The Snow White Bride by Claire Delacroix Read Free Book Online

feeds her patron his every morsel with her fingertips?” He held another piece of meat for Eleanor, ensuring that it did not drip upon her garb.
    This bite she accepted more hastily, granting him a warning glance. “There are those who do, or so I hear. My own favor is for my own spoon.” She lifted another piece of meat with that utensil, but Alexander bent and ate it himself, before she realized his intent. She was delightfully startled, her ruddy lips rounding in a circle of astonishment.
    He claimed her spoon and laid it out of her reach, along with his own. “I confess to preferring fingertips. Will you not see my own hunger sated?” He looked pointedly to the trencher before them.
    Eleanor grasped the largest piece of meat between finger and thumb, and offered it to him. Alexander made to bite it, but she pushed it all between his lips. “That will ensure your silence for a few moments,” she said, her tone surprisingly teasing. She ate then at leisure while he fought to chew his way through the piece of meat.
    His sisters smirked on either side.
    “You have a drop of wine upon your lip,” he murmured to Eleanor when he could do so, though in truth she did not. Eleanor licked her lips hastily, the sight of the tip of her tongue sending a spark through Alexander.
    “The other side,” he lied, wanting only to see her repeat her gesture. She did so, then met his gaze again.
    “No,” he said, shaking his head with solemnity. “You missed it. A bit more to your right.” She ducked her head this time and wiped her mouth with her napkin.
    “It proves to be elusive, indeed,” he said softly. “Let me do you this courtesy.” Before she could argue the matter, he slid his own fingertip across her bottom lip. He began at one corn er of her mouth, holding her gaze all the while, then eased his finger to the other co rn er with excruciating slowness.
    The ruby fullness of her lip tugged beneath his fingertip, its softness tempting him to li nger. Eleanor stared at him, her eyes wide, and did not seem to breathe. Alexander was tempted to kiss her, though guessed that she feared he would do as much.
    And that would certainly not prompt her smile.
    Instead, he licked his own fingertip, as if savoring the drop of wine he had claimed from her lip. “Sweet,” he said, then arched a brow, “though it might seem tart when it first falls upon the tongue. An unobservant man might miss its value.”
    Eleanor flushed, her face turning absolutely crimson, then looked down at her side of their trencher. She ate half-a-dozen pieces of meat so quickly that she could not have tasted them and Alexander sipped his wine, knowing that she was not so immune to him as she would prefer he believe.
    Still, he had to make her smile.
    On impulse, he decided just how the deed might be done.
    * * * * *
    A lexander stood and clapped his hands, mercifully turning his gaze away from Eleanor. She had wondered whether it had been prudent to wish for his attention, after he had fixed it so resolutely upon her. The man was discomfiting, to be certain, and she was flustered.
    Yet curiously, she felt more alive than she had in years. Every fiber of her being tingled. She was aware of the muscled heat of his thigh so close to her own, the low rumble of his voice even when he spoke to others, and she swore she could feel his very gaze land upon her.
    The man roused unwelcome questions in her thoughts—or perhaps he roused only one. Was it possible that there was more pleasure to be found abed than she had experienced? It was not hard to believe as much, and Eleanor found herself possessed of an uncommon passion to know the truth. She did not doubt that the man by her side would be delighted to exhaust her curiosity.
    How would Alexander beguile a woman abed? The very notion lit an unfamiliar fire deep within Eleanor. She watched his hands, lean and strong a nd tanned, and her mouth went dr y at the thought of them upon her flesh. His touch was