “This isn’t pretty,” she said, pressing her palms to her cheeks.

“It is to me.” He was under control now but it didn’t stop his pulsing need for her. “I’ve never seen you dressed like that before. You shouldn’t cover your legs.”

Immediately she smoothed the skirt of her green woolen dress. She wore flat, black shoes with some sort of leather flower on the fronts and she crossed one foot over the other as if to hide as much of her legs as possible.

Niles laughed. “Is that a new dress?”

She seemed bemused. “No. I haven’t been wearing dresses here because the weather isn’t right. And I don’t usually do anything that makes me think of wearing one.”

The bodice had a round neckline with buttons down the front to a belted waist. Long sleeves ended in narrow cuffs. The slim skirt fitted sweetly curved hips perfectly. “But you felt coming to me was a good time to wear a dress?”

Leigh gritted her teeth a moment. “You are awful. I feel so embarrassed. I took ages to choose this and I thought you might like it.”

“I’m crazy about it,” he said. “I think you try to pretend you’re not feminine. Don’t ask me why because you can’t hide what you are. I feel like a million dollars knowing you chose the dress for me. How about my shirt? I chose it for you, too.”

They both burst out laughing.

Niles sobered first. “What would you do if I threw you over my shoulder and carried you off… to do all kinds of things to you?”

He settled his hands at her waist, dropped to one knee, and smoothed all the way to her calves.

Touching her, even through her clothes, made him tremble. “I am going to do all kinds of things to you,” he said. “Make you scream for me to make you come, again and again. That’ll be before and after I strip you naked—slowly—and lick every inch of you, then suck every inch of you.”

“Niles.” Her throat sounded dry.

If Niles had known picking up one of her feet would make her grab for him he would have done it ages ago.

“Niles!”

Slowly he massaged her foot, smiling a little when he touched the arch and she jumped.

The sensation as he moved from her foot, to her ankle, to the smooth skin of her calf made him feel anything but smooth or relaxed.

This wasn’t what he’d had in mind, seducing her in the entryway, but it felt just fine, at least for a start.

Beneath his hands, the soft skirt of her dress slipped up easily until he felt lace at the top of her stocking, and satin where garter met lace.

He filled his lungs and pressed his face to her belly.

Leigh pushed her fingers into his hair and held him to her tightly. He felt the rapid beat of her heart.

The skin on her thigh was more satin. Niles ran his fingers high between her legs, pressed the tip of his thumb briefly to the hottest, wettest part of her. He told himself over and over that he would not hurt her, he would hold back the force she would find unnatural.

When his hand moved away from her heat, she moaned and he smiled with satisfaction.

He hiked the skirt above the edges of her white lace panties. She made another little sound when he started to unfasten her garters and he paused, looked up at her face. She bit her bottom lip.

“You should look at yourself from where I’m looking,” he said. “Sexy lady.” He nipped the soft inside of her thigh and kissed a path to her panty leg, and opened his mouth over her mound, using his tongue until the fabric was completely wet and her hips started moving involuntarily.

Niles separated his mouth from her just far enough to allow for his tongue to get under the fabric and continue driving her mad.

Her fingernails dug into his shoulders and the one leg she stood on started to buckle.

“Hold on,” he said, keeping her skirt firmly up around her waist but letting her foot slide from his thigh. “Are you ready for me—for us? Once we really get going on the journey I have in mind there won’t be any turning back. I don’t want to hurt you but I warn you, I’m stronger than a man should be and it’s up to you to let me know when something is too much.”

She caught him off guard by kissing him. Kicking off her other shoe, she stood on her tiptoes, wound her arms around his neck, and showed him she knew how to use her tongue, too. She nibbled his lips, reached deep inside his mouth, moved her head this way and that searching for more ways to bring them pleasure.

When she had finished they were breathless and her mouth was red and bruised-looking. “Don’t take me for some wilting flower,” she told him. “I’m a strong woman.”

Her little laugh sounded uncertain.

Niles picked her up by the waist and cradled her bot
tom in his hands, amused by her startled expression. “Why the look?” he asked.

“I’m small but I’m not a feather. You didn’t even move a muscle to pick me up like that.”

The temptation to show off just how easily he could do a great deal more than she’d seen so far was childish. He nuzzled her neck instead, breathed in the clean sweetness of her.

Leigh had a knot in the pit of her stomach. Lust wasn’t foreign to her but it had been a long time. And she wanted to drive Niles wild, to make him feel as insanely sexy as she did. Who had she become? What had she become?

She was to tell him if he was too much for her? Once more she wanted to laugh. Twisting a little and enjoying hearing him groan and grit his teeth, she wrapped her arms around his head and held her face against his neck.

And she pressed her achy breasts to his chest.

With Niles she felt safe and protected, but she knew he could bring danger her way. And she only felt invincible when she could see and touch him.

She couldn’t think clearly anymore. Her life had turned upside down. But this man who held her tight, while the world did whatever strange things were planned for tonight beyond the walls of his home, was the only good change she could point to.

She leaned even nearer to him and slid her tongue along his bottom lip.

Niles let her ride lower on his hips and his penis moved against her.

Leigh worked a hand down between them and squeezed him.

“Damn, you like to live dangerously,” he said, looking
into her face again, his eyes turned black and unreadable. He kissed her until she had to break the embrace just to breathe.

“All right,” he said. “Let me show you some things you don’t know about me.”

If she wanted to change her mind, it would have to be now. And she knew he would not force her to do anything.

“I want to learn everything there is to know about you,” she told him, even while she quaked inside.

He put her on her feet in front of him and ran a hand between her legs until he touched dampness again.

“You are so excited,” he told her with a brief, hard kiss and continued rubbing. “You’re driving me over the top.”

Leigh grabbed his shirt. Holding her with one arm, he rubbed back and forth, never taking his eyes from her face.

Pressure mounted and she started to cry out.

But he stopped, the corners of his mouth tilted down and triumph oozing from him.

Leigh sucked in a great breath. “You tease me. You want to play with me like—”

“Like the most desirable woman I can imagine. That’s how. And I want it to last, but not without learning all the little things you might not tell me just because I asked.”

Her heart thudded harder and she braced her hands on his shoulders. “You’re going to torture them out of me?”

“Something like that. Have I told you I’m crazy about your breasts?”

“Hush.” She stood upright. “You can’t just say things like that.”