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Dev’s brows rose in surprise. Her voice was gritty with emotion, her body fairly trembling with it. This was not the cool, self-possessed siren that had haunted his dreams for so long. This was better. More than he could have expected.
He propped his ankle on his knee, leaning back in the chair as she jerked a long, cream-colored silk robe from the smaller chair by her bed table and pulled it on with quick, angry movements. She still had yet to notice the restraints or the sexual devices on the table.
“Leave,” she snapped as she belted the robe around her slender waist. “Now. ”
Dev sighed heartily. “I’m not Lucian, Tally. Your anger doesn’t bother me as it does him. ”
Lucian, despite his often sarcastic attitude in the face of her normally cold temper, had that basic male trepidation when it came to prodding at an unpredictable female. Unlike his brother, it was an art Dev had perfected in his youth and had steadily applied over the years.
“Does jail bother you?” She crossed her arms under her breasts as she stared back at him heatedly. “Breaking and entering is illegal. ”
“The door was unlocked,” he informed her, watching in satisfaction as her eyes widened in shock.
He could read her emotions as clearly as a book now. The cold mockery had been stripped away, leaving bare the woman beneath as she stared back at him with haunting, shadowed emotion.
“I don’t care if it was standing wide open. ” She showed her teeth in a snarl that made his dick jerk in arousal. “Pick your ass up and get out. ”
Oh, now there was the Tally he knew existed beneath the carefully polished exterior. Vibrant, explosive, her temper was more than a match for the dominance that pulsed thick and hot through his and Lucian’s blood.
He came slowly to his feet, watching her carefully.
“You honestly believe that little performance earlier isn’t going to be addressed, Tally?” he asked her, keeping his voice soft, though he did nothing to hide the annoyance that throbbed beneath it. “You should have expected one of us to show up ready to do battle, if not both. ”
Her gaze flickered. Dev controlled the pleased smile that crossed his lips. She had expected Lucian and had been confident she could turn him away. She had obviously seen his patience as weakness instead, and thought him easier to control than Dev was.
“Poor Tally. ” He sighed. “You’ve misjudged Lucian, but you’ll learn that soon enough. Even worse, you underestimated me. I won’t let you run so easily. The game stops here and now. ”
“What is with you two?” she snapped, her voice thick with anger, her face flushed, eyes shining with emotion. Damn, he had thought her beautiful before, but now she took his breath away. “Can’t you accept defeat? Can’t you accept that there’s a woman alive that doesn’t respond to you? You tried, you failed, now leave it alone. ”
Her voice broke on the last word, hitching as emotion seemed to crackle like electricity within it.
“I don’t think so. ” He stepped closer. “I was unaware that you had taken Lucian and myself for fools. That we would calmly stand aside and allow you to hide because you’re too frightened to reach out for what you want. You can’t keep that indomitable self-control and find the satisfaction you need, Tally. It won’t work. ”
He didn’t touch her. Not yet. He stalked around her, watching her carefully, seeing the naked nervousness in her gaze as she watched him warily. She knew Lucian much better than she did him. He had deliberately held himself away from her, stayed on the outside of her circle of friends, rarely giving her the chance to dissect him with those perceptive eyes of hers.
She did that. Watched people, waiting on them to reveal to her their every dark secret so she could use it to hold them at bay, to insure she had every weapon available to keep them from getting close to her.
“You don’t know what you’re talking about. ” She was breathing roughly, though he could tell she was fighting valiantly to control it. “I hate to prick that ego of yours, Dev, but you and Lucian may not be the walking female orgasms you think you are. ”
May not be. He noticed she didn’t state it as a definite. His lips kicked up in a grin.
He stopped behind her, not touching her, not daring to. Her shoulders stiffened, her breathing becoming rougher still as he towered over her.
“Had you waited, you would have had what you needed, Tally. ” Her arms uncrossed, her hands falling to her sides and clenching at the material of her robe. He could see the hard rise and fall of her breasts, almost feel her fight for control.
“How like a man,” she sneered. “Perhaps I’m frigid. Isn’t that the standard male excuse?”
“Or perhaps you’re too stubborn, too intent on being in control, on being the Mistress, to ever admit there could be a Master,” he suggested softly. “I know what you need, Tally. I know, and I’m going to make certain you have it. ”
She seemed to freeze, stiffening in response, not just to the words, but also the underlying promise that came with them. When she started to run, he was ready for her. He was determined Tally was not going to run anymore.
Chapter Twelve
Tally was in shock. This was not the gentle giant she had always tho
ught of Dev as being. This was a man in his prime, far stronger than she, and determined to have his way. He caught her as she moved to run from the bedroom, a chuckle sounding in her ear as his arms went around her, holding her close. A second later she felt her robe loosen as she struggled against him, fighting to tear herself from his muscular arms as he stripped the robe from her body.
“You bastard!” she raged as he picked her up and tossed her to the bed.
