“About stopping at an inn with you and there was only one bed.”
“And now it’s coming true.”
Not all of it. That dream could never come true. It had been a particularly dirty dream.
“What happened in the dream?” she asked.
“Nothing. It’s an inappropriate topic. I shouldn’t have brought it up.”
“Are you telling me that you had a dream about us sharing the only bed and nothing happened? I don’t believe it.”
“Believe it. Go to sleep now. The doctor said you should have some rest. I asked the innkeeper to wake us at first light, and hopefully we can be on the road and have you home before anyone knows you’re missing.”
“If you won’t tell me about your dream, I’ll tell you about one that I had after the first day we met.”
“Time for bed. Lamps out,” he said desperately, turning down the wick. “Good night, Miss Oliver—”
“Don’t you want to know what it was about?”
“I don’t.” He did. He desperately did. From the sultry tone of her voice, it had been naughty.
“I dreamed that when you rescued me out of the sea, it was a much chillier day, and you were very concerned that I would catch my death of cold. And you had to divest me of my wet garments. You grabbed hold of the bodice of my shift and you rent the fabric apart with brute strengthand the garment split in two and fell off, and I was left entirely naked.”
Good God. Despite his best intentions, his cock stiffened to granite. “One does what one has to.”
“Do you want to know what happened next?”
He took another healthy swig of mulled wine. He’d certainly told her enough erotic things in the garden the other night. She should be allowed to tell him her fantasies. Words. Only words. There was a whole room between them. He was fully clothed. “Tell me.”
“You stripped to your bare skin, and you whispered in my ear that you didn’t want me to catch my death and that your body heat would keep me warm. ‘Your lips are turning blue,’ you said. ‘I’ll have to kiss you.’ And then you kissed me so passionately that my whole body caught fire and my senses blazed to life.”
“And then...?”
“You transformed into the ravening beast my mother is always warning me about. You sprouted horns and cloven hooves and grasped me by the neck and held me down while you defiled me most vigorously.”
Dane was barely breathing he was so aroused. His cock twitched and leaped, straining against his breeches’ flap. The thought of holding her by the throat and thrusting inside her filled his mind. She had a filthy imagination. And he loved it.
“At the time, I didn’t really know what defilement entailed. Beast-Dane was grunting loudly, and I was squirming about but I wasn’t trying tostop you. I liked it. I wanted you to debauch me, to make me yours. I awoke with the most melting sensation, which I now understand was similar to how you made me feel in the garden the other night.”
Dane choked on the wine and started coughing. She’d just described having an erotic dream resulting in orgasm. He hadn’t even known women could have those.
“Is anything wrong?” she asked sweetly.
“I don’t think we should tell each other about any more of our dreams.”
“You didn’t give me any details about yours.”
“Go to sleep, Sandrine.”
“Come to bed. You’ll be more comfortable.”
“I can’t. You’re testing your newfound freedom. You’ve recently discovered that you have a scandalous grandmother. We did one forbidden, wicked thing in a garden. But I’m not going to ruin you, Sandrine. It’s not going to happen.”
“I’m not suggesting bestial defilement. I was thinking more of gentle exploration with explicitly delineated parameters.”
“No exploration, gentle or otherwise. Go to sleep.”
She lay quietly for some time, and Dane’s raging erection finally began to abate. He had almost drifted into a cramped approximation of sleep when her soft voice woke him.