Page 51 of Euphoria
“If you don’t like it, why do you return?” I asked, not willing to let him change the subject yet again.
For all the things I knew about him, there were a hundred I didn’t. I didn’t know if his mother and father were still alive or where they were, I didn’t know what happened to his brother who’d passed away, I didn’t know what kind of business he owned, I didn’t know where he went when he wasn’t at Thornfield. His constant evasion was wearing away at my very being. I wanted to connect with him so much it hurt.
“It’s my family’s ancestral home,” he said simply. “It is my duty to maintain it.”
“And that’s why you keep it up just enough that is doesn’t fall entirely into disrepair?” I glanced over my shoulder, but the house was hidden from view. “It could be a grand destination with a little more work.”
“I don’t want to talk about Thornfield,” he murmured, a strange look passing through his eyes.
“Alice told me of your family,” I said, attempting to open him further. “Before you came, that is.”
“Did she now?” he muttered, kicking a loose stone with the toe of his boot. “I suppose she painted me as a monster.”
His direct evasion of my question didn’t pass unnoticed. “Not at all. The mental picture I had was of a moody middle-aged bachelor who cared little for his holdings.”
“Then I understand your surprise. I’m sure you delighted in it.”
“Hardly. I was certain you would fire me on the spot!”
He smiled, and it was such a rare occurrence I hardly recognized the man beside me. The light behind his eyes was magnificent, and I lamented at the unknown circumstances that doused it.
Now that we were finally out of view from prying eyes, he grasped my hand in his. It didn’t matter how much I wanted to protest and press him for more answers—one touch silenced me completely.
He sighed, his chest rising and falling with the effort. “I wish I could take you to an island, just you and me, away from fear and danger, and forget all that has happened before I met you on that road.”
He was so forlorn in his declaration that I stepped closer. “Can I help you?”
He grasped my hand and pulled me close, his lips brushing against mine. “Yes, you can help, Jane. You have already been chasing away the demons with your superior spirit.”
“I don’t think I’m superior,” I murmured. “I am who I am, and I do what I am able. We all have our faults, sir.”
His stormy gaze searched mine, looking for something unknown. “You are a rare bird, Jane. I would capture you, but I don’t have the heart for it.”
I shook my head, my lips moving against his just so. “I wouldn’t mind being captured by you.”
“It’s a cage, Jane,” he said solemnly.
I smiled, melting into his embrace. “Then you don’t see what I see.”
“And that is?” His gaze lowered, and his head tilted to the side, poised to claim me.
“You say you are chained, but I see the power within you to break them,” I whispered, my body trembling against his.
“I would have you now,” he growled, pinning me against the trunk of a grand oak. “I need your flesh, Jane. I need to…I need to…”
“Then take me, Edward,” I replied, wrapping my leg around his waist and moving my core against him.
“I fear I cannot be gentle,” he rasped, wrapping his large hand around my thigh. “I’ve waited too long…”
“I promised you,” I declared through a moan as he latched his lips onto my neck. “I would be waiting and ready when you needed me. And here I am.”
“Here you are.”
“Mercilessly, Edward.”
“Mercilessly.”
The refined millionaire shed his skin, and standing before me was the alpha wolf, his mask gone and his desire on show. I knew he hadn’t been lying to me the night we first kissed when he implied he was just as harsh in bed as he was out of it, but I never really understood. Not until I was presented with it.
