Free An Affair in Winter (Seasons Book 1) by Jess Michaels Page B

he would share the information he claimed to have.
    “That sounded heated.”
    Rosalinde sucked in a gasp and jumped to her feet to face Gray as he came into the room. “Are you in the habit of listening in on private conversations, Mr. Danford?”
    He shrugged, and her heart stuttered. God, what had he heard exactly? Certainly he would turn much of that conversation against her if he could. He would use it to condemn Celia and damage her in front of Stenfax.
    “I am not,” he said. “But your grandfather’s angry tone was hard to disguise, even if his words were unclear.”
    Rosalinde sagged in relief. So he hadn’t heard the specifics of the exchange. The anger he’d been privy to was humiliating, of course, but Gray couldn’t hurt Celia with it.
    He moved closer, tilting his head as he examined her face. “There are tears in your eyes,” he murmured. “What is it, Rosalinde?”
    She gasped. That was the first time he’d ever addressed her by her given name, and the way it rolled off his tongue, the way it reverberated in his voice, touched her deep inside. Added to the tenderness in his tone, it was very confusing, indeed.
    She shook her head. “You have already accused me of being a liar,” she whispered, reminding herself as much as reproaching him. “And insinuated I would trade my body for the purposes of…God, I don’t even know what you think I tried to gain from our night together. Is it blackmail of some kind? So please don’t pretend to care about my wellbeing now.”
    He moved on her so suddenly that she didn’t have time to recoil. One moment he was three feet away, the next he was right in front of her and his hand was reaching out, his fingers stroking over her cheek so gently.
    “I’m not pretending,” he murmured.
    She stared up into his face, trying desperately to keep herself from doing something foolish like lift her lips to his. Like beg him to hold her. He was her enemy. He’d made that clear just two hours before. She couldn’t forget all that just because he touched her.
    That would mean surrender in this war they were secretly fighting.
    “Rosalinde,” he groaned, and lowered his lips toward her.
    Her rational mind briefly screamed at her to back away, but it was overridden at once by her desire to taste this man once more. Just once more. Then never again.
    His mouth covered hers and she let out a low moan of pleasure and relief. She lifted her arms to wrap them around his neck, she opened her mouth and he drove inside with his tongue, claiming her and tasting her and teasing her just as he had done two nights before. She sank into the swirling, heated sensations, setting aside all her tangled emotions when it came to this man and their opposing goals.
    She was just a woman in that moment, he was just a man, and this was just pleasure that gently pulsed through her body, awakening every nerve and settling between her legs. He grunted out a needful sound and his arms came tighter around her, molding her fully against him, letting her feel how much he wanted her. Her body responded to the hardness that now pressed against her belly. She felt soft and wet and womanly and ready for him.
    But she couldn’t have him. Rationality returned with that thought. She couldn’t have him because he could use that surrender against her. Because this desire he inspired was now a tool for him, to be wielded against her.
    She pulled back and he released her immediately. He only watched her as she staggered away. She kept her back to him for a moment, touching her hot lips, trying to regain some control over herself. But she couldn’t find that. Only confusion and aching need were to be found inside of her. She wasn’t strong enough for anything else.
    And so she staggered away from him and the desire he inspired. But in the hallway, away from his touch, from his overwhelming presence, she felt no more grounded. Only more confused and driven to touch him, to have him, to surrender to him,