Affair of Honor by Stephanie James

stand. They’ll turn it into nice lightweight bills,” he told her.
    “The casino management will probably ask us politely to leave if we keep this up.” Brenna chuckled as they moved off down the aisle of slot machines.
    “A couple of hundred bucks isn’t going to break them. Still, maybe we should take a little time out.”
    “I thought you were supposed to stick with a hot streak once you had one going,” she protested.
    “Oh, I intend to pursue the hot streak. On the dance floor.”
    Brenna thought about that as he guided her toward the lounge that overlooked the gambling floor. A sophisticated trio was playing while more of the scantily clad waitresses moved back and forth among the intimate cocktail tables. She thought about it carefully, trying to analyze the situation. For the first time that evening she asked herself silently what she might be getting into, but when Ryder took her in his arms, the questions faded back beyond the edges of the pleasant dream world she was inhabiting this evening.
    He wrapped her close, the possessiveness she had sensed in him all evening seeming to escalate by several quantum leaps. His hand moved down her back to the base of her spine, pressing her audaciously into his warmth. Ryder’s breath moved a tiny, loose tendril of hair as he inhaled the scent of her. Without protest, Brenna settled her head on his strong shoulder.
    “Enjoying yourself this evening, lady?” he growled very softly.
    “Yes,” she admitted unhesitatingly. “Very much. And you?”
    “I thought things were going to be a bit rough for a while but now everything seems to be going smoothly, doesn’t it? Yes, I’m enjoying myself. I’m enjoying you . I think I mentioned once before that I like the feel of you under my hands.”
    An unexpected tremor went through her as he suited action to words and moved his fingers compellingly along her spine. Brenna found herself drinking in the feel of his hard body, the totally male fragrance of his skin, and the indefinable, incredibly complex combination of factors that were attracting her senses. It was a magic night, made even more so because she didn’t believe in magic. With a sense of curiosity and desire she moved her nails lightly at the back of his neck, twisting her fingers delicately in the tawny depths of his hair.
    His reaction was immediate and electric. His hold on her tightened and his deep voice became very soft indeed. The whisper of silk on a knife blade, Brenna thought, intrigued. What was it about Ryder’s voice that she should remember?
    “Dangerous,” she suddenly said dreamily, her eyes closing.
    “What’s dangerous?”
    “You are when your voice gets very gentle and soft.” She smiled without lifting her lashes.
    “I’m not the one who’s dangerous tonight,” he whispered, finding the curve of her ear with the tip of his tongue in a quick, sensuous tasting action. “You’re the one who represents a real threat.”
    “Hah!” She snuggled closer, moving her fingers on the back of his neck this time just inside the line of his collar. “I am a prudent, circumspect, well-behaved faculty member of a very respected college.”
    “Who goes around climbing through the bedroom windows of unsuspecting males and seducing them on the dance floor,” Ryder concluded for her throatily.
    “I am not,” Brenna stated categorically, “seducing you!”
    “That’s a matter of opinion.”
    Brenna opened her eyes and found him watching her face with an intensity that stirred her senses. “Do you feel seduced?” she asked interestedly.
    “I feel as though I were being swept out into the middle of Lake Tahoe. It’s very deep out in the middle of the lake, lady. A man could be dragged under and never find his way back to the surface,” Ryder murmured, his voice vibrating with the purr of a lion.
    “I have the feeling you’re a very strong swimmer.”
    “The danger is that I might not want to swim away in time.”
    “Is this some