Free Lady Of Fire by Tamara Leigh Page B

the narrow space between pallet and wall and wondered how she was to move him onto his back without awakening him. If she lightly stroked the soles of his feet—
    She gasped, for neither could she blame nonexistent lattice coverings for what moonlight revealed. Sliding her gaze down the vertical groove that ran the length of his right foot, then across the horizontal groove, she identified that which had been burned into the bottom of his foot—a crucifix.
    For what purpose? Was it an English custom? Her mother had not spoken of it and certainly did not bear the mark herself, but that one would daily tread upon a symbol of one’s faith seemed sacrilegious. It disturbed her, and combined with the possibility of awakening him, tempted her to abandon her quest.
    She wavered, then slowly straightened and turned away.
    The air stirred at her back, and a muscled arm fastened around her waist. As she was swept backward, she pressed her lips to keep from crying out, instinctively knowing she had more to fear from those outside the room than the man who had seized her.
    She landed on her back upon his pallet and was immediately pinned beneath him.
    “You could wake a sleeping baby,” Lucien growled, his eyes glittering above her.
    “Get off,” she wheezed.
    He raised himself, though just enough to allow her to draw air deep. “For what are you here, Alessandra?”
    As she could conjure no believable excuse for intruding upon his privacy, there was only the humiliating truth. “That I might learn whether or not you are the eunuch you claim to be.”
    The coarse breath that moved the hair at her brow ceased, and she felt his disbelief. Or was it disapproval?
    When he finally spoke again, it was with reproach. “You are too brazen, a danger to both of us.”
    His words chafed. “As neither my mother nor you will speak to me in truth, I determined to discover it myself.” The moment the words were out, she wished them back in, for they were childish.
    “You truly believed you could learn the state of my body without awakening me?”
    What had roused him? Her gasp when she had seen what was burned into his foot? “I had but to draw back the cover to know,” she said. “Had I not changed my mind, I would have succeeded.” She shifted beneath him in an attempt to move him off her.
    He clamped his legs tighter on either side of her. “You would not have, for I am not so foolish to sleep bare knowing I shall need every moment should death come calling in the night.”
    She frowned. “You wear trousers?”
    “Indeed.”
    At this moment, it was of great comfort.
    “And I was awake long ere you entered my room.”
    Alessandra snorted. “That I do not believe.”
    Despite the dim between their faces, she saw his eyebrows rise. “It would have been better for you to climb the wall than to use the gate.”
    She startled. Was it possible one could sleep so lightly to have heard that slight creak of hinges? If he had caught it, had the guards?
    “Did you know it was me?” she asked.
    “Only when I caught your scent at the window—attar of the orange blossom. The others prefer roses or jasmine.”
    Why did it both excite and alarm her that he knew her smell? She pressed her hands to his chest. “Please, Lucien, get off.”
    “Lucien?” Was that a smile in his voice? Likely, for when they had kissed, he had demanded she speak it rather than his eunuch’s name. He lowered his head and his lips brushed her ear. “Has no one ever warned you of the dangers of playing with fire, Alessandra?”
    His words and warm breath kindling that which she had only ever felt with him, tempting her to turn her mouth to his, she said, “I wish to return to my apartment.”
    “Without discovering that which you came for?”
    She would have affirmed it, but he pressed his mouth to a place just beneath her ear. “Oh,” she breathed.
    He kissed her jaw, drawing her nearer the flame she would be a fool to pass her fingers through. But fool