Page 21 of Impenitent Claim

“It made you upset, and for that, I’m sorry. That was never my intention.” The way he spoke, low and gravelly, it was as if he forced his voice to sound…different.

“Who are you?” I repeated.

“Yours, Isabella, I’m yours.” His fingers clasped over mine, cutting off any chance of a rational refusal. They were large, strong fingers. The contact was blistering.

That heat leeched into my skin.

Gazing up into the monster’s face, my body reacted with a rush I only felt once before.

“Now, if you don’t want the book—”

“Don’t take my book,” I hissed, wrenching my hand to my chest.

Chuckling, the spectre stepped into me. My nipples hardened, and the warmth in my belly flared hot.

“Go back to bed, rusalka,” he growled. “You need your sleep.”

“Look, you don’t know who these people are. If they catch you sneaking onto the property, they’ll make Guantanamo seem like an all-inclusive resort.”

“Thanks for caring, now get inside. You’re shivering.”

I shook my head. “I can’t be yours, phantom. I’m engaged!”

I lifted my hand, letting a brilliant shaft of moonlight capture the rock on my finger. The stone glittered in the celestial glow.

“Go. To. Bed,” he ground out. If I thought he was angry before, he was downright furious now. It perfumed from his body, creating a menacing cloud that threatened to eviscerate anything caught in the radius.

And yet I was right here, safe and sound.

How do I make him understand?Pushing down the thunderous pulse, I tried once more. “If you’re planning tooverthrow the don, don’t. I know him—I know his underboss! You can’t rebel.”

“They have nothing on me.” The dark promise cracked through the night.

I let out a strangled groan. “Fine. Don’t believe me. But if you think for one minute that I’ll sit by and let you drag me down with you, you’re wrong. I’m not lifting a hand against them. Whatever coup you’re planning, I want no part in it.”

His voice hardened. “A coup? There’s no coup. There’s just you and me, little siren.”

And…we were back to this lunacy. “No, there’s not.”

I shoved the pistol against his rib before I took a long step backward. I knew better than to turn my back on this monster. The cold wind swirled around me, picking up in strength as I fled. I embraced the bite of frost that nipped my skin, desperate for it to cool the fire the spectre evoked in my veins.

The ghost didn’t chase me, and I reached the side door without any difficulty.

Which was probably a very good thing.

Taking one more look at the backyard, I sighed. The night, though cold and spooky, held a kind of raw, untamed beauty. It called to my soul as did the monster prowling somewhere in the dark. The silence, punctuated by the occasional clatter of the trees, asked me what I was going to do next. Turn the stalker over to the don? Or keep his presence a secret? Pulling my lip between my teeth, I cradled the book to my chest. The same hesitation from the first encounter remained the best argument in favor of keeping the information to myself. If the don found out I knew for some time now about the intruder, it would not go well. No…I couldn’t have this reflecting badly on me. The wind chose that moment to rise and blast me with frost-drenched air. It was a strange comfort, a resounding confirmation that my fatewas sealed in this course of action. Sink or swim, I was going to continue to deal with this ghostly haunting on my own.

Chapter 11 – Isabella

“You call that a deadlift?” Siera, the militant personal trainer, yelled across the gym.

I pursed my lips. She was taking exercise, something I loved and that gave me endorphins, and turning it into a dreaded three hours of my day. Cecilia was adamant that I drop my body mass index, even more than what I needed to fit into my dress. I had been here every day this week, and each session was edging closer to dangerous levels of physical extreme.

I thought she couldn’t hurt me. I promised myself this wouldn’t break me.

I wasn’t so sure anymore.

“If I do another full rep at this weight, I’ll hurt myself,” I snapped and promptly dropped the bar.

---