Animal Lust. Lacy DanesЧитать онлайн книгу.
and twisted about in a thick mesh, holding her still.
She slumped beneath a large branch, unable to push against the bramble. She would never make it home! Her body shook, and she covered her face with her hands. The wet of her wool dress chilled her skin, and her teeth chattered.
Come back! Damn you! Do not fear me.
Leave, damn voice! Covering her ears with her hands, she tucked herself closer to the tree trunk and out of sight of the road. She would find shelter somewhere tonight! The pounding hooves stopped in a sloppy smash of mud. A loud whinny snort pierced the sound of the rain just beyond her shoulder, and she jumped.
“Damnation, woman!” came from the road behind her. That voice she had heard in her head; she remembered from her dream. It had been a dream…hadn’t it? The man from her scandalous dream stood in the road! She needed to look, to know whose voice, hands, and tongue had caressed her so pleasurably. Her head turned without further thought, and she peeked through the branches at the gentleman in the road.
One of the twins sat astride a draft horse and stared into the thicket covering the road.
What a mesmerizing sight! Soaked through, the horse blew fog from its nose. Steam rose from its body as it stomped its foot, mud splattering. Rain poured off the rider’s greatcoat and hat in streams. His broad shoulders and bunching muscles handled the large mount with ease. Her heart pounded, and her nipples pebbled hard. His beauty and confidence radiated power. She gasped. She’d gone daft. He was a beast. Her eyes widened as the rider’s gaze locked with hers as he swung down.
You are not mad, Jane. Though at times I think things might be easier if we didn’t exist, we do. Please don’t run from me. Let me explain who we are.
She scrambled to her feet, but before she could take a step away from him, large arms wrapped about her and pulled her from the bramble.
She twisted and thrashed in his arms but to no avail. With the ease of someone holding a feather, he held her in his grasp. His body about her, the rub of his arm against her stomach and sides, set her skin awash in heated dew. Oh! Her body wanted this man! His breath deepened to the laborious sound she remembered from her dream. How could that be? It had been only a dream, yet her body knew and craved his silken touch on her bare skin.
“Hold still, damn you.” The warmth of his breath heated her skin about her neck.
“Then release me.” She inhaled and tried to calm the intense arousal pumping through her. The smell of cinnamon filled her senses, and moisture flooded her sex. He groaned.
“Jane….” He pulled her tighter against his body. Through his greatcoat, his large erection pressed into her buttocks and back. She struggled, unable to control her body as her sex pulsed. Rubbing her bum back against the large ridge, she craved his phallus filling her. She was doomed to be a wanton.
“Let go of me!” Her voice held no fortitude. She cursed.
He backed up to his horse, muscles tremoring about her. “I will not permit you to drown nor catch your death out here.”
He growled as he placed her in front of the saddle and mounted behind her in a movement so fast she had no time to slide to the ground.
You goose! Where would you go if you did leave? You have no idea in which direction Sudhamly lies. But where did he plan to take her? Not back to that house. If he could handle her like a piece of dust, all five together could squash her. What a terrifying thought! But this man alone….
“What are you about, sir?”
“I’m taking you home.”
“Home?”
“Indeed, back to Tremarctos.”
“That is not my home, sir. If you are going to take me anywhere, please take me to Sudhamly.”
Warm breath tickled her ear. “I have no intention of letting you go anywhere.”
Her body responded traitorously to those words, trembling with longing so strong; the emotion frightened her. Her heart sped, and warmth peaked her nipples. He wanted her with such conviction. Desire and love with Jonathan paled in comparison. The passion of this man’s voice, of his body when he touched her, spoke to her soul. She was too naive to know that such desire existed in the world.
The ridge of his arousal heated her bum through her dress, and she squirmed in his lap, eliciting a groan from deep in his chest.
Indeed, the passions were carnal. She could not befool herself otherwise. If she returned to Tremarctos, this man would do only one thing to her. The act. He would not stop until they joined completely. The flesh of her sex burned; the remembered sensations of this man’s tongue sliding along her sex slammed into her anew.
His warmth radiated along her side, and she shivered, cozying her face into his coat to get away from the rain and closer to his heat, his intoxicating scent. His head rested on the top of hers. His arms circled her as she sat across his lap, rocking to the beat of horse hooves. He protected her from the rain.
His heart beat beneath her ear, the rhythm calmed her body and soothed her own rapidly beating heart. How could the embrace of this man feel so correct? Promise so much? He would surely do just as Jonathan did—bed her and then leave! No man would knowingly, willingly take a fallen woman. A woman who could be carrying another’s child. And he knew of her folly.
Tilting her head up, she tried to see his eyes. Which of the twins carried her. Raw determination and concern etched his face. His cheekbones were all harsh angles, his dimpled chin set in harsh masculinity. He was ruggedly handsome, more so than any man of her acquaintance. Yet he remained not a man. Or he was “more,” as Devon had said. More? He so desperately wanted to keep her. His intensity scared her yet peaked her hopes. She had never experienced desire this all-encompassing from a man. She needed to know his intentions.
“What…what will happen to me if I return with you?”
He didn’t answer and spurred the horse into a gallop. Tremarctos loomed out of the mist, and she squeezed her eyes shut as her head spun. “Please don’t take me back to that place. It frightens me.”
There is no choice. Tremarctos is my home.
He pulled his mount to a halt in front of the great door. A groom came forth and gripped the reins. Grasping her firmly, the twin swung his leg over the withers and slid down, never letting her leave his hold. He strode up the steps and pushed open the door.
“Damned foolish woman.” Devon strode up to them and then down the hall with them. “You will catch your death.”
A violent hiss of warning came from deep within the chest of the twin who carried her, and his muscles clenched possessively about her.
“Back off, Martin. I’m not here to challenge you, and you know it. I was the one who spooked her off. I want to make sure she is well.”
The muscles in Martin’s body relaxed but did not release their possession of her. Martin…. The one with the velvet eyes.
“Pardon, Devon. I can’t control it.”
“I know, you never could. Just try to go easy. Father wants to see you. He said for you to come to his study at once. I think he is afraid of what you and Mac will do. We all felt you use your mind. It was strong. Like nothing we have experienced before.”
Martin grunted.
He and Mac? What did that mean? Mac had touched her at the table this morning, and Martin had burst from his chair.
Would her presence in this house cause a family squabble? Would she come between two brothers? She couldn’t allow that. Family was important, the most important thing. She rolled her eyes. Her own family! She should notify her parents of her whereabouts. But with the rain, how would they get any note she wrote?
“Martin?”
He grunted as he glided up the stairs, taking them three at a time.
“I