“I’m sorry, but Angeliona’s puppies are too little to leave her yet. This one is weaned and should make a lovely guard dog for the colonel’s bedroom door.”
“The bedroom?” Claire frowned and squatted to drag the puppy away. It refused and stayed, chewing. She rested her forearms on the top of her thighs, the sleek material of her leather tights under her skin. “Is it a boy or a girl?”
“A girl, of course.” Filip’s eyebrows waggled. “The colonel likes the girls.”
Theo stooped and put a hand on Claire’s shoulder. As always, that simple pressure, even through the cloth of her blouse, made her recall everything they did in the bedroom and sometimes out of it. She leaned her head into his arm.
“I’m not sure about this one.” Theo grunted. “She bites. Is she house-trained yet, Filip?”
“Your lady?” Filip drew back in mock surprise. “You bite, Miss Claire? I would never have thought you’d let this one so out of control, mon Colonel.” He chuckled.
“If you weren’t old enough to be my grandfather, Filip.” Theo sighed.
“He likes my jokes.” Filip nudged Claire. “She will be house-trained soon. I will send her to you then.”
“Good.” Theo helped Claire to her feet.
When they walked outside and saw the rain-swept lawn, Theo held her arm, preventing her from stepping out from under the eaves. Frogs croaked their happiness from a nearby drainpipe. She shivered. The air had cooled by several degrees.
“It should stop soon.” Theo turned those gray eyes on her. “I see that Filip likes you. That is your puppy, not mine”—he grinned—“and the first one to live in the mansion.”
“It is? She is?” The facts astounded her. She put hand to her throat. No one had ever given her anything like that, ever. “Oh, that is so nice. I’m going back in to thank him properly.”
“No.” Though quiet, the firmness made her quiver to a stop. “No. You’re staying here.” He crowded her, hand slipping about her waist. “For this.” He twisted her ponytail about his hand and dragged on it, bending back her head.
“Yes. Sir,” she choked out. The tide of excitement rose in her. She’d come to know the ways of his voice, and right now, he would brook no disobedience.
His lips came down on hers, savage, as if he wished to provoke her. She wondered how far she might go and nipped back at his lip. It evoked a growl from Theo. “That, woman, you will pay for, tonight.”
She shivered, wondering what that meant. Tonight would be interesting.
“Perhaps,” he added, “we should try out a whip?”
She jerked away as far as she could, shaking her head.
“No? Ah, but I’ve seen how curious you are when I bring them out. Think on it, because, if I see the slightest hesitation on you, I will be using one.”
She said nothing, appalled, yet, truly, she was no longer certain what she desired. Things she’d thought abhorrent, she’d screamed in ecstasy at when used on her.
“Ah. Then that’s a definite yes.” He moved his hand under her blouse, long, heavy fingers outspread and warming her, then down into the crevice of her ass. He took her mouth again, even more violently, and as he did so, he gathered up the fabric of her leggings and drew them tightly into her cleft.
“Ah!” She gasped at the flood of sensation. They made love so often her body had no time to forget. Sometimes the merest brush of his body against hers would awaken her to desire.
She succumbed to the press of his tongue and lips, giving way to let him explore her mouth, opening wider and moaning. His finger wriggled between her buttocks, lower, into dampness.
His mouth left her lips, and he bit the juncture of jaw and neck.
Eyes half-closed, breathing faster, she tilted her head, allowing him better access. He took her throat again between his teeth and paid close attention to it for a while—sucking and biting. Her legs weakened.
“Hmm.” He nuzzled her. “If I keep this up, perhaps you’ll end up on the floor with your legs around me?”
No! How scandalous that would be here, in the open. Surely not.
The crunch and splash of nearing footsteps brought her up from the dazed world she’d been lowered into.
“Sir,” said Dankyo, impervious to the droplets bouncing on the flat plain of his hair and dribbling down his face. “I beg your pardon, but I have urgent news.”
With one hand still under her leggings, on her bare ass, Theo turned to Dankyo. “What is it?”
“The weather report has this rain turning into an electrical storm late tomorrow morning, sir. You might be wise to leave today if you wish to attend the opening of parliament.”
“Ah. I see. Inform the captain to ready the airship for flight in two hours.”
Dankyo nodded. “There is another matter, sir.” His gaze slid to Claire and back. The slightest wrinkling of his brow betrayed his interest. She wondered what devious thing he’d been up to.