Free Scorched - Book Four - The Surrender Series by Melody Anne Page A

to remind herself not to allow him to get a reaction from her. “From my experience, there are some women who enjoy being chased, who like keeping their man dangling on the end of a rope. It’s OK. I’ll give you your excitement, play along with your little game, since that seems to be what excites you so much.”
    Rachel nearly choked on the vegetables she’d just swallowed. She lifted her head and stared at him, her mouth agape. Did he honestly believe the crap he was spouting, or was he trying to push her buttons?
    She didn’t know and tried not to care. Either way, she was close to flinging some steaming-hot potato gnocchi at his smug face. So much for her good meal.
    Before she made one more decision she might regret, she closed her eyes and took a long, deep breath, then counted to ten in her head.
    “I will make this more than clear for you, Adriane, since you are obviously a little bit slow on the uptake,” she began, proud she wasn’t screaming, though it was only because she was talking between her teeth. “I do not want to be here, do not want to marry you, and will not be falling back into your bed. This isn’t a game, and I’m not saying this because I’m bored or because I want you chasing after me. I will gain my freedom, and if you’re really lucky, I may eventually allow you to see my child. As long as this baby lies within the safety of my womb, he or she is mine and only mine ,” she finished, her breathing coming out in short huffs as her fury rose to unhealthy levels.
    “From what I can see, Rachel, you are quite the little liar,” he said, a smirk tilting his lips up as he directed his gaze to her heaving chest.
    “How dare you be so crass!” she snapped, rising from the table and storming across the room, getting as far from him as she could.
    Adrenaline flooded her, because he was right — her body was betraying her. Yes, in these moments, she despised him, thinking he was about as classless as a sewer rat, but she also remembered that week with him, remembered how he’d brought her to the peak of pleasure over and over again.
    She could hate him all she wanted, but that didn’t take away her body’s craving for more of what only he could give her. Still, even if she did desire him, it didn’t mean she would do something so foolish as to cave in to her hormonal demands.
    It wasn’t worth the disgust she would feel for herself afterward.
    “I tell it as it is, and I am really losing patience with your game of hot and cold. Fire burns in your eyes, yet you continue to fight me. Don’t forget that you are on my island now, Rachel. Here, I am king and I can take what I want,” he said as he also stood and took determined steps in her direction. There were rules he had to follow, even if he was the king, but he wouldn’t think about that right now — not in his anger.
    Her fury intensified as she watched the small flex of his jaw. How dare he be angry with her! He was the one throwing out nonsensical statements and then expecting her to drop to her knees before him.
    Wasn’t going to happen.
    “You’re not my king, Adriane. You seem to keep forgetting that. I am an American and an Italian. I don’t follow you, or owe you my respect. Only a man who treats his woman with love and kindness deserves my loyalty. The only thing you will earn from me is pity for the emptiness your life is bound to be filled with, considering you have to force your subjects to honor you,” she told him, wanting to anger him to the point he would storm from the room.
    As his face tensed and his dark eyes narrowed to dangerous slits, Rachel wondered whether she had pushed him too far. How well did she really know this man? She couldn’t be sure he wouldn’t send her to the dungeon to be tortured. Was that still done nowadays? If it was, she didn’t want to be the one to find out.
    “If you simply succumbed into the obvious lust between us, I would have a pleasant night, but then there would be