Exposed: Misbehaving with the Magnate. Kelly Hunter

Luc. It doesn’t suit you.’

      Luc’s eyes flashed fire. ‘Careful, Gabrielle.’

      ‘Much better,’ she murmured. ‘All that buttoned-down fire. That’s very you.’

      All that buttoned-down fire came roaring to the surface as Luc caught her by the arm and drew her into the secluded shadow of the chateau walls. He stood there, glaring at her in silence as he let the awareness between them build. And build. ‘Why do you do that?’ he said at last. ‘You push and you push and then you push me some more. I warn you, but you never seem to listen.’

      ‘I’m listening now,’ she said through suddenly dry lips, and took a step backwards only to come up against solid stone wall. ‘I’m listening very intently.’

      ‘Good, because I’m choosing my words carefully. Do you remember how it was when I lost control with you, Gabrielle? Do you? Is that what you want from me?’

      ‘No.’

      Yes, said a little voice that would not be silenced.

      ‘No,’ she said more firmly. ‘I want us to be civil with one another. That’s all.’

      ‘Civil,’ he said mirthlessly. ‘Around you?’

      ‘Yes.’

      ‘God help me.’

      ‘You could at least try,’ she said darkly. ‘You can’t even greet me properly.’

      ‘Have you ever stopped to wonder why?’ he grated.

      She hadn’t. All she’d seen was the lack of what he bestowed on others so naturally.

      ‘Just remember, this was your idea, not mine,’ he muttered, his voice a dark delicious rumble as he set his palms to the stone wall either side of her and bent his head to hers. ‘You want my greeting, here it is. Bonjour, Gabrielle.’ She felt the fleeting warmth of his lips against her cheek and then his lips were gone. The heat in her cheek started to spread. Probably best to ignore it. She pulled back ever so slightly to find him staring down at her, his expression thunderous. ‘See?’ she said tentatively. ‘That wasn’t so bad.’

      ‘I haven’t finished yet,’ he murmured, and set his lips to her other cheek. He started higher on her cheekbone this time, and lingered longer, tracing a meandering path along her cheek to her mouth where he very discreetly, very deliberately, wet the corner of her mouth with his tongue.

      Gabrielle gasped, she couldn’t help it, as an answering burn started low in her stomach.

      ‘Say “Bonjour, Lucien”,’ he whispered, his lips barely leaving hers. Say “Comment ça va?” and try to stop your body from aching because you want to feel more of me. Clench your hands into fists all you like, angel, but sooner or later someone’s going to figure out that you’re not angry, you’re just aroused. Under normal circumstances there’d be people around us, watching us, waiting to see what takes place between us. Do you really want them to see what happens next, Gabrielle? Do you?’

      ‘No,’ she whispered. ‘This isn’t going to be civilised, is it?’

      Luc smiled briefly. ‘No.’ And brushed his lips against hers with the lightest pressure, the faintest whisper of heat, but it was enough to make Gabrielle close her eyes and tilt her head the better to receive more of him. He settled his lips against hers more firmly and his hand came up to cup her face, cool fingers on heated cheeks before he slid his thumb to her jawbone and his fingers into her hair. His mouth moved over hers, still civilised, but only just. This wasn’t a simple kiss of greeting, nothing like it. There was a question in this kiss. And for Gabrielle there had only ever been one answer. With a shuddering sigh, Gabrielle opened her mouth and let him in.

      Luc knew that kissing Gabrielle was a mistake; he’d always known. She held nothing back, she never had, as she opened for him and spun them into oblivion, the kiss sliding from barely contained to outrageously wanton in a heartbeat. Her taste assaulted his senses, rich and heady, like the finest of wine. Her scent was one he would never tire of, not if he lived to be a hundred, and as for her touch… He wanted her hands on him more than he wanted to breathe.

      ‘Touch me,’ he murmured, between more of those greedy, soul-shattering kisses. ‘For pity’s sake, Gabrielle, touch me.’

      With a ragged little noise, half sob, half plea, Gabrielle dropped her sandals, wound her arms around his neck and did as she was told.

      The rain came suddenly, hitting hard, dousing them both with cool and stinging droplets. Gabrielle broke their kiss and gasped, flinching away, her arm coming up to protect her face from the spray. Luc blinked and shook his head before he too raised his hand to ward off the unexpected assault that didn’t appear to be coming from overhead. ‘What the hell..?’

      ‘Sorry.’ Simone’s voice came to him as if from a great distance, never mind that she stood only a few feet away with a hose in her hand and an angelic expression on her face. ‘I turned the tap on and the water pressure just whipped that hose right out of my hands and sprayed everything in sight. I simply couldn’t control it.’ Simone’s level gaze pinned them both. ‘You know how it is.’

      Gabrielle blushed a fetching shade of pink.

      Luc wiped the water from his face with his sleeve and rammed his hands in his pockets to stop them from reaching for Gabrielle again. ‘Next time we meet in public I’m saying hello and that’s it,’ he told Gabrielle grimly.

      ‘Good idea,’ she murmured as she knelt down to pick up her sandals, the action putting her at eye level with certain parts of his anatomy still straining for attention. Luc looked away fast, clenching his jaw as he fixed his gaze upon the stone wall straight in front of him and kept it there.

      ‘And then I’m heading for the other side of the room,’ he told no one in particular, his gaze still firmly fixed on the wall. ‘Possibly the other side of the earth.’

      ‘It’s called Australia,’ said Simone dryly. ‘And it certainly worked for the pair of you last time. More water?’

      ‘No,’ he said quickly.

      ‘I’m good too.’ Gabrielle popped into Luc’s frame of view with the speed of a rain-drenched weed. She smiled brightly and shook out the droplets of water from her dress for good measure. ‘So where were we?’

      ‘About to take a tour of the gardens?’ said Simone with the lift of an elegant eyebrow. ‘Are you planning on joining us, brother?’

      Not if he could possibly help it.