Surrender to a Wicked Spy Read Online Free PDF Page B

not while he was clothed, which was more than he could say for… well, everyone.
    She huffed a breath at his hesitation. "Well,
I
cannot begin. I don't know how."
    Her half-irritated, half-shy expression disarmed him. "Well," he said slowly as he stood. "We could begin with a kiss."
    Olivia felt ice and flame flicker through her body as he began to move toward her. Despite her own insistence—and she'd meant every word—she found herself taking a step back for every forward step of his. Eventually, she backed directly into the solid bedpost and put her hands behind her to steady herself. He kept coming. He came so close that she had to tilt her head back to look into his face.
    "I think you might be the tallest man I've ever seen," she heard herself say softly.
    He pinned her with those winter-sky eyes. "Do I frighten you?"
    A small gasping laugh burst from her. Fear was most emphatically
not
what she was feeling.
    He blinked. "I take it that I don't."
    She widened her eyes innocently, unable to resist plucking at his arrogance despite her breathlessness. "I could pretend to be frightened, if you like."
    The corner of his sculpted lips twitched. "I could pretend to be shorter, if you like."
    A healthy sense of the ridiculous! What a delightful thing to add to the list of what she knew about him. She melted yet again and her nervousness eased yet more. "Are you never going to kiss me, my lord?" she whispered.
    He lowered his mouth to her ear, letting his warm breath flutter into sensitive areas. "Are you never going to shut up, my lady?"
    My lady
. It struck Olivia anew that she was the Viking god's wife.
You belong to me now
.
    She must have said it aloud, for she felt the Viking god smile against her neck.
    "I suppose I do," he said, his deep voice rumbling into places within her that she hadn't known existed. Places deep, low in her belly, where she felt a hollow ache. Places like the tips of her breasts, where she felt a tingling tightness.
    His warm lips progressed higher, up her throat and along her jaw, until she felt his breath against her lips. He paused, letting the moment stretch until Olivia could no longer bear it. She went up on tiptoe, catching his mouth with hers in an urgent peck. He went very still when she pressed her lips to his.
    At first, she felt a stab of disappointment. His mouth did not feel unpleasant under hers, but neither did it feel as good as his breath on her neck. She had begun to drop back down to her heels when he caught her to his chest and brought his mouth down on hers.
     
    Dane hadn't intended to assault her thus. It was only that she was suddenly
there
, touching her soft lips to his, with her firm, lovely bosom pressed to his chest.
    It had been so damn long…
    The parched, cold years of deprivation suddenly dropped away and a wave of heat and longing overwhelmed his scrupulous self-control. For a brief, eternal moment, he clutched the virtuous, virginal daughter of Cheltenham to him as if she were his only hope—as though he feared drowning in that wave. For a brief sweep of the hands of the clock, he kissed her like a starving barbarian suddenly presented with a feast.
    It was only a second or two—or ten. Then Dane came back to himself abruptly, shock at his own barbarism rippling through him—only to find his innocent bride gripping the front of his shirt in both fists, making the tiniest of whimpering sounds beneath his mouth.
    Dane quickly slammed the door on his mystifying outburst of lust, pulling his lips away from hers with difficulty. He pulled her close, tucking her head beneath his chin as he fought to regain his composure. This was not the way to gain his objective. If his new bride was to be properly cultivated to bear his invasion, he could not begin by frightening her with uncontrolled lust.
    Control was paramount to this undertaking. Due to his impediment, he would never be able to abandon strict control with her, even if he somehow convinced her to allow him