Sensual Danger (Venice Vampyr #4)

Oriana couldn’t believe that her husband had simply left without a word. He hadn’t even told the servants where he was going or when he was coming back. Cook had looked at her almost accusatorily when she’d served Oriana’s supper and Nico still hadn’t returned by then.

She’d waited impatiently, but when the clock in the sitting room had chimed the twelve strokes of midnight, she’d yawned and ascended to her room. After her maid had loosened Oriana’s corset, she sent her to bed. She continued undressing, draping her dress over the screen. When she was wearing only her chemise and drawers, she let her hands glide over her torso. Instantly, the same desire flared up in her again as when she’d lain on the dining table being pleasured by Nico.

Would this remain the only time he touched her like this? Had she done something wrong? Was that why he hadn’t come back yet? He’d called her his wanton wife. What if she had disgusted him with her behavior? After all, he’d married a lady, and he’d gotten nothing better than a trollop dressed in lady’s clothing.

How she could have behaved like this, Oriana couldn’t explain. Maybe some temporary insanity had gripped her and controlled her. Would it happen again? Would she again lose all her good senses and behave like a whore the next time her husband tested her like this? Because that was all it could have been: a test to assure himself that she was the virtuous wife she’d promised him she’d be.

Surprised at herself why she was even concerned about what her husband thought of her, she shook her head. She didn’t care what he thought.

Liar! she chided herself.

At the very moment when he’d looked at her with such untamed passion in his eyes while taking her on the dining table, something had changed. Even now she felt her heart race at the thought that he wanted her. A rush of power surged through her. Confusion followed. She’d never been so torn in her life. One minute she wanted to throw herself in her husband’s arms, the next she wanted to profess her virtuousness and assure him that she would never again behave in such a lusty way.

While she tried to understand what was happening to her, Oriana turned to the chest that contained her finest garments. Among the items was a negligee she had saved from her mother’s things. Why she’d taken it before her father had given all of her mother’s things away after her death, she wasn’t sure, because the garment was positively scandalous. She couldn’t imagine that a proper lady like her mother would have ever worn such a thing.

Yet, she couldn’t resist the temptation to take it out, look at it, and wonder what she would look like wearing it. Would it even fit her? Feeling the silk between her fingers, a yearning came over her. Maybe she could simply try it on, only to see it for a moment. Afterwards, she’d slip into her virginal nightgown, the one that reached up to her neck and covered her completely.

Oriana rid herself of her chemise and drawers and slipped the silken negligee over her head. To her surprise, it fit her perfectly, clinging to her aching breasts and hugging her bottom. A large slit ran all the way up her thigh, making it possible for her to take normal steps.

She walked around the screen and looked into the mirror, seeing a woman there she’d never seen before. A woman who personified lust and passion. She felt different, more alive, more aware of her body. Wicked thoughts invaded her mind—of things that she couldn’t find words for. Things no decent woman should want. Her craving for those wicked things grew stronger with every second she watched herself in the mirror.

What would Nico do if he found out about them?

***

Nico closed the heavy door of his new home behind him and walked upstairs, treading quietly so as not to wake the whole house. The sun would rise in two hours, and he needed sleep if he wanted to face his wife tomorrow.

He entered his bedchamber and threw his cloak onto a chair, then stepped out of his shoes. His jacket followed. When he opened the top button of his shirt, he cast a look at his empty bed. If only the beautiful Oriana were waiting in it for him. But that would never happen. He sighed and turned his head to the door that connected their rooms.

Surprise made him stumble backwards: the door was open!

Without conscious thought, he moved toward it until he could peer into Oriana’s bedchamber. His eyes instantly fell on the bed, but it was pristine and unused. Shock made him storm into the room. Had she left him?

Frantically he gazed about the room, when he saw her lying on the settee in front of the fireplace. He almost didn’t believe what his eyes perceived: his wife wore a scandalously low cut negligee that not only made her bosom practically spill out, but the cut in the long skirt reached so high up her hip that he could get a glimpse of her bottom. Why was she sleeping on the settee? And why was she wearing such a revealing garment?