“It is better that I am heartless, than that I am held responsible for your death,” he snapped, finally showing some passion.
Her death?
Edmond pushed from the door and raked fingers through his hair with force. He grabbed the doorknob.
“Don’t you dare walk away from me!”
“We will finish this discussion in the morning when we are calmer,” he said and opened the door.
“I beg your pardon; do you believe I will be able sleep after what you just said?”
“I assure you I will be thoroughly rested.” As if to say he was not concerned about her state of rest.
Then the wretched, infuriating man walked away.
She growled under her breath and rushed after him, the voluminous nightgown swirling around her ankles. “You have been nothing to me but boorish and…and uncivil. You seem quite content that I not speak to you, and now we are not to form any intimate attachment. Surely such a state of matrimony cannot be agreeable to anyone.”
His long strides took him to his chamber in short order, and she hurried to keep up.
He wrenched opened his door and seemly hesitated. “Oomph,” slipped from her as she collided into his back.
They tumbled and he twisted so his back slammed into the jamb of the door, protecting her. Acting on instinct she slipped her hands around his neck and gripped him tightly. Adel could feel the thud of his heart against her body.
She tilted her face to his. “Do not walk away, Edmond.”
Eyes filled with raging emotions glared at Adel.
“Tell me what you meant about me dying.”
His muscles tensed, and she tightened her hands at his nape.
“My wife died in childbirth.”
Adel bit into her bottom lip, hard enough to draw blood. “I am deeply sorry,” she said hoarsely.
His mien grew even colder. “She was much more voluptuous than you but even so she forfeited her life.”
The mad duke killed his wife. She remembered the vile whisper. How could society blame him? She wanted to ask, but the question lodged in her throat. “It does not stand to reason I would suffer the same fate, if that is your concern,” Adel whispered.
He flinched. Then he closed his eyes, and tipped back his head to rest against the wall baring the corded column of his throat. The move forced her to lift herself more on her toes so that she could maintain her hold on his neck. What was he thinking?
“Edmond, I—”
His eyes snapped open and the raw torment in his gaze strangled her words. Her heart pounded ferociously, and it was as if his will pressed in on her, encouraging her to release him. Slowly, she slid her hands from around his neck and fisted them to her sides.
His dark eyes never left hers and the distress in them swelled, and spilled forth crashing over her senses. Her limbs trembled. It was as if she could feel his raging pain. Impossible.
Later, she would never be able to say what had possessed her. It could have been the need to wipe the grief from his eyes, or to just offer comfort, or maybe she just wanted to kiss him. Either way Adel reached up and pressed her lips to his.
The fleeting touch of his lips to hers was devastating. Adel stood transfixed for a timeless instant. His taste, his scent… Shock exploded through her. She was no longer even slightly soused, so her reaction was beyond alarming. The intensity was nerve-wracking. Good Lord. Then he shifted, cradling her cheeks into his large palms, and his lips parted. His touch was sinfully alluring.
He used one of his thumbs to part her lips. Then Edmond took her lips in a kiss that was at once domineering and tender, with a seductive ruthlessness. Adel helplessly responded. She gasped, and he swallowed it as she sagged against him. His mouth settled more possessively over hers, his tongue urging her lips to part wider to his wonderful assault. On a moan she surrendered and he plundered.
Glorious heavens.
Pleasure dark and stormy filled her veins. His hands stroked her jaw, over to her collarbone, down to the underside of her breast and around to her back and down to her backside, which he gripped tightly in his large hands…and squeezed. His touch wasn’t considerate of her innocence, and Adel shivered in his embrace.
He drew her closer, and she gasped into his mouth at the hard length that pressed in through his trousers and branded her stomach.
“Wrap your legs around my waist,” he whispered harshly, pulling his lips from hers.
She tried to comply, but the length of the nightgown tangled her legs. With a muttered curse, he swung her into his arms, his rapid stride taking them over to the massive bed in the center of his chamber. What was happening? Was he forgoing all he’d just said?
Before she could foolishly question him, he took her lips once more, tumbling with her to the massive but lush bed, careful to keep his weight on his forearms.