He was far too perceptive and she was too clumsy with words. But this was easy.

He was a very fine lover. In the dark, they fit together amazingly well. She didn’t have to pretend to want him, at least not physically. Perhaps she should be ashamed by that. When this was done, she likely would be ashamed, but now there was only this complicated and perceptive man kissing her with lazy thoroughness while his big hands flexed restlessly on her hips. Soon he would take her to his bed, and for a while she wouldn’t have to be afraid that she’d give herself away. She could forget who she was pretending to be. She could forget who Janek was too. She would simply be a woman with her lover. A woman with her very talented, startlingly imaginative, and nearly insatiable lover.

There were compensations to this new path in life she’d chosen.

Janek tugged her down. With a gentle rocking motion, he urged her to ride him. Desire welled inside her, warm and soothing. He’d stripped away her scarf, and at some point he’d found the tie for her skirt as well. The fabric slid down her thighs to pool at her feet.

“I like seeing you like this,” he said, his voice a low rumble. “When you dance for the court, you belong to everyone. So cold and untouchable I might as well be watching the stars move across the sky. But here you’re mine to touch as I like.”

He followed those words with the action to prove them, stealing her breath. He lifted her in his arms easily and carried her to the bed, setting her down without ceremony before he began to strip.

She rolled onto her back to watch him. Bit by bit the man was revealed. Broad shoulders, thick chest covered by wiry black hair. A line of that dark hair extended down his muscular abdomen. His foreskin had been removed—a barbaric southern practice. But it didn’t seem to bother him or interfere with his ability to perform. He seemed amused by the way she liked to explore his mutilated tip, kissing it like she could force the skin to regrow.

He dropped his hands to either side of her and lowered himself between her legs, taking her lips in a deep possessive kiss. She tilted her hips to guide his way. As soon as he found the angle he was looking for, he stilled. And, then, with a single smooth thrust, he pushed inside of her. She wrapped her legs around his thighs to pull him deeper. Lightning briefly lit his face.