Night of the Magician by Stephanie James, Jayne Ann Krentz Read Free Book Online Page A

to the woman beneath him, Lucian lowered his mouth to Ariana’s.

3
    Ariana’s immediate response to the position in which she found herself was astonishment; not that Lucian had decided to kiss her but that she had been concentrating so intently on his magic that she hadn’t even been aware of his real goal. The whole magic act, it seemed, had merely been an elaborate diversion, a piece of misdirection. She had been neatly lured into a very old trap.
    The knowledge that he had handled her so adroitly was what held Ariana still as Lucian's mouth came down on hers. She simply wasn’t accustomed to being so easily maneuvered by a man.
    Lucian took full advantage of the moment of astonishment Holding her wrists firmly but gently pinned to the carpet on either side of her head, he moved his lips with warm deliberation. Ariana felt as if she were being carefully tasted; as if her mouth were being explored to the fullest possible extent There was a hungry sensuality behind the kiss, and it occurred to her vaguely that she was the subject of his curiosity as well as his desire. Was Lucian Hawk really curious about her?
    The realization that he might be searching for some answers about her was disturbing. When his tongue emerged to lightly trace the outline of her lower lip in a coaxing manner, Ariana stirred beneath him.
    It was at that point that she had to acknowledge that more than astonishment and surprise was holding her flat on her back on the carpet Ariana tried to move again and realized that she was physically trapped, as well. Lucian was using the weight of his body and the casual strength in his hands to hold her where he wanted her.
    Ariana felt a returning surge of irritation as well as the beginnings of something suspiciously akin to a physical response, and she parted her lips to protest both.
    “Lucian, that’s enough!…“ she whispered more unsteadily than she might have wanted.
    But he simply took the opportunity to drive his tongue between her lips, filling the warm interior with such shocking completeness that her protest was cut off before it had really begun.
    She felt the accompanying surge of his body as he intimately invaded her mouth, and a small answering tremor went through her slender frame. The effect of her own response was like a tiny dose of electricity passing over the surface of her skin. Every nerve ending seemed to come alive; she was exquisitely aware of a tightening at the nape of her neck and across her midriff, and inside the black ballet slippers her toes curled. Ariana moaned, a small, primitive sound that was half locked in the back of her throat.
    Lucian’s response was a husky stifled groan that emanated from deep in his chest, and the weight of him seemed to increase. His tongue moved inside her mouth now with a rising urgency, its motion deliberately imitating the far more intimate union to which it was only a prelude. The primitive rhythm seemed to thrill Ariana’s senses, freeing them from the bonds of her normal, cool thought processes. Slowly, with ever more complex patterns, they began to whirl.
    Magic, she tried to tell herself as her lashes fluttered tightly shut and her hips arched of their own accord into his.
    He must be using magic on her.
    As if the instinctive movement of her thighs were a signal of some sort, Lucian growled her name deeply into her mouth.
    “Ariana!“ And then his leg moved boldly across hers, sliding aggressively between her knees. He guided one of her hands to the back of his neck, where her garnet-colored nails slid into the black and silver of his hair with trembling expectancy.
    The sense of expectancy was as much a shock to her as anything else that had yet happened. Ariana found herself striving to forget about the significance of what was happening. For a few minutes, she told herself, she would sample a bit of what was being offered. The promise of magic had never seemed so tantalizing.
    “My God! You feel good lying here under me,“