Then her palm.
Her inner wrist. Goose bumps rose along her silky skin.
Her eyes flickered open, but her lids had grown heavy. “Olive warned me about you.”
“And her warnings fell on deaf ears, did they not? We know you have a taste for danger,” he teased, his lips returning to her wrist and nibbling toward the crook of her elbow.
“That’s untrue.” She frowned, her brows lowering over her blue-green eyes. “If anything, I have lived too cautiously, and any risks I take are calculated.”
He released her arm and sat up straight.
A breeze flowed through the arbor; whisper-like flutters surrounded them. Neither of them spoke, their gazes locked. Was she trying to tell him skulking about in the dead of night where cutthroats roamed was less risky than becoming involved with him? He’d never heard anything more ridiculous.
She swept a strand of hair behind her ear. “It is none of my concern, but are you and Lady Lovelace…?”
He blinked. Was this the barrier between them? Helena believed he was still involved with Celeste? “Lady Lovelace is no one to me.”
Her eyes darkened. “She is ‘no one.’ You share her bed, but she means nothing to you. Is that how affairs are with you? No attachments?”
“I said no such thing.” Her disapproving tone heated his blood. He had never taken advantage of anyone’s feelings. “And you are jealous.”
She opened her mouth to argue, but he cut her off.
“Don’t try to deny it. And for your information, I am not having an affair with Celeste.”
“I am not jealous.”
“Egads! You are infuriating, woman.”
She squared her jaw. “Well, so are you. You keep insisting I am jealous when I am not. You and I have a business arrangement. Nothing more.”
Her hand shook as she pushed the silky strand of hair behind her ear again. Her body betrayed her lies at every turn. There was more between them than business. Much more. Or there could be if she would only admit the truth.
As he leaned toward her, her eyes widened, but she didn’t retreat. The tip of her tongue flicked across her plump bottom lip and he stifled a groan.
“Those sweet lips were made for kissing. Not lies.”
Her hand came to rest on his chest and she eased closer, her eyes drifting to half-mast. His heart thudded hard beneath her palm. “I’m not lying,” she whispered.
If he shifted, her lips would be against his, and he would finally have what he’d been hungering for since that moment outside St. Saviour’s Church. But more than he desired her taste, he needed her to admit she wanted him too.
“Prove there is nothing between us, Helena. Kiss me.”
“I’ve nothing to prove.” She swayed into him, her lips brushing softly against his.
Good enough. His hand slid to her nape and gently encouraged her to kiss him like she meant it. She sank into him with a pleasurable sigh. The feel of her lips was heaven, her mouth moving with his in a sensual dance. He swept his tongue along the crease of her lips, savoring this reward for his patience. She opened her mouth and her tongue met his, intensifying his hunger. He wanted more. Much more.
His mouth traveled to her neck and nibbled a path to the supple flesh of her ear. She gasped when he took the lobe gently between his teeth, then melted as he laved it with his tongue. He wanted to taste her everywhere. The hollow of her collarbone. The valley between her lovely breasts. Her puckered nipples. The sweet spot between her thighs. But he couldn’t do any of those things here in the garden.
Running his tongue lightly along her ear’s rim, he whispered, “Someone might come upon us, sweetheart. I promise to make it up to you tonight.”
Her eyes drifted open as he eased her away. “Tonight?”
He kissed away the bewildered lines between her brows. “I’ll come to you tonight where there’s no danger of anyone interrupting.”
She stiffened in his arms. For one horrible moment, he thought he had hurt her. Her cheeks were flushed and her eyes still cloudy with passion but clearing quickly. She licked her lips and his cock twitched, excited by the possibilities of what her mouth could do to him.
She held her hair back from her face with both hands. “W-we agreed you wouldn’t come to my town house again. If someone sees you…”