Free The Barbarian's Captive by Maddie Taylor Page A

skin. “But wearing entirely too many clothes.”
    Her chest rose and fell more quickly as his tongue snaked out and licked up her breastbone until he reached her throat. There, his mouth opened and pressed warm, wet kisses along her pulse point and the underside of her jaw. Her heart rate increased rapidly, and she wondered if he felt it bounding beneath his tongue.
    “Sit up,” he directed abruptly, easing back.
    For some reason, she complied.
    His fingers curled into the material at her shoulders and pulled it down her arms, leaving her bare from the waist up. He growled against her ear as his face returned to the side of her neck, his hungry mouth seeking her skin. A hand came up and cupped her breast, his thumb sweeping up and over the ruched tip. She sucked in a deep, hitching breath as a jolt of desire swept through her and moisture began to gather between her thighs. Arching against him, she tilted her head back, shamelessly offering more of herself for the taking.
    A low, rumbling noise sounded in his throat as he rolled onto his back, taking her with him until her breasts were pressed against his bare chest. His long arms hastily pulled the shirt from where it bunched in a wad of cloth over her hips and around her thighs. With a flick of his wrist, he tossed it over the side of the bed. She was now fully naked, lying atop him, her warm, tingling skin plastered against his. One of his legs coiled behind both of hers, surrounding them right before a sharp, stinging slap landed across her bare ass cheek.
    She jerked her head back and looked down at him.
    “Not again!” she protested.
    “Yes, again, and again.” His non-spanking hand curving around the nape of her neck held her to him while the other rained down fire in several more smacks. “You will receive a correction whenever you choose to defy me.”
    She struggled, pushing against his chest as she fought to get free. He captured both of her wrists easily, moving them behind her back, transferring his hold to one strong hand. He then caught her chin, lifting it until their eyes met. “It would serve you better to obey and stop fighting me at every turn.”
    “Obey,” she replied with a snort of disgust. “You know that is barbaric, don’t you? On Earth, women have been considered equal to men for centuries.”
    He eyed her with a tilt of his head, his long dark hair a stark contrast to the golden brown hue of his skin, and even more distinct against the white linens where it fanned out like black glossy silk across his pillow. For a boorish brute, he was sexy as hell.
    “Sprite?”
    Her eyes shifted back to his, and she knew she’d been caught gawking. His lips twitched with amusement, but he didn’t mention her distraction. “Do you believe in a higher power, a creator of all things?”
    Startled by the sudden change in topic, her mouth opened, then quickly shut. Never overly spiritual, she thought about it for a moment before answering. “Yes. Most of my kind does, in one form or another.”
    His mercurial eyes sharpened as he nodded. “Then if our Maker wanted us to be the same, why make us different? Why not design all beings the same way? We believe it’s because each gender has a distinct purpose. Males were given the strength, size and ability to provide for and protect. In turn, the female was made smaller, softer, with a great capacity to love, the perfect helpmate and loving nurturer of our young.”
    She sniffed. “So did we, until the twentieth century. Then we evolved.”
    “Is that so? Tell me, how is that evolution working in your society?”
    The earth was a mess. With wars and armed conflicts popping up one after the other, the world social order was in disarray. Families were broken, with men continually fighting enemies. Children — the few being produced, that is — were often raised in single parent homes. Violent crimes were epidemic, and prisons overcrowded. It was another reason she had volunteered for a five-year