Page 131 of Modern Romance Collection March 2025 (1-4)

‘Touché,’ he murmured, refusing to defend that troubled boy again.

He wasn’t proud of the way he’d behaved as a teenager, but dealing with his father’s volatile moods and violent outbursts over many years hadn’t left that boy with much ability to process compassion or empathy. As a result, he didn’t blame that boy too harshly for his antagonism towards other children—especially a girl like Mel, who he had been so jealous of at the time. Because she had a mother who loved her, a best friend who adored her, and she didn’t appear to have a father at all, ready to discipline her for every infraction and punish her for any sign of weakness.

‘Whatever it is you have to say about that night,’ she said, the tone sharp enough to slice through steel, ‘just…’ She paused abruptly. He glanced her way to see her face break into a huge yawn. ‘J-just say it,’ she finished.

‘Go to sleep. You’re exhausted. We can talk later,’ he said.

It was a cop-out, and he suspected she knew it from the way she stared back at him, her eyes narrowing.

But the truth was, now she’d put him on the spot, he wasn’t ready yet to have this conversation. Her snotty attitude towards him, at Isabelle’s wedding and last night’s ball, had antagonised him beyond bearing, and he’d lost his temper, but now he finally had her at his mercy, he needed time to figure out an approach that wasn’t going to make her even more difficult. Plus, her rose scent and the sight of her face, devoid of make-up, her wide blue eyes dazed with fatigue, wasn’t helping to diminish the uncomfortable spike of awareness which had been tormenting him for four years.

‘Seriously?’ she hissed. ‘You kidnap me so you can trap me into spending five never-ending hours in a car with you. And now youdon’thave anything to talk about?’

Talking isn’t what we’re good at.

The thought popped into his head and pulsed in his groin.

He tensed—and forced his gaze back to the road.

Seriously, Gaultiere, what the hell is wrong with you?

Thankfully, the light snowfall gave him a way out. ‘I need to concentrate on my driving until we get through the pass,’ he said. ‘Consider it a reprieve. But if you reallywantto explain to me why you are still behaving like a woman scorned four years after our hook-up, I’m all ears.’

She let out an outraged huff. ‘A woman scorned?’ she replied, the scorn in her voice unmistakable. ‘You wish, Prince… Egomaniac.’

The insult might have had more heat if she hadn’t broken off in the middle of it for another jaw-breaking yawn.

‘Go to sleep,’ he said again. ‘Don’t worry, this argument will still be here when you wake up.’

‘You forget, I don’t take orders from y-you,’ she murmured, the fatigue slurring her speech when she yawned again.

‘Consider it a suggestion then, not an order,’ he offered.

She blinked slowly, her glassy eyes making the bright blue, lit by the searchlights reflecting off the dash, even more luminous than usual.

‘Go to hell,’ she muttered, but when she curled into the seat it took less than a second for her body to soften into sleep.

As the snow began to swirl and he concentrated on the road ahead, he was sure he could hear the murmur of her breathing above the rhythmic swish of the wiper blades. He took a steadying breath, only to inhale another lungful of her scent, the heady whisper of roses and female musk filling the car with too many memories…

And the heavy pulse in his groin got a whole lot more insistent.

Great!

CHAPTER FOUR

‘PLEASE TELL MEyou’re not a virgin, Melody.’

‘No, of course not! I love sex, I have it all the time.’

‘Are you sure? You’re so tight. Am I hurting you?’

‘No… Just… Maybe a little.’

‘Shh… Here, let me touch you. Let me make it good.’

The heat eddied through Mel’s body, the strong sure touch easing the pain and bringing with it a devastating pleasure—enveloping her, surrounding her. It surged from her core to ripple over her skin and swell around her heart. Strong, vital, vivid…

‘Melody! Wake up. We need to leave the vehicle…’

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