Robin Schone Read Online Free PDF Page B

times had he gone through this ritual? she wondered.
    How many skittish virgins had he calmed?
    “I was going to suggest. .. practical,” Victoria replied, fighting for control.
    She did not know this woman who stood unabashedly naked in front of a stranger, who cried out her
    pain and her need—she scared Victoria as much as the silver-eyed man.
    “I assure you, mademoiselle, your shoes will not get in the way,” he said cryptically.
    The thick carpet sucked at Victoria's feet; she waded forward, pelvis jutting.
    Her thighs rubbed together; the friction dancing on her swollen nether lips glittered in his eyes.
    He knew of the desire his beauty created, those eyes said. He knew of the moisture that leaked from
    her vagina and the heat that beaded her nipples.
    He knew more about Victoria in the short time they had spent together than any other person she had
    ever known.
    Victoria's left heel turned.
    Hair swinging like a pendulum, face burning with embarrassment, she righted herself.
    The silver-eyed man showed neither approbation nor derision, marble made into flesh. He swiveled in his
    chair, wood creaking, physically following her progress, expression inscrutable.
    Victoria halted, hemmed in by his body and the desk. Behind her, the wooden fire crackled busily,
    unaffected by the pending loss of a woman's innocence.
    He smelled of expensive soap; underneath that she breathed the faint aroma of tobacco and perfume
    that had pervaded the downstairs saloon.
    The top of his head was level with her breasts; the toes of her worn shoes were scant inches away from
    the toes of his suede-and-black-patent boots.
    The advantage of height was no advantage at all. Victoria had no doubt whatsoever who was the
    strongest. The quickest.
    The most dangerous.
    He stared at her breasts for long seconds, at her nipple that peeped through the mane of hair hanging
    over her right shoulder.
    His lashes were long. Thick. Dark as chimney soot. They cast dark, jagged shadows on his pale,
    flawless skin.
    Only now he was not so pale. Dusky pink edged his high cheekbones.
    Victoria could feel her nipples lengthening, hardening underneath his gaze.
    Slowly, his lashes lifted. Silver eyes riveted hers.
    “I don’t want to want...” she whispered fiercely, feeling ineffably vulnerable.
    She had never wanted to want... a man’ s touch, a man’s kisses, a man’ s passion ...
    The thin prick of his pupils dilated, silver metamorphosing into black. “Desire is a part of all of us,
    mademoiselle.”
    Victoria’s throat inexplicably tightened. “You do not seem ... afflicted ... by these desires.”
    Regret skidded across his face, was swallowed by the blackness of his pupils. “Desire is not considered
    to be an affliction by some.”
    But it was by him, Victoria all at once realized.
    This man fought his needs, as she fought hers. Afraid to want, unable to stop either the fear or the
    desire.
    “Is that why you came to the House of Gabriel tonight... to find a woman who does not deny her needs?
    ” she asked hesitantly.
    A pulse pounded deep inside her vagina, once, twice, thrice; a matching pulse ticked inside his cheek,
    once, twice, thrice. . .
    “How far will you carry this game, mademoiselle?” he asked in a curiously harsh voice.
    “It is not a game when a woman gives her virginity to a man,” Victoria replied unevenly.
    “What if I want more than your virginity?”
    Flyaway strands of hair aureoled his head, creating a silver halo.
    She realized where she had seen this man before: she had seen his likeness inside stained-glass
    windows. He had the face of an angel.
    An angel who brought salvation with one hand and destruction with the other.
    Tears pricked her eyelids. “That’s all I have.”

    “You have seen men with women.”
    The images Victoria had seen over the last six months—of hurried couplings and open gropings—was
    reflected in his eyes.
    “Yes,” she said.
    There was nothing she had not seen these last six