Shadows At Sunset - Anne Stuart [43]
She looked pale in the moonlight, and she closed her eyes for a moment, looking even more vulnerable. He should have felt remorse. He simply felt desire.
“Please,” she said in a weary voice.
“Open your eyes and tell me to go away, Jilly. Put your hand on my cock and then tell me to leave.”
Her eyes flew open in shock and there it was between them. Desire, lust, fierce and mutual. Too soon, he thought dazedly, but it didn’t matter. She was looking at him with a wary intensity that was going to lead them straight to her swan-shaped bed, and he was going to screw her senseless at the scene of a murder, and none of it mattered. All that mattered was the creamy warmth of her skin, the sweet taste of her mouth, the fact that all he had to do was reach out and take her….
“Jilly?” The glass door behind him swung open, and Rachel-Ann stepped onto the terrace. “What’s going on out here?”
He’d stepped back, automatically, and the moment between them had vanished. It wasn’t going to be tonight, after all.
As if nothing had happened, Jilly laughed lightly. “Nothing, Rachel-Ann. Coltrane and I were just talking about…the pool.” The hesitation in her voice was almost imperceptible.
Rachel-Ann moved closer, glancing up at him with decidedly frank interest. “That goddamn pool. I don’t know why you don’t do something about it. You’ve never gotten over that time when you were fifteen—”
“I don’t want to talk about it!” Jilly said quickly.
Fascinating, he thought. Something about the pool. The first free time he had he was going to have to go for a little stroll around the grounds, see what there was about an overgrown swimming pool to inspire such fear. “I’d better turn in,” he said with an extravagant yawn. “I’ve got a full day’s work tomorrow. Thanks for keeping me company,” he said lightly.
Rachel-Ann moved past them to the railing, and Jilly glared at him behind her back. In response he mouthed a kiss at her, unable to resist the temptation.
“Good night, Coltrane,” Rachel-Ann said calmly, keeping her back to him.
“Night, ladies.”
He wasn’t under any foolish impression that Rachel-Ann had just happened to wake up and come out onto the balcony. He went back into his bedroom, closing the French doors noisily behind him, then silently opening one just a crack so that he could hear the sisters talking.
“Are you out of your mind?” Rachel-Ann said flatly.
“Sssh. He’ll hear you.”
“No, he won’t. He’s gone to bed, and trust me, you can’t hear anything from that far room. God knows I’ve tried. What were you doing with him? In another minute I thought you were about to do the nasty.”
“Lovely way to put it.”
“Would you prefer ‘getting your brains fucked out’? He looks capable of it. Which would make him more my type than yours. You prefer them respectful and civilized, don’t you? Coltrane’s a little too muy hombre, if you know what I mean. I don’t think you can handle him.”
“Keep away from him, Rachel-Ann.” Jilly’s voice was different when he wasn’t around, he thought, resting his forehead against the cool pane of glass. Softer, more vulnerable. “You know he’d be the worst thing in the world for you.”
“And when have I ever let that stop me?” Rachel-Ann’s self-mockery was chilling. “I had a sudden ghastly thought. Please don’t tell me you’re throwing yourself at the man to save me. It won’t do any good. You know I’ll take him if I want him, and your sacrifice will be for nothing.”
“I’m not that noble,” Jilly said wryly.
“Aren’t you?” Rachel-Ann mused. “He’s very good-looking. Maybe you’ve just decided it might be fun to play with the bad boys for a change. I can’t say I blame you, but I don’t think you’re quite up to the game. Someone like Coltrane would eat you whole.”
Just what he had in mind, Coltrane thought. Starting at her toes and moving up, slowly, lick by lick….
“Rachel-Ann, you’re jumping to conclusions,” Jilly said wearily. “We were just out here talking. He’s not really interested in me at all.”
“Not really? As in, he’s pretending he’s interested? This sounds worse and worse. You