The Demon Duke and I (4 page)

He inhaled, struggling for control. As a half-incubus, desire was a power he wielded easily. Apparently, it was not applicable if the girl in question was his heartkeeper.

George could feel eyes travelling all over her body, the hunger in the stranger’s gaze palpable. It made her squirm in mortification.

“Look at me.” The voice was smooth as velvet, a silken command that George found herself obeying against her will. She saw knee-high boots, the most expensive kind – she had spent more than enough time here to know the difference by now.

His breeches were also expensive, appearing warm, luxurious, and custom fitted, outlining the strength of his obviously-muscular legs. He wore no coat – only the finest lawn shirt, white as snow, unbuttoned low enough to reveal a golden triangle of skin, smooth and hard.

George hesitated when her gaze focused on his lips, the sight of it – thin, defined, and beautiful – making her feel sick in the strangest and most shameful way.

Oh God, this couldn’t be happening---

“Look at me.”

She did.

And her worst fears came true.

He was the most beautiful man George had ever seen. Words like sculpted and chiseled were often used to describe someone who was gorgeous in a
manly
way, but somehow even those words did
not
feel enough to describe this man’s appeal.

His every feature was perfect – high cheekbones, aristocratic nose, and strange bright eyes that seemed to be colorless one moment and then possess all the fucking colors of the rainbow in the next. And oh! That hair – gold, blond, shiny and
long
– George had always thought guys with long hair as aging frustrated rock stars, but on this man – ah, this man.

He made the long-haired Orlando Bloom look like a fucking sissy.

He made her think of Vikings come to life.

He made George want to run away screaming because he was making her feel so goddamn weird!

And so she tried to do just that, but the invisible ropes around her wrists seemed to tighten the more George struggled.

What. The. Fuck.

George struggled harder.

          “Milady.”

          “I’m not your fucking lady!” In her fury, George looked up to give the man her most evil scowl but instead their gazes clashed.

          And with it, he consumed her.

A sensation she had never felt before unfurled inside her body, responding to the essence of him in the most basic level, causing George to press her legs together as hard as she could.
Dammit
. She really was going insane. How could being stared at by her possibly-would-be-rapist make her feel this…this
weak?
This
hot
?

She blinked, and he was still several feet away. She blinked again, and he was standing next to her body once more.

George opened her mouth to scream, but his lips closed over hers instead.

Too. Much.

It was her first kiss. Her first kiss and it was gone, stolen, just like that – George might have cried over it, but she couldn’t, not when his firm lips moved so agonizingly slowly over hers. His lips pressed and lifted over hers repeatedly, pressing little kisses everywhere as if he had all the time in the world to enjoy her.

George’s body was weakening, but she did her best to fight the languor that the stranger’s kisses was weaving over her. Even this close, only their lips touched but it did not matter. His heat was…

Too. Much.

A soft broken gasp slipped past her lips. The heat of his body was intensely explosive, making it unnecessary for him to touch George to possess her. He already fucking did – just by standing this close.

Silviu reluctantly lifted his head, his breathing harsh as he gazed down at her. Her lips were swollen by his kiss, and the sight of it fascinated him. He rubbed his thumb on her lips soothingly.

“I’m sorry.”

She did not answer, but her eyes shot sparks at him.
No, you are fucking not.

A sense of premonition gripped Silviu at that instant, tempting him with a vision of the future – of this very girl cursing him through the bond they would share when she became his heartkeeper. This girl would always fight him, never let him walk all over her – and she would be even more passionate in bed.

He could not fucking wait for that damn day to come.

When her captor looked down at George, he was smiling.  

The sight of it convinced her. He was crazy – and she was drugged. Somehow, he had gotten drugs into her system, which had now taken effect and were causing her to imagine all sorts of things. Like her hands over her head? It was not magic, not fucking supernatural powers of any kind at work – it was her nervous system not cooperating because of the drugs.

“Tell me why you took your top off.”

“Fuck---” He made a move towards her, and fearing that she had provoked the stranger into hitting her, George lost her courage and said quickly, “I’m sorry! I’m going to tell you the truth now!”

The stranger moved back, his face once again a picture of patience.

“I was taking it off because there’s this legend I know that when there are elementals trying to trick you, they can cause you to have hallucinations. The only way to escape them is to turn your shirt inside out.”

George kept her voice as low as possible and she did her best to slur her words, hoping the tactics were enough for the stranger to misunderstand her.

She looked up, and her heart sank.

He appeared stunned, which meant he did hear and understand every word George had said – and his next words confirmed it. “That’s fucking stupid.” He paused, adding in an extremely innocent voice, “But maybe if you strip down completely…”

“Fuck you.” The words were out before George could stop them.

Ah shit. Rule #1 for victims who wanted to survive was
never
to provoke their captors
unnecessarily.
And she had done exactly that. She was so in it for now.

George squeezed her eyes shut, unable to stop herself from cringing as she readied herself for an attack---

But it never came.

When George opened her eyes, he was smiling again.

Fuck, he really was crazy.

“I’m not going to hurt you.” His voice was incredibly gentle, but that only made her more nervous.

“But I am a very possessive man.” Now, his tone became a mixture of warning and apology at the same time. “And worse, you must be made aware that with you, I think I will become…jealous, too.”

He said a lot of other stuff, but by then George no longer heard a word he said. All she wanted to do was weep.

Fuuuuuuuuuck
.

It was just her luck to come across a serial rapist or killer who also happened to be the craziest son of a bitch in town!

“Milady?” Silviu had to say it thrice before his beautiful girl looked up, her eyes questioning. She had not been listening at all, he realized in exasperation.

He sighed.

Her eyes narrowed suspiciously at the sound.

Good. Now he had her attention.

“Listen well, my lady.” This time, Silviu allowed just a little bit more of his powers to emerge, and the combination of angel and incubus made her automatically sway towards him.

Good.

 “If you ever have such a thought again – any thought that involves showing your body to anyone else but me…”

George screamed. Of course she would fucking scream, what with her captor’s large hands suddenly covering her breasts. And he did so
completely
!

She had embarrassingly full breasts, the kind that made it difficult for her to shop for bras. They were so large she had always thought they would spill out of a man’s hands – well, now she knew. She was mistaken.

Her captor’s large hands squeezed her covered breasts and she shook her head wildly. It was the only thing she could do. George wanted to scream, but she didn’t, afraid that instead of a horrified shriek a moan would come out instead. The way he was touching her drove her mad, with the way his fingers moved this way and that, tantalizing her senses.  

It’s the drugs, George. You’re not really---

Tweak.

He had pinched her nipples, gently, but it was just
too much.

Too. Much.

George moaned, a sound impossible to prevent as his fingers tightened over her breasts once more.

          “These are MINE.” He spoke quietly, the possessiveness he warned her about more than evident in his voice. It vibrated, demanded,
captivated
–

         
Fight off the drugs, George! You’re not aroused. He’s just making you think---

         
He began to knead, and his touch became hotter, burning through the cotton. “These beautiful breasts can’t ever be seen by anyone’s eyes but mine.” He squeezed her breasts hard just before tweaking her nipples again, teasing them mercilessly like a master would with his harem slave.

         
Look at me, hear me, follow me,
that simple but oh so hot touch said, and so George reluctantly raised her head to meet her captor’s gaze.

          His eyes burned bright as they held hers, an uncompromising hardness falling on his beautiful face. “Do you understand me, milady?”

          George’s mind begged her to say ‘yes’ and be done with it, but her pride rejected giving in too quickly and so she glared and shook her head at him.

          “Stubborn girl,” he growled.

          This time, he tore her bra away, cupping her naked breasts in his hands, branding her body with the unforgettable exquisiteness of his touch.

When he squeezed her breasts this time, her entire body shook. Desperately, George renewed her struggle to free herself, but her limbs still did not cooperate, no matter how much she strained against the effects of whatever fucking drugs this man had given her.

          His stubborn girl was so obviously afraid, but still she fought. Perhaps a nicer man would be moved to pity by her actions, but instead it filled Silviu with a deep all-consuming sense of satisfaction. More and more he was convinced that he had finally found her – the woman meant to be his heartkeeper, the one woman in the world Silviu would be able to trust to fight for his soul as valiantly as he would fight for hers.

          Her captor’s touch on her body suddenly gentled, but it became no less arousing. His fingers circled her nipples, teasing but not quite touching, as if all it was meant to do was torture her with the promise of pleasure.

“Soon,” Silviu whispered. “You will be my heartkeeper---”

George shook her head wildly, trying to get past the havoc his damn tormenting fingers were wreaking on her senses. They made her want to scream, something along the lines of, ‘
Just pinch my nipples – pinch it so I’d stop wondering how it would feel like!’

          His fingers suddenly stilled, and George was torn between shuddering in relief and moaning in protest.
This is good. This is bad. This is---fuck these drugs, fuck!