Page 152 of Her Beast

“Mmmmm.”

His groans of pleasure were an aphrodisiac unlike anything she could imagine and she wanted more, taking the fat crown deeper and deeper and—

Julia gagged, her eyes watering and her throat convulsing. Big hands lightly but firmly cupped her jaws and he carefully withdrew.

She doubled over, hacking and coughing and staring up at him through tearing eyes.

“I can do better,” she rasped when she saw that he was tucking himself away. “Let me try aga—”

“Hush. Come here.” He gently lifted her off her knees.

Julia swayed, face burning as she stared up at him. “You didn’t like it?” It shamed her how childish and foolish and gauche she must appear to him.

His eye flickered over her face and he pushed a loose lock of hair behind her ear. “I liked it very much. However—unlike you—I have not had servants sneaking me food so I am hungry.”

She gave a watery chortle. “That was clever of me, wasn’t it?”

“Very. Come, let us eat the fine meal the chef has been holding for us.”

She nodded and then glanced at the mirror, stunned when she saw her full, slick lips and flushed cheeks.

“You look even more beautiful than usual,” he assured her, turning toward the door.

Julia clutched his arm, halting him. “Are we—is everything—” she broke off and bit her lip. “I don’t want you to ignore me again, Malcolm. I want—”

He laid a finger across her lips. “I’m tired of resisting my desire for you, Julia.”

Her heart leapt. “We will spend every evening together?”

“Every evening for the rest of your stay,” he corrected.

“How long is that?”

“Not long. Two—maybe three more nights at most.”

“No! You said before that it would be longer.”

“I was wrong,” he said, his gaze once again shuttered.

Julia wanted to stomp her foot and shake him until the warmth came back into his eye. But she knew that would only make him retreat faster and farther. Instead, she worked on the desire he had just admitted to. “What if you can’t bear to send me back, Malcolm? What if you want to keep me forever?”

His expression chilled her. “Make no mistake, Julia. Nothing that happens will change my mind. Iwillsend you away when everything is over.” He hesitated and added, “And once you find out what I’ve done, you will never want to see me again.”

“What could you do that is so terrible?”

He ignored her question as if she’d never spoken. “Come, let us go to dinner.”

Julia followed him without arguing, but her mind was churning.

Two, even three, nights with him would never be enough.

Malcolm might refuse to keep her.

But then Julia could always refuse to go, couldn’t she?

Chapter 31

Malcolm was staring sightlessly at the same report he’d been staring at for an hour, recalling last night—both before dinner, when Julia hadpracticed, and after dinner, when Malcolm had done somepracticingof his own.

---