Phantom Series Boxed Set by Julie Leto Page B

but so far, none of his attempts to sway Alexis to forget her history lesson in lieu of more pleasurable pursuits had worked. He was either losing his touch, or exhaustion and the medication she kept forcing him to swallow at the slightest twinge of pain was playing on his skills.
    “Shall we go over the principles of capitalism again?” she asked, earnest.
    It was his turn to laugh. “I was hoping for some relaxation, but now I’m leaning toward rest. Once I was freed from the portrait, I did not ever think I’d want to sleep again.” He yawned noisily. “I was wrong.”
    “Am I that boring?” she asked, unsuccessfully attempting to cover her own exhaustion.
    “Boring?” he asked, surprised. For a woman who claimed to be nothing more than a hotelier, she’d done a fine job explaining what might have taken him weeks to learn on his own. And she was much more delightful to look at and listen to than any of the scholars he’d studied with in his youth. “Not likely, my lady. But I must say that for all the learned tutors my father employed over the course of my boyhood, none tried to cram my brain with so much information in such a short time.”
    She curled a pillow underneath her breasts, forcing Damon to look away or risk molesting her despite her protestations. Two buttons kept her blouse from breaking open. Two measly buttons.
    Before, he’d found her merely beautiful and alluring and powerful. Now that he’d discovered how her intelligence not only matched, but surpassed her beauty, he couldn’t imagine resisting her, no matter the cost.
    “Are you still afraid to sleep?” she ventured.
    Damon frowned, but noted silently she might not be too far from the mark. “I cannot deny the emotion has niggled at me, particularly when there’s a chance I might not wake again for another century or two. Of course, you might be experiencing the same reluctance. If you sleep, you may discover that once you wake, our meeting has been nothing more than a dream.”
    Alexa pressed her lips tightly together, lips that were now pale. They’d been rouged darkly when he’d first seen her from the other side of the painting. All of the color she’d applied to her face to enhance her large green eyes and striking cheekbones had faded, and her hair, still brilliantly red of course, was now a tangled mess.
    And yet, he still found her undeniably desirable. Educated beyond most men of his station, Damon had met many knowledgeable women in his time, yet none took their educational prowess lightly. Women in his age who’d been lucky enough to know things beyond husbandry and housekeeping either flaunted their superior intellects or hid them furiously. Alexa did neither. She simply enjoyed the things she knew and joked about the things she didn’t.
    And underneath the fair skin, rumpled appearance and sharp mind resided a woman of unparalleled passion. Perhaps this was his ultimate punishment—meeting a woman he could have only until he was free. Because once he could leave this castle, he would spend the rest of his days avenging Rogan’s evil.
    As she rolled over, her hair fanned across the pillows and caught the dying light of the fire’s embers. “I’d likely be better off if this were all a dream.”
    “Why?” he asked, scooting nearer. Unable to help himself, he wished for the torches and candles to dim, and instantly, they complied.
    She stretched, raising her arms over her head and arching her back so that her breasts curved against her barely buttoned blouse. The outline of her dark nipples caused his mouth to water. What he wouldn’t give for another taste of her heavenly flesh.
    “A lot of people rely on me,” she answered. “They need me to think clearly and logically all the time. Indulging in an affair with a man who might not be real? Doesn’t exactly qualify as clear or logical.”
    “You cannot be beholden to others all of your life.”
    Mindlessly, she toyed with the cuff of his shirt, her