Page 23 of A Touch So Wicked

“Donna blame me for my kinsmen’s behavior,” Elissa braved. “They donna like Englishmen any more than I do.”

Damian stared at her lips and suddenly felt adrift. His nerve endings tingled with awareness and he felt himself harden inside his tight breeches. He tried to concentrate on what she was saying when what he really wanted to do was to stop her words with a kiss.

He dragged her against him. “I’ve done nothing to harm you. I’ve never laid a hand on you, but I know what I’d like to do to you.”

Elissa stared pointedly to where his fingers were curled around her shoulders. “You’re laying a hand on me now, my lord.”

Her words seemed to have little effect on him as he pulled her closer, until his mouth was scant inches from hers. She felt his swollen manhood stirring against her belly and tried to arch away, to no avail.

“The truth, lady,” he growled against her lips. “Did you advise your kinsmen to abandon the fortress?”

Elissa’s knees were quaking as his arms tightened around her. She could feel his brute strength, thinly restrained, and she braced herself against the washstand, gripping it so hard her fingers turned white. “I told you, I donna know what you’re talking about. I’ve spoken with no one but Maggie.”

His silver gaze slipped to her mouth and she shivered beneath the sudden impact of his fierce desire. She gulped back a surge of fear. She didn’t want his desire; she wanted him gone.

“Being locked in a room is obviously an uncomfortable situation for you,” Damian allowed, “but I have sufficient reason for confining you. You’re disrupting my entire household.”

“If my kinsmen have abandoned the keep, you have no one but yourself to blame. I had nothing to do with it.”

He released the painful grip on her shoulders and slid his arms down her back, caressing her and molding her more closely to him. Elissa shuddered. He was staring at her mouth as if he wanted to devour it. His eyes probed deeply into hers. She inhaled sharply and leaned backward in a vain attempt to escape his mouth as it came down hard over hers. Forcing her lips apart with his tongue, he forged deep inside her mouth. Trembling with a strange mixture of fear and awakening desire, she wrenched her head away and braced her hands against his chest.

“Why do you resist? I could take you now and no one would gainsay me.” He cupped the back of her head and kissed her again.

Elissa felt herself spinning and clutched at him to keep from falling. She thought she heard him groan, but the taste of him rendered her incapable of coherent thought. He ravished her mouth with possessive hunger. Flames touched her skin, kindling a burgeoning passion she’d never experienced before. She knew she was wicked to allow this but she couldn’t seem to help herself.

He rubbed himself against her thinly clad form. She felt the solid ridge of his sex prodding boldly between her thighs and warning bells went off in her head. This is madness! That thought turned into raw panic as Damian swept her off her feet and strode toward the bed. She was utterly defenseless; there was no one to protect her virtue. The Demon Knight would have his way, with or without her compliance. What truly frightened her was the fact that Damian made her feel things inappropriate for a maiden promised to another man.

Elissa hit the mattress and tried to scoot away from Damian’s weight, but he caught her about the hips and rolled her beneath him. She gave an involuntary cry when he slid her shift upward with a sweep of his strong hands.

“You mustna do this! Send me away, but donna dishonor me.”

She felt his muscles tense, then his mouth swooped down on hers again, as if he hadn’t heard her. Slowly, purposefully, his hands explored her quaking body—her breasts, the slope of her back, the curve of her waist, the shape of her thighs. Elissa feared her ravishment was just moments away when a small voice called to her from outside the closed door.

“Lissa, Lissa, can I come in? Tell the bad man to let me inside.”

“Lora!”

Damian jerked backward, his face a mask of bewilderment as he stared down at Elissa. “Bloody hell! I must be mad.”

His thoughts coincided exactly with Elissa’s.

“Get off me!” She shoved against his chest and he sprang to his feet. Elissa was off the bed in an instant. She quickly donned her gown, then rushed to the door and flung it open.

A man-at-arms held Lora by her thin arm. “I caught her sneaking up the stairs, my lord.”

“Release her!” Damian barked.

“Damian!” Lora squealed, flinging herself at Damian the moment she found herself free. After a quick hug, she launched herself at Elissa.

Elissa searched her sister’s upturned face then gathered her in her arms. “What are you doing here, sweeting?”

“I wanted to see you.”

Damian’s grin appeared genuine as he touched Lora’s bright head. “Are you all right, little one? Should you be out of bed?” Lora nodded to both questions. “That’s good news indeed. Now all we need to do is get your mother well.”

Lora fingered the fine plaid of her gown and slid Damian a shy smile. “Well, mayhap I told a tiny lie. I still cough, but not as much as I did. Nan said it won’t be long before I can run and play again.”

Her words were followed by a fit of coughing.