Free Demon of Mine by Ranae Rose

explanation is lacking, but it’s all I dare divulge.” He
smiled wickedly, and even the mischievous curve of his lips was
somehow regally handsome. “Still, it’s quite a bit more than you’ve
given me. You haven’t said why you were hiding behind the dressing
screen in my bedchamber.” If he was embarrassed, he didn’t show
it.
    Finally, a chance to justify her
actions, even if only a little. “I fainted there while dusting.
When I awoke you were already undressing. I couldn’t summon the
courage to come out. I’m sorry.”
    “ So you waited until I fell
asleep and then fled to the library and pretended you’d been there
all along?” There was the faintest hint of amusement in his
voice.
    “ Yes.” She had to force
herself to continue to meet his gaze.
    “ Then you know.”
    Elsie’s heart seized as visions of his
bloodied shirt loomed in her mind. Was he going to explain the
stains? “Know what?” she breathed.
    “ That I find you anything
but pathetic.”
    She exhaled sharply,
sending the edges of the fine kerchief fluttering. Damon’s scent
whirled around her, mixed with her own breath. Elsie . She remembered the sound of
her name on his lips as clearly as day. Her stomach flip-flopped
and fluttered with the revelation that there was no other Elsie.
He’d truly been saying her name.  “Do you mean it?” Her cheeks flamed as
she asked, but she had to know.
    “ Yes.”
    Her heart jumped when he reached out
and laid a hand on her arm. This couldn’t be happening, couldn’t
be. It was as if her wild dreams from the night before had bled
into reality and turned everything upside down. Her own name rang
in her ears as she remembered him gasping, breathing hard as he
clutched his cock. It was all too much. None of it made any sense.
“Tell me the rest of the story,” she implored. “Tell me
why…”
    He laid his other hand on her arm and
squared her body with his, pulling her so close her breasts nearly
brushed the front of his coat. He fixed her with his dark eyes,
silvered by the moon. “Perhaps it’s only that you’re so
beautiful.”
    Yes, her dreams must have somehow
crept into her waking hours.
    “ You are,” he said, his
voice suddenly low. “You don’t have the face of a housemaid. A
princess, perhaps – a face that should be framed by finery and
displayed for the admiration of all. But you are here, in my home,
all of your beauty confined to this country house for my enjoyment
only.” He tightened his grip on her arms. “It’s more than I can
bear. I knew during the carriage ride alone with you that I would
not be able to sleep that night until I found release. Perhaps I
should apologize. Perhaps I should stop being so frank. But I can
bring myself to do neither.”
    Elsie trembled. He could surely feel
the tremors in her arms, but there was nothing she could do to stop
them. She should be glad she’d managed to remain standing in the
wake of his confession. She felt as if she’d been slammed into by a
savage, cresting wave. Every secret part of her, every little nook
in her heart she’d dared to fill with dreams of Damon, was
rejoicing. The rest of her was too stunned to do anything besides
shake.
    “ Have I offended you?” His
breath brushed her forehead softly, snapping her out of her shock
and igniting a spark in the core of her being.
    “ No, but you have stunned
me.”
    He loosened his hold on her just a
little. Elsie wished he hadn’t – her knees were feeling dangerously
weak, and she was glad of his support. “I apologize,” he said. “The
shock can’t be good for your health.”
    “ If the physician’s
suspicions are true, my health is past the point of repair. Say
whatever you wish. Your words are doing my heart good, if nothing
else.”
    He breathed a long sigh and pulled her
to him, holding her tightly against his chest. She was instantly
aware of the hardness that pressed against her belly, and visions
of his lonely passion filled her mind. She