Knight and Sleigh: An Erotic Lucien Knight Christmas Novella Read Online Free Page A

window, listening intently to what the Norwegian presenter was saying. Sophie stilled, watching him.  
    ‘What is it?’  
    Lucien waited a moment, until the report’s section ended. Focusing again on Sophie, he explained, ‘The storm blowing through, it’s more severe than expected. They’re recommending people hunker down and wait it out as long as they’re somewhere safe.’  
    ‘What about us? Is this a good place? Or should we try to make a move?’  
    Lucien shook his head decisively. ‘We have good food and drink, a supply of firewood, and you’re naked. I can’t think of anywhere I’d rather be than here.’  
    Smiling, not surprised by his answer, Sophie headed back into the living room and settled on the sofa, pulling the soft fur throw up over her as she curled her legs beneath her and blew the steam from her chocolate. If Lucien thought this was a good and a safe place to be in the eye of the storm, she believed him. She knew he would never put her in danger.  
    Lucien followed behind, pausing by the bookcase to scan the reading selection. He raised his eyebrows. He’d been expecting a shelf of glossy, trend-led coffee table books, supplied by the designers. But here were novels, old biographies, reference books, a dictionary, in both Norwegian and English… some of them distinctly battered.  
    ‘Read to me?’ Sophie said softly, savouring the rich, sweet drink.  
    He glanced towards her almost quizzically, then ran his fingers over the spines of the books for a minute or two before easing one of them out.  
    ‘Did you choose these?’ he asked, sliding down onto the sofa beside her to add, ‘And don’t think I haven’t noticed you’re hiding underneath a blanket.’  
    He lifted the edge of the fur and joining her beneath it. ‘I’ll allow it to stay as long as I’m underneath it with you.’  
    Sophie reached over the arm of the sofa and placed her mug down beside the lamp then twisted around and lay down with her head in Lucien’s lap, scanning the book cover as she pulled the fur throw up over her body.  
    ‘Yes, I did,’ she admitted. ‘I thought books were too personal to let a designer choose them. I picked… ones that I like, and I thought you might like them too.’  
    ‘So you’ve read this before?’ Lucien asked, opening the green linen cover of the book he’d selected and turning the first pages to the beginning of chapter one.  
    Sophie nodded. She’d first read Wuthering Heights as an impressionable fourteen year old, and like many girls before her she’d fallen head over heels for Heathcliff’s brooding, gypsy charms. She’d read it countless times over the intervening years, and the idea of listening to Lucien read it to her now on this snowy Christmas eve was the stuff her made were of.  
    Lucien leaned in and kissed her forehead.  
    ‘What about the Norwegian books?’  
    Sophie grinned. She’d spent several hours on the Internet and in email conversation with a very helpful English-speaking second-hand bookseller in Oslo. ‘Remember, I’m a PA,’ she told him.  
    ‘Resourceful as ever,’ he said, touching her cheek. ‘Thank you. I like them very much.’  
    She closed her eyes as he started to read, breathing in slowly and enjoying the rich depth of his tone coupled with the beautiful, atmospheric words of one of her most favourite books. If there had ever been a more serene and perfect moment in Sophie’s life, she couldn’t bring it to mind. He stroked her hair with his free hand as he read, spreading it out over his thighs absently as he combed his fingers through it. Every now and then he shifted a little, and each time Sophie was freshly reminded of the distracting presence of his crotch beneath the back of her head. She was torn between the urge to turn her face into him and pop open the button on his jeans and the wish to lie still and listen to him read forever.  
    Was there anything sexier than a lethally hot man reading a