Page 25 of Dukes Are Forever
Malloryn captured a fistful of her skirts, holding her there. His knuckles strained within his glove. "There's a reason I leash my darker instincts, Adele. That man is ruled by his passions. He's a little dangerous."
"Perhaps I like a little danger?"
Inch by inch, he tugged her closer. "Do you?"
She certainly enjoyed driving him insane.
"I must admit you had me at odds and ends yesterday in the carriage," she said. "But I have been thinking about your proposition. Why now?"
"Why not?"
"Because you've never glanced my way before."
He sensed the doubt in her words and paused to consider how to play this. "If you think I haven't glanced your way, then you should think again. Every day your laughter echoes through the house. Your perfume haunts my library. I can hear the water dripping off your skin when you bathe—"
"Even through the locked door between our rooms?"
"Especiallythrough the locked door."
"You're the one with the key." She glanced up, and he could sense her battling arousal in her efforts to keep a clear head.
Malloryn smiled. "Maybe we should unlock that door. Maybe tonight you should wear nothing but your diamonds when you retire."
"And if I do, are you even going to make an appearance? Or am I going to be left wanting again?"
So shehadawaited him last night. His smile softened, became a little dangerous. "I don't know. I think I like the idea of you waiting for me." Brushing his knuckles against her bodice, he heard her faint gasp as they rippled over the hardened edge of her nipple. "Waiting and wet. Desperate for my touch."
Adele stepped back, her eyes glittering.
"Now it begins to make sense." She circled him. "This is a game to you. It's not merely your sudden requirement for an heir."
"Everything in life is a game. It's simply a matter of who plays it best."
"You think you can make me enjoy this, don't you? Did you imagine I would surrender? Did you think I would melt beneath your touch and beg you for more? I suppose I must seem the ultimate challenge. I don't like you. You don't like me. Did you imagine you would steal my heart?"
"I didn't think you had one, Adele. Isn't that what you said once?"
He turned his head to watch her. Skirts gave a silken rustle as she came back to the front.
"But you want me to beg," she whispered, her eyes glittering with heat. "Don't you?"
For a second, he felt an answering heat swell within him too. He'd thought this would be a challenge, but no more than any other woman who guarded her heart. It had seemed a forgone conclusion. He was the Duke of Malloryn, an expert in both understanding the base desires of a person and wielding such desires with a metaphorical lash. Adele would surrender. A fun game while it lasted, but not a long one.
But the challenge in her eyes....
She'd read him too.
And she knew exactly which buttons to push to ignite his own sense of curiosity.
"Yes," he whispered as she settled directly in front of him, her shoulders squared. "I want you to beg. I want you to scream with pleasure, my dear. I want to own you."
"You couldn't," she shot back, "even if you engaged all of your prowess. My heart does not rule me. I will never allow any man to own my happiness, or my desires."
Now it was getting interesting.
He stroked the back of his gloved hand down her bodice, barely touching the silk. Adele's breasts lifted as she smothered a swift intake of breath.
But it was there.
