“Hargreaves was deep in his cups, and miserable.”
“Bloody hell. Isabel!”
Hearing a splash, she began to run. Her bedroom was near, she could make it…
Gray caught her by the waist, and lifted her feet from the floor. She flailed, kicking and elbowing, slipping in his wet grasp and her satin night rail.
“Cease,” he growled.
“Release me!”
She reached back, and yanked on his wet hair.
“Ow, damn it!”
He stumbled, then dropped to his knees, pressing her facedown upon the floor and covering her body with his own. Her gown was soaked in the back, her breasts flattened into the rug. “I hate you!”
“No, you don’t,” he muttered, stretching her arms over her head.
She squirmed as much as she was able with his weight atop her. “I cannot breathe,” she gasped. He slid to the side, keeping one heavy leg across hers and her arms pinned. “Desist, Gray. You have no right to accost me like this.”
“I have every right. Did you fuck him?”
“Yes.” She turned her head to glare at him. “I fucked him all night. In every way imaginable. I sucked his-”
Gray’s mouth took hers so hard she tasted blood. His tongue slid into her mouth, thrusting in a brutal rhythm, his lips slanting across hers. He held both of her wrists in one hand, while the other reached for the hem of her gown and yanked it upward.
Her blood raced through her veins, her heart pounded furiously against her rib cage. Incited beyond bearing, she bit down on his bottom lip. His head jerked backward with a curse.
“Unhand me!”
Her night rail was trapped beneath her, halting its upward progress, and Gray moved his weight to finish the job. The slight ease in pressure gave her room to buck, and she did, knocking him off guard. She scrambled on her hands and knees.
“Isabel,” he snarled, lunging toward her.
He caught the trailing end of her gown and held it tight, causing the thin ribbon ties at her shoulders to rip away. She crawled right out of the ruined garment, intent on reaching her room. Hope flared the moment before her ankle was caught in a vicelike grip. Kicking out with her free leg, she fought desperately, but Gray was too powerful. He climbed over her, subduing her arms, and shoving his thigh between her legs.
Tears of frustration coursed down her cheeks. “You cannot do this,” she cried, writhing, fighting against the craving within her more than she fought against him. As she struggled, the heavy heat of his erection was an unmistakable weight against her buttocks.
He once again pinned her arms over her head with one hand. The other brushed gently down her side, and then between her legs. He parted the folds of her sex, slipping two fingers deep inside.
“You’re wet,” he groaned, his fingers drifting through the evidence of her excitement. She twisted her hips in an attempt to escape his probing. “Calm down.” Gray buried his face in the back of her neck. “I fucked no one, Isabel.”
“You lie.”
“That is not to say that I failed to make the attempt. In the end, however, I only wanted you.”
She shook her head, crying silently. “No. I do not believe you.”
“Yes, you do. You know a man’s body well enough. I could not be this hard if I had been coming all night.”
His fingertips, slick with her cream, found her clitoris and circled over it. Her spine arched helplessly, her blood slowing and becoming sluggish with her desire. He was everywhere, completely surrounding her, his hard body caging hers to the floor. A finger dipped inside her until it was buried. She shivered all over, and drenched his hand.
“Hush,” he soothed, his voice low and thick by her ear. “Let me ease you. We are both overwrought.”
“No, Gray.”
“You want this as much as I do.”
“I don’t.”
“Who is lying now?” His finger left her, his damp hand clutching her thigh and lifting it out of the way. His arm slipped under her head, his biceps pillowing her cheek, his palm cupping her left breast. “I need you.”
She attempted to close her legs, but then the tip of his cock was there, just at the slick rim of her sex. He stroked it against her, and pinched her nipple. She whimpered as lust misted her skin with sweat.
“You are hot and creamy for my cock.” The edge of his teeth grazed her shoulder. “Tell me you don’t want me.”
“I don’t want you.”
His chuckle rumbled against her back. The thick head of his shaft entered her, stretched her, the pressure just what she needed, but still not enough. Her hips moved without volition, straining to take more, but he pulled back enough to keep just that tiny bit of him inside her.
“No,” he admonished, suddenly much more in control, as if the carnal connection soothed him in some way. “You don’t want me.”
“Damn you.” She ground her face against his arm, wiping away her tears.
“Tell me you want me.”
“I do not.” But a moan escaped her, and her hips swiveled restlessly, massaging him inside her.
“Isabel…” His teeth sank gently into her shoulder, his hips shifting to slide his cock deeper. “Stop that, before I blow without you.”
“You wouldn’t dare!” she gasped, the thought of being left in this agony was horrifying.
“Continue, and I will be unable to help myself.”
She moaned her misery, and buried her face in his arm. “You want to breed me.”
“
“Confess,” she said hoarsely, her chest tight. “You have returned for an heir.”
To her surprise, he shuddered against her. “Ridiculous. But I know you will not believe me, so I promise not to come in you. Not until you want me to.”
“You are corrrect. I don’t believe you.”
“You shall drive me mad, stubborn wench. Cease making excuses, and simply admit you want me. Then I will give you this.” He gave her a shallow thrust. “And not my seed.”
“You are horrid, Grayson.” She wiggled, desperate to stroke herself to orgasm.
“Actually, I am very good.” His tongue entered her ear. “Allow me to prove it.”
“Do I have a choice?” She shivered, her skin sticking to his with their sweat. “You will not let me go.”
Gray sighed, and hugged her to his chest. “I
And she loved the way he felt, thick and hard, his cock as large and virile as the rest of him. Pelham had trapped her with this-this heated, drugging pleasure that made a woman want to languish in her bed and be fucked endlessly. A slave to desire.
She was too weak with craving to protest as his fingers found her clitoris and massaged the surrounding skin stretched wide to accommodate him.
“I am thicker at the root,” he murmured wickedly. “Imagine how that will feel while I pump it into you.”
Her eyes closed, her legs spreading in silent invitation. “Do it, then.”
“Is that what you want?” His surprise was patent.
“Yes!” She thrust her elbow into his ribs, and heard him grunt. “You hateful, arrogant cretin.”
Reaching up to lace his fingers with hers, Gray gave a low growl and began to thrust in shallow digs. He forced her to feel every inch, made her stretch to his width, acknowledging his power and possession. She cried out her pleasure and relief, the feel of him so devastating to her heightened senses.
It was a claiming, one she could say she fought until the very end.
Clenching her hands with his, Isabel surrendered to her new addiction with a sob of despair.
