The Snow Queen's Captive by Jill Myles Page A

brow and smoothing his glove down to her bared shoulder. “Something tells me that you’re as terrible a liar as you are an evil queen.”
    Her mouth quirked sadly at that, but she shifted in the blankets and raised an arm over her head, resting it on one of the pillows tucked beneath her head. “Thank you for waking me, Kai.” Her sleepy, soft gaze moved over him restlessly. “Why are you still in your furs?”
    So I could press against you while you slept , he wanted to tell her. But he kept silent. If she was going to keep her secrets, he’d keep his own, too. Instead, he studied her. With her arm over her head, her breasts had risen higher, nearly pushing out of her icy bodice. If she moved just a little more, he’d see a glimpse of nipple. Were they pert and tiny under that bodice, begging for his touch?
    Gods, he wanted to touch her.
    As if sensing his thoughts, Charlotte licked her lips. “Kai?” Her voice was soft. “Talk to me. I can’t stand the silence.”
    “You’re beautiful.” His fingers traced one white shoulder, and he wished he could touch her skin without the glove. Without barriers.
    “I like it when you touch me,” she told him in a quiet, achingly sweet voice. “I’ve missed being touched so badly. I wish we could kiss.”
    “We can’t,” he murmured, and leaned in. His long, black hair fell over his shoulder and brushed against her creamy skin, and she shivered in response. “But I can do things to pleasure you, if you’ll let me.”
    She licked her lips, her eyes growing bright with interest. “Only if I can do the same to you.”
    “I am yours.”
    Her brow furrowed and anger flashed across her face. “No,” she said, her hand clasping his through the glove and stopping his leisurely exploration of her. “You’re not mine. You belong to you and no one else. Remember that, Kai. All right? Whatever, whoever I was before? I don’t own you.”
    You may not own me, but you’ve enslaved me all the same , he thought again, but didn’t disagree with her. Instead, when she lifted her hand from his, he brushed down one bared arm. “Can I touch you?”
    “Of course.”
    “All of you?”
    She sucked in a soft breath, and then gave a small wriggle on the bed. Now both arms were above her head and she closed her eyes. As she did, her icy clothing seemed to shimmer and melt into her skin. A moment later, it all disappeared as if it had never been, and she was soft and naked and bare next to him.
    Kai gazed down at her utter perfection. Her breasts were perfect round globes, her nipples the palest blue he’d ever seen, so pale they almost blended with the rest of her skin. The tips were small and tight, pebbled with arousal. Her stomach was slightly curved and her hips flared out to long, tapered legs and tiny feet.
    And covering her sex was silky white floss that matched her hair.
    He’d never seen her naked with his senses about him. Flashes of memory told him that he’d possibly seen her naked when he was ensorcelled by the mirror, but the memories belonging to that time had disappeared as soon as the spell had. She looked pale and fragile next to him, but the look on her face was one of anticipation and desire, and it made his cock harden with need.
    “I’m going to touch you now,” he told her, and brushed one of the gloves down the length of a pale arm, readying her for more.
    She nodded, anticipation making her cheeks flush an attractive hint of icy blue. There was no fear in her eyes, only excitement, and that aroused him even more. He’d never met a woman quite like her. Perhaps Gerda, who had an enthusiastic lust for life, but he thought of Gerda as a little sister more than a lover.
    His covered hand swept back up her arm, and then brushed across her chest, gliding down between the twin mounds of her breasts. He watched as her breathing increased, her breasts rising with excitement as his touch grew bolder. “Is your skin as soft as I imagine it is?” he asked