Page 13 of A Christmas Temptation for the Duke
“Just as I will not – oh!”
The Earl moved quickly. Without blinking, without giving her a chance to react, he stepped into her, one hand finding her waist as the other snatched at her chin. Her eyes widened and herbreath caught to feel him on her, and when she tried to wiggle free… well, she didn’t try that hard.
“You have a mouth on you.” His voice turned to a growl and as he spoke he moved his thumb to press down on her lips. “It will get you into a lot of trouble one day. You ought to learn to control it.”
Her eyes were wide in rebuke, but her body melted into the Earl because she was overcome by his presence. Stranger still was how much she enjoyed the low dip of his voice and the touch of his fingertip on her lips.
The way he looked at her caused her knees to quake. His eyes were wide —alarmingly so. There was a storm building behind them. But what drew Alison in most of all, was that hesawher like she had never been seen before. In that moment, it was just she and the Earl, and she had his attention completely.
“I’m going to let you go,” he said to her, his voice now a whisper, his thumb still pressed on her mouth. “And when I do, I expect you hurry on back inside. I do not wish to argue, just as I do not wish to be tested. Now…” He kept his stare on her. “Are you going to do as you are -- argh!”
Alison bit him!
She couldn’t say what came over her. It was like a fire had been lit inside her belly. It grew quickly, hot and fiery, threatening to consume her unless she released it. And with his thumb pressed onto her lips, she did the only thing she could think of.
It wasn’t a hard bite. It wasn’t one that might draw blood. But she found his thumb and latched on just enough so he could feel it.
The Earl released her and took a step back. He held his hand to himself, but he clenched his jaw in anger as he looked from it toward her. And his eyes, they flashed with fury and with something that looked almost like curiosity. He tightened his brow, licked his lips, and she could quite literally see the effort he was taking to control himself.
“I was right about you,” he said.
“You do not know me at all.”
“Just as you do not know me,” he said with a growl. “Which is why you would do well to do as I asked and return home.” A beat of silence reigned as he let that sit between them. “Before both of us regret our actions.”
Alison glared at him because she thought that she must. She wanted to appear infuriated and vengeful as if she hated him. Just as she wanted him to do the same to her, to prove that he saw her and knew that she was not one to be taken lightly or ignored.
But then he turned away. His body was shaking, and she did not think it was from the cold. A hulking mass of darkness, shoulders hunched, still holding his bitten thumb, he stalked into the night and vanished before another word could be said.
And all Alison could do was stare after him.
She was still unnerved, and her body was so hot that she was forced to remove her cloak. So rattled was she that Alison nearly collapsed. Her breathing was heavy. Her chest hurt from how hard her heart was beating. And despite her best efforts, she could still feel the Earl’s hand around her waist… as she could taste his thumb on her lips.
What has gotten into me! Why am I… why does he… what is going on!
Alison had no idea what to think, because nothing like this had happened before.
All she could do was find gratitude that in a few days she would be heading north for the rest of the year. What she needed was distance and time away from the Earl. What she needed was to get control of herself.
Chapter Four
“Daniel, is something the matter?” Daniel, the Earl of Grayhill’s sister, Violet, asked him.
He wasn’t paying attention to his sister. He meant to be, seeing as he’d travelled all this way just to see her. But his thoughts were elsewhere, refusing to be tamed and conquered, even if he was doing everything within his power to do just that.
“Daniel?” she asked again.
“Hmm?” He looked up to find Violet watching him, abject worry painted across her face. “Oh, yes…” He gave his head a shake. “What were you saying?”
“Something is troubling you,” Violet pressed. “And do not lie to me. I am not a little girl anymore, meaning I’m not so easy to trick.”
He allowed himself to smile coyly. “Do you remember the time I told you that if you left your bed after being put to sleep that a monster would emerge from beneath and eat you?”
“Of course I do,” she scoffed.
“And because you were so terrified, you ended up wetting the bed, rather than risk –”
“I was eight!”
