Page 12 of One Wicked Secret
She screwed her eyes tight.Stop! Please stop!
“I remember your lips parting, eager to welcome meinside. Is that what you want, Elsa? My mouth on yours? Is that the price for persuading you to obey me?”
Did he think she could be bought so easily?
He was a fool to think a kiss could negate his betrayal. The desperate need to feel the pressure of his lips died when he left her alone, trying to master her wedding night nerves.
I don’t want you anymore, she longed to say.
But she kept her lips pursed.
The sudden snap of a twig suggested he was directly behind the tree. Should she move left or right? Either way, he would catch her, but she was determined to challenge her fate.
With trembling fingers, she gathered her skirts and darted across the grass. Every step mattered. Each one was an act of defiance.
“Elsa!” came Daniel’s breathless shout. “Wait!”
Her heart pounded in her ears, echoing like the thud of his strides across the greensward. She made the mistake of glancing behind just as he reached for her arm.
Panicked, she lost her footing.
Daniel grabbed her waist and they both tumbled, landing hard on the damp grass. They rolled together, a tangle of limbs, the world spinning around them.
The second they stopped, he scrambled on top of her, grabbing her hands and pinning them above her head, determined to keep her his prisoner. “Cursed saints! Can’t you see I’m trying to help you?”
His warm breath breezed over her cheek.
His hard body pressed her into the cold earth.
It was the most exquisite form of torture.
“Get off me, Daniel.” Though she clenched her teeth, her traitorous legs had a mind of their own, parting slightly tocushion his weight. “I’m no longer yours to own. I will never agree to your demands.”
Frustration tightened his jaw, but the rakish lock of ebony hair hanging over his brow stole her attention. “You have no choice.”
Heavens! The devil had never looked so handsome.
Don’t succumb to him, her logical mind whispered.
With a sudden burst of strength, she struggled beneath him. “I insist you let me go. You haven’t bothered with me for months. Why bother now?”
“Merciful Lord. Stop wriggling.” He sounded pained. “You’re making this harder than it needs to be.”
Good!
“I’ll never stop running. I’ll never stop looking for a way to leave you,” she threatened in a bid to reclaim her power. “I’m not going back to Henley. I’ll be in Geneva before you receive word I’m gone.”
“Damn the devil, Elsa. You must return to Henley. You don’t understand the dangers you face here in town.”
She raised her chin and hit him with a wilful glare. “What dangers? Why should I listen to you when you tell me nothing? Perhaps if you stopped keeping secrets, I might begin?—”
“It’s one secret,” he blurted. “One secret so wicked it will destroy you. Your life will never be the same if I tell you. Just trust me to?—”
“What secret?” she pressed. “I have a right to know.”
“Knowing won’t change any?—”
“Tell me, Daniel!”
