“Cross should be here any minute.” Julianna glanced around. The foyer was dark and empty. “Are you sure you want to join us, Elise?”
“Of course, I’m not going to let you do all the work,” she said. “And with three of us working at the same time, we can cover more ground. What’s the plan?”
“Cross did some exploring this afternoon,” Julianna began. “We’ve eliminated places where the dagger can’t possibly be—like the servant’s areas, the gardens, and stables—and mapped out the main house.”
“Any luck in getting Reed to talk about where the dagger is?” Elise asked.
She shook her head. “According to Cross, Reed genuinely doesn’t seem to know.” Her brows wrinkled. “He thinks the dowager duchess might know so he wants me to work that angle.” Julianna made a face. “Ugh. So, it’s possible that old bat is the only thing standing between me, a shower, and a cheeseburger.”
Elise smiled. “Seems like it.”
Julianna crossed her arms over her chest. “You’ll have to help stop me from wringing her neck.”
“It shouldn’t be too—” Elise suddenly stopped and held a finger up. “I think someone’s coming.” Elise’s keen hearing could pick up sounds from upstairs. Footsteps. And from her position at the end of the alcove, she could see exactly who it was.
Reed.
He was dressed casually in a loose white shirt, tight breeches, and knee-high boots. As shafts of moonlight hit his face, her heart hammered in her chest. He looked handsomely dangerous, but even more than that, they would be in real danger if he discovered them sneaking around in the dark. Again. And this was his home, so he could throw them out this time.
Biting her lip, she knew there was only one thing she could do. She caught Julianna’s eyes and pointed to herself, then nodded her head.
Julianna’s mismatched eyes widened, and she shook her head to disagree, but it was too late. Reed was nearing the bottom of the stairs, and he would see them. With a deep breath, Elise ran as fast as she could—away from Julianna and toward the long hallway on the other side of the foyer.
Her heart slammed over and over again against her ribcage as she made a run for it. She used her Lycan speed, but since he was a Lycan too, he surely saw her as she ran across the foyer. He was so close she could feel his presence at her back. And that was her intention, to draw him away from Julianna.
“Where do you think you’re going?” The hand that wrapped around her arm was firm and she found herself pushed up against the wall. “Are you lost again, little she-wolf?” His face was so close to hers she could feel his breath on her skin.
“Y-Your Grace,” she whispered. “I-I couldn’t sleep. I was just trying to f-f-find a book or something to read.”
“Is that so? Then why did you run away from me?”
“I don’t—I’m sorry,” she stammered and tried to squirm away from him, but his grip tightened.
“Do you know what could happen to young, innocent women who creep around other people’s homes in nothing but their nightgowns?”
She could see his eyes glowing in the dark. A sign that his wolf was near the surface. Despite being a Lycan herself, she couldn’t help but feel like Little Red Riding Hood, about to be eaten by the Big Bad Wolf. When she opened her mouth, no sound came out, so she shook her head instead.
“No?” He cocked his head. “Let me show you.”
Elise barely had time to protest as his head descended toward her. It happened in a split second, but it was like time slowed down, and scenes from her past flashed through her mind.
Her body froze, waiting for the uncontrollable surge of power to course through her and shock Reed into a coma, just like it did to Chris.
But it didn’t come. In fact, though her body hummed with electricity, it stayed contained within her.
Oh.
And Reed … his lips molded against hers in a sensuous assault, teasing her at first. Her heart beat with an erratic staccato, pounding madly against her chest as he continued to kiss her. She found herself pressing her bare hands against the front of his chest. His muscles jumped at her touch, but he didn’t stop kissing her. If anything, his kisses became more insistent, and feeling bold, she slid her hands higher, stopping at the nape of his neck to tangle with the errant curls of his hair.
The feel of his bare skin against her fingers made her moan—not only did the heat shoot desire all the way to her core, but she realized this was the first time she’d ever touched a man’s bare skin. When she felt the brush of something hard against her hip, she gasped, but pressed herself up against him.
Reed pushed her back against the wall, pinning her. With nothing but her thin nightgown and his breeches between them, she could feel every hard plane of his muscled body. She wantonly opened her mouth to let his tongue slip between her lips and touch hers. Another shock of electricity spread through her body, but again, it didn’t seem to affect him.
A hand slid under her nightgown, pushing it up until it was above her knees. When his fingers moved higher, she felt her knees go weak.
The loss of his lips made her whimper, and as he raised his head, the naked desire on his face was unmistakable.
“You kiss like a virgin, but your body says otherwise.” The flare of his nostrils told her that he could smell her arousal.
He raised an eyebrow at her as if waiting for her to say something. She gasped in horror and pushed him away. I should slap him. Tell him that he should stay away from me and this wasn’t proper. That this was a mistake. But the words weren’t coming out of her mouth. Her wolf, on the other hand, rolled around in delight at the thought that he
