Page 18 of Bitten By Mr. Darcy
“I am just as easily swayed when it comes to you,” said Mr. Darcy. “More so, in fact. I want you more than you want me.”
Her top teeth sank into her bottom lip and she drew in a breath around them. She smelled like the sweetest of temptations, like honey.
Not yet,he told himself.Do not taste her yet.He looked about the room for distraction, however, and he saw that Mr. Bingley and Caroline had seated themselves on either side of Jane, and the look in their eyes was eager and hungry.
None of them were going to be able to wait, it seemed, and it was still so early in the night, not even remotely close to the morning.
“After tonight, Miss Elizabeth, you will never see me again,” he said to her.
She gave him a look that was nearly wounded. “Oh, I see.”
“I am a monster, am I not?” he said pointedly. “Have you not said so yourself?”
“Yes,” she said, nodding. “Yes, good. It will be very good to be rid of you.”
He pulled her into his lap.
She squeaked.
“I know, but impropriety be damned,” he muttered, arranging her arm around his neck, giving him the access he wanted. He ran his nose up and down her neck, breathing her in. She was all soft flesh and warmth, and he was overcome.
“You kissed me before,” she said in a very small voice.
“Yes,” he growled and then he claimed her lips again, a deeper kiss than the time before, one that meant he delved in with his tongue to touch hers.
She made a noise of surprise but allowed him access, her body melting into his, her hand going to seize a handful of his cravat.
He broke the kiss but kissed her chin and then her forehead and then her eyebrow.
She sighed. “You… I suppose you aren’t human, so you can’t… couldn’t…”
He pulled away, so that he could look in her eyes. “Can’t what, sweet Elizabeth?”
“I am not to allow men to have such liberties,” she said. “I have been taught to resist, sir, but you… it is so difficult to resist, and I suppose the danger is only the way you wish to bite me, not, erm, anything else.”
He hesitated, because that wasn’t true. In fact, he was aroused again, his trousers straining to contain him. He wouldn’t dothatto her, of course.
Well, he shouldn’t.
But then, he shouldn’t be biting her either or kissing her or having her in his lap either. He was a monster, was he not? This poor girl had likely never known the touch of a man, and here he was, taking all of her firsts, things she might have liked to share with a human man, with a husband or a lover.
“I am sorry for not being careful with you, Miss Elizabeth,” he said. “I seem to lose my ability to think when I am with you, which is not a good excuse, of course, but is the best I can do to explain myself. I shall leave you quite intact for your future husband. And do not forget, we shall all charm you before we set you free, and you’ll forget all of this, so when he touches you, it will be as if you are untouched.”
She shook her head. “I don’t think I wish to forget,” she said.
He kissed her again, a long and lingering kiss. “No? Truly?”
“Anyway, I likely shan’t have a husband, in the end.”
He pulled back again, giving her a funny look. “Why would you say that? You are loveliness personified. Any man who wouldn’t want you is obviously an idiot.”
She smiled a small smile. “I think you are biased because of the sirensong business. You do not see me accurately.”
“Trust me, I do.” He traced her cheekbone with his forefinger.
She squirmed deliciously on his lap. “I haven’t a dowry, not really. And I am not a winsome or agreeable sort, I don’t think. Sometimes, I think I am too direct. You are wrong, anyway, men don’t want me, Mr. Darcy. You are the only one who ever has.”
“That is foolish, Miss Elizabeth. You are young and you don’t know what awaits you. You will be much pursued after I leave you, I assure you.” He kissed her again.
