Free Bad Kitty by Debra Glass Page B

forth.
    Bram’s thoughts returned to his father. He was going to be furious when he found out Bram had married a girl who was barely a step above a commoner. Still, the old duke was not looking for a political connection. Not really. He was looking for grandchildren.
    Bram squeezed his eyes shut. Children. That was another thing he had never planned—but there was no sense in dwelling on children when the bride had not even bothered to show up.
    The church door opened and Bram whirled, his pulse accelerating when he thought he might see Kitty dressed in her bridal finery.
    Instead his gaze fell on her fat, balding little uncle. Bram clenched his teeth as, hat in hand, Jasper Hartford slunk down the aisle.
    “Where is she?” Bram demanded.
    Hartford shrugged apologetically. “She has locked herself in her room, my lord.”
    Bram drew in a sharp breath.
    “She refuses to come out. She says she will not marry. I am contemplating sending her to a nunnery. You are certainly not obligated to—” Hartford’s words halted as Bram shoved past him.
    “Oh, there will be a marriage today. Mark my words.”
    * * * * *
     
    Kitty raced to the window when she heard hooves thundering up the lane. She was hardly surprised to see Bram but the look on his face was terrible. He glanced up at her window and Kitty shrank back as if she could hide from him.
    Her heart thudded against her rib cage as he dismounted. Seconds afterward, she heard the front door open followed by the sound of footsteps racing up the stairs.
    Clutching the skirt of her day gown, she stared at her locked bedroom door.
    Bram pounded on the wood. “Come out of there, Kitty!”
    “No!”
    Why had he not just given up and gone back to his estate to forget she ever existed?
    “I will give you until the count of three to unlock this door,” he said from the other side.
    “Go away!”
    “Blast, Kitty—”
    “Go away. I shall not come out and I certainly shall not marry you.”
    “Bloody damn hell!”
    He did not count at all. Instead, the door splintered as it flew open and slammed against the wall. Bram stood, shoulders heaving with his deep breaths, face flushed, black hair mussed and eyes flashing like summer lightning. His look was murderous.
    Kitty clutched the foot rail of her bed.
    His gaze raked her from head to toe. “Why are you not dressed?”
    She lifted her chin defiantly although on the inside, she quaked. “I told you, I do not intend to marry you or anyone else.”
    He had the audacity to laugh. “Yes you will. I command it.”
    Kitty inhaled. “You, sir, are no longer my master.”
    Two strides and he hauled her into his arms. Kitty gasped as he jerked her against the unyielding length of his body. “I will always be your master, Kitty Hartford.” His voice was smooth as black silk as he rocked his hips so that his phallus pressed into the softness between her legs. “And you know it.”
    Chills swept Kitty from head to toe. Everything in her body seemed to whirl downward, liquefying her, and while her sex screamed at her to spread for him, she did not. “Unhand me.” She cringed at the meek sound of her own voice.
    His gaze dropped to her lips and then returned to her eyes. “I should fuck you right here. Better yet, I should bend you over and give you that spanking you begged for yesterday.”
    Kitty swallowed thickly. Dampness oozed from her channel at the thought of him swatting her backside.
    “You won’t deny me,” he said, lowering his mouth dangerously close to hers.
    What was this power he held over her? Kitty struggled against the desire to allow him to do anything and everything to her despite the fact she hated him. Why could she not cling to the venom she had possessed while writing the article yesterday?
    Realization flooded her—the article would destroy them both.
    Her breath caught. Although she had not named the Earl of Rochford’s daughter, she had accused him of sullying a woman’s honor and then not marrying