Free Devil's Bargain by Jade Lee Page A

of distress, but he continued, leaning even closer, allowing his breath to skate across her brow. But he did not touch her.
    She gasped at his nearness but didn’t open her eyes.
    “Do you feel my breath touch your face? My body’s heat mix with yours? My scent in the air?”
    She stopped shrinking away from him. Indeed, there was nowhere to go. And then she spoke, wonder and fear inextricably mixed in her voice. “Yes.”
    Lust slammed through him. Its force caught him unaware, gripping him, cutting off his breath. He had no defense. It happened too fast, in the space between heartbeats, making him insane with desire like a mad dog. He had meant to touch her tonight, accustom her at least in part to the most innocent of caresses.
    He could not. If he so much as pressed one finger into her warm, yielding flesh, he would explode in his breeches like a schoolboy.
    He could not. And yet she was right here…
    “Lynette.” His voice was tight. Controlled. He could not move even an inch. “Lynette. Open your eyes.”
    He was so close to her that the shadows no longer obscured her face. He saw her eyes open, watched as they widened in surprise at his nearness.
    “My lord?”
    Her formal address gave him enough control to ease backward, taking much of his weight off his arms, but not enough to remove the cage they made around her.
    “Leave, Lynette. Go to my bedroom. Where there is a lock on the door.”
    He heard her gasp in horror, recoiling as if he were about to attack her. Of course, he thought dazedly, that is exactly what she thinks, and understandably so. She did not realize that he was trying to protect her.
    “Alone, Lynette,” he continued, his voice hoarse. “Go. Go now!”
    The urgency in his words convinced her. Or perhaps it was his clenched jaw or the rigid way he held his body. Whatever the reason, he was grateful. Still, she had to wriggle out from beneath him, her breasts jiggling as she moved.
    He closed his eyes, not wanting to see, but the action did nothing to relieve him. He could still hear her as she slid away. He could still imagine the innocent lift of her buttocks as she crawled out from the bed. And then her hair, her long silken strands of bronze, brushed his forearm, and he was nearly undone.
    “Shut the door,” he rasped. “Lock it!”
    She at last gained her feet, then paused, tempting him in ways she could not even imagine. “My lord?”
    “Go!”
    She fled, forgetting to shut their connecting door in her haste. But then she came back and he heard it shudder into place, the lock slamming as the impact reverberated throughout the entire house.
    She was gone.
    With a muted groan, he collapsed, face first into her bedlinens. Lying there, he could smell her. The scent was as clear and clean as a summer’s morning after a rain shower. He buried himself in it. And then he closed his eyes, needing no extra effort to envision her beneath him, all purity and innocence. Her breasts filled his hands, her body arched in glorious revelry.
    He gripped the sheets, his breath coming in short bursts as in his mind he settled into her, driving deep within her, surrounding himself with her.
    But he couldn’t, he shouldn’t think this way. She was a Marlock bride—her virginity by definition given to someone else. She was not his, and never would be. All he could ever have of her was her scent, her touch, and—of course—her money.
    With a curse that echoed through the room, he ripped her sheets from the bed only to collapse back onto the mattress and bury his face in her pillow.
    It took her hours to stop shaking.
    Lynette still did not know what had happened. It was true, she had heard him come to bed. She knew he was standing in the darkness watching her. He was there. And she was in her bed. Tense. Anxious. Too afraid to move.
    What did he want? Even now, she had no idea. Good Lord, he hadn’t even touched her. Except for that moment when she had pretended to be asleep.
    “Never lie. Not to