Of Silk and Steam by Bec McMaster Read Free Book Online Page A

strands.
    Mina sank a little farther into the bath. She wasn’t innocent. There’d been two short-lived affairs in her past, but she’d been in complete control of both of them, even when her blood-lust had risen. This sensation left her a little unsettled. The sight of him—perhaps the situation—stirred feelings inside her that she’d never owned.
    Lust could be controlled. Always.
    “I suppose you’ve come to claim your prize.” She toyed with the pearls.
    One tawny eyebrow arched. “I’ve come to bring you your blud-wein, Your Grace.”
    There was a tray in his hands. He set it on the vanity, then poured a glass and offered it to her.
    Mina accepted, swirling the bloodied wine in her glass. Troubled again. “You make an excellent lady’s maid, Barrons.”
    “Are you hiring?”
    She breathed out a laugh. “Hardly.”
    His fingers trailed over her shoulder as he circled the head of the bath. “We worked well together tonight.”
    So that was his aim. “You think we could carry this alliance onto the Council?” He served as the Duke of Caine’s proxy, after all.
    “It would be the last thing they’d expect. But, no, Mina, I was merely commenting, not offering an alliance.”
    “Good.” She drained her glass and handed it to him. There was no way in hell she’d consider an alliance with the son of the man who’d killed her father. “For the truce is definitely over.”
    Barrons stared at her wineglass for taut seconds. “A shame.” He placed it on the vanity carefully, then turned back to her.
    Mina tensed.
    Fingertips brushed her cheek. “I have no plans to hurt you,” he reminded her, circling around behind her. “You shall never have that to fear, Duchess.”
    A hand fisted in her wet hair and dragged her head back. His face appeared in her vision, upside down. “Unless I plan on stealing your heart,” he whispered. “Then you should be on your guard.”
    “I’m always on my guard,” she breathed.
    Barrons’s gaze softened, his face lowering. “If I recall, you owe me a kiss.”
    “You owe me a note,” she shot back, her hands clutching the edge of the bath and her heart hammering.
    “A kiss,” he repeated, “if I managed to get you out of there safely.” His face lowered toward hers, candlelight turning his skin a delicious golden hue. “The note was for another payment indeed.”
    Her whole body burned. The fist in her hair tightened, as if warning her that he had her at his mercy. “I’m already naked,” she replied flatly.
    “But clothed in bubbles, my dear.” That smooth voice turned molten. “Bubbles and candlelight.”
    The tension between them changed. She could feel it thickening the air around her. The bastard was daring her, a little smile playing around his lips. Knowing that she did not want to pay her dues.
    Mina’s heart pounded. “So be it.” She forced her whole body to relax, her fingers releasing their claw hold on the lip of the bath. “You’ve earned your kiss. I do hope it’s all you imagined.”
    Reaching up, she slid a hand through his hair, tearing it loose from its velvet thong. Palm flat against his scalp, she dragged his head down, tilting her lips to his.
    They were softer than she’d expected, melting over her own and sucking her breath into his lungs. The intimacy of that thought burned between her thighs, a hollow, empty ache that seemed almost alive…waiting for something more. She brushed her mouth against his once. Twice. Licked at his tongue, then sucked it into her mouth as she slid both hands up to cup his cheeks.
    Each sensation ignited something dangerous within her: the scrape of his stubble against her chin, the firm pressure on her hair as he held her locked in place and submitting to the mastery of his kiss. It shouldn’t have mattered. She shouldn’t have felt anything, but something inside her kindled to life at the way he pinned her down. A fever burned beneath her skin. It made her aware of just how large he was,