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“Tim is going to assume you’re taking me to bed.”
Marco growled as he led me down the hall. “Which room is yours?”
“You’re not coming in.”
“Then we’ll go to mine.” Marco tightened his hold on me, propelled me toward his suite, escorted me into his room, then closed and locked the door.
“I’m not staying in here with you.” I stepped away from him.
Marco prowled across the room. His gaze darkened, sliding over my skin in a heated caress. “You’re not leaving.”
My nipples hardened against the wet, clinging fabric of my dress.
“No one can see you like this.”
“You don’t like to get dirty?” The jacket parted as I pushed my wet hair away from my face. I reeked of lake water. Mud dried to my ankles, and I could feel it squish between my toes.
He took a step closer. “You misunderstand.” He parted the jacket. His gaze raked over my body until his whiskey eyes stared hard into mine. “No other man will ever lay eyes or hands on what’s mine. Your brother and his soldiers will understand you only answer to me.”
“I’m not yours.” Not yet. Or maybe I was. His imposing presence made my knees weak.
“You will be.” His knuckles grazed my flesh, dangerously close to my breast.
My shallow breaths matched the rampant fluttering of my heart. “You don’t want me.”
“Do you require proof of my attraction to you?” He leaned closer and breathed against my neck. “You’re beautiful, Allegra.”
My hands rested against his hips, and my head tilted to the side. “Is that all that’s required of your wife?”
“I remembered a shy girl. She was skinny and too timid to talk to me. I expected an adult version of that quiet girl.” His lips tickled the lobe of my ear. “Instead, I find you.” He pushed the jacket from my shoulders. “Stunningly beautiful, full of fire and confidence.”
Marco peeled the strap of my dress off my shoulder and pressed his lips to my skin. I banded an arm across my chest before the dress could slip from my body.
“I’m not sleeping with you.”
“Not while you smell and taste like the lake.” His fingers ghosted over my collarbone, tracing the chain and diamond pendant floating against my skin.
“Come,” he said and laced his fingers with mine. He led me to the bathroom. He began to unbutton his shirt. “Take off your dress.”
I lifted a brow, then caught my reflection in the mirror. Good fucking hell. I was wrecked. Black smudges darkened my eyes. My hair stood out at odd angles and snarled down my back. Mud smeared my neck and shoulders. “I’m filthy.”
Marco pressed the controls for the waterfall shower behind the glass partition. Green and amber light flooded the enclosure. Soft rain poured from the overhead panel.
Behind me, he shrugged out of his shirt. I wasn’t naïve. For my entire life, I’d understood the consequences of not holding onto my virginity. Men like Marco didn’t share. But I’d never wanted anyone else. I didn’t know if he was anything like the man I’d imagined him to be in my mind, but I wanted to find out. I wanted to be his.
Never could I have envisioned the hard hills of his shoulders. Bronzed skin stretched over the cut grooves of his torso. Dark hair dusted the plains of his pectorals, feathered down his defined abdominals, the narrow ribbon disappearing behind the thin leather belt of his trousers.
With one hand, he slid the tail loose, flipped the buckle, and tugged the belt from the loops. I swallowed hard, dragging my gaze to his.
“You’re going to be my wife. Not only will I make love to you on our wedding night, but I’m going to fuck you while you have your knife strapped to your thigh.” He dropped his trousers but left on his underwear.
Oh, Saint Agatha of Sicily, how was I supposed to withstand the sexual prowess of this man? A rush of heat unfurled deep in my belly. The man was a masterpiece carved from granite. Thick veins roped his arms, leading to huge hands with long, strong fingers. He reached around me and tested the temperature of the water.
Hard, thick, and long, the outline of his cock stretched the fabric of his underwear. I wanted to stare, but his body towered over me.
“Just to be clear,” he said. “I want you wet and filthy when you’re in my bed, but not with lake water and mud.”
His wicked words twisted into a knot of need. His arm snaked around my waist, and he backed me into the shower.
