There
was nowhere to go but backward, until the wall ground into
her shoulder
blades and buttocks, and still he kept coming. Tall and
broad-shouldered,
his very size threatened her. Most of his handsome face was
in shadow,
hiding any expression. She could only make out his eyes,
blacker than
the surrounding darkness, yet glistening with some deep,
wild hunger
it hurt to look at.
He
lifted his hand once more to the wound in her throat. His
fingertip
was cold, yet seemed to burn her skin. She gasped,
quivering, and when
he bent his head toward her again, gazing at her bleeding
injury, she
began to fight, crashing her fists into his chest, pushing
uselessly
against his shoulders.
He
smelled of earth and cold stone, gave off no sense of human
warmth.
So why did her body begin to weaken its resistance? Her
fists, her struggles,
made no impression on him. He continued to lower his head to
her wounded
neck. At least she could no longer see those terrible eyes…
At
the first touch of his lips, she gave up. Because she could
do nothing
against him. And because some dark, perverse part of her
remembered
the unique, agonizing thrill of his first bite.
But
he didn't bite. He surrounded the wound with his lips and
licked it
once. She shuddered, helpless in the grip of fear and
something she
couldn't - or wouldn't - name. Then he lifted his head and
she stared
at him, speechless, because the pain had gone.
The
hunger hadn't left his eyes, but in the glimmer of
torchlight, she thought
it was overlaid with mockery. The bastard was laughing at
her.
"I'm
saving the rest for later," he explained.
Her
eyes widened. He was letting her live after all? At least
for another
minute. "L-later?" she stammered.
His
fingers trailed across her throat, butterfly light, making
her gasp.
"Later. Your blood is strong and heady. I'm taking time to
absorb
it." He bent nearer her, inhaling, almost sniffing the air
around
her head and throat. The skin of his face looked so smooth
she had an
insane urge to reach up and touch it. His sculpted lips
moved faintly,
as if a smile almost danced across them, never quite forming
before
it faded.
"Interesting,"
he observed, and his voice was different now, quiet, almost
whispering,
with just a hint of hoarseness. "I have to thank you for
waking me…What
is your name?"
She
swallowed. "Elizabeth. Elizabeth Silk."
The
almost-smile tugged at his lips and vanished. His cheek
brushed against
hers, barely touching and yet her stomach seemed to plunge.
"Silk.
How apt," he murmured. "Like your hair…And your skin, so soft
and warm…"
His
fingertips caressed her face, slid down over her chin to her
throat
and she gasped, jerking in panic. But the movement only
brought her
into contact with his body. Hard, solid, and surely that
stiff ridge
against her stomach was his erection… Vampires had
erections? Unless
that part of him was still made of stone?
Oh
Jesus Christ and fuck!
She
shrank, pressing her back into the wall once more. Shocked,
she could
feel wetness between her legs. It's just fear, not lust,
it can't
be…
"And
you are English," he said, changing to that language without
warning.
"Scottish,"
she returned mechanically. What the hell does that
matter?
He
inclined his head, clearly humoring her. His body touched
hers at breast
and hips, hardening her nipples into aching peaks. Perhaps
he felt them,
for he said, "Do you know how long it has been since I have
had a
meal or a woman?"
Her
stomach seemed to melt into her womb. Sweat had broken out
on her palms,
was trickling down between her breasts. But somehow she
managed to do
the math. "Three hundred and twelve years?"
His
gaze dropped to her lips. "Don't ask me. After the first
couple of
centuries, those decades just fly by." He lifted his hand
from her
neck, tracing one tapered fingertip along her lower lip. She
was afraid
to move.
"Do
they really?" she managed.
"No.
But they let me work up some heady appetites."
"For
what?" She sounded more suspicious than terrified. Was that
good?
Perhaps. The almost-smile reappeared and vanished as his
face leaned
nearer hers.
"For
dinner," he answered. "And dalliance."
His
finger slid to the corner of her lips, pushing gently until
she gasped,
and when her mouth opened he took it with his.
Heat
consumed her, drowning her in some strange, welcome
weakness. His cool
lips moved across hers, sampling, parting them. He should
have tasted
of dust and death and corruption. At the very least he
hadn't brushed
his teeth in three hundred and twelve years. Yet what she
inhaled in
panic was something overwhelmingly seductive, an earthy
sweetness, powerful
and masculine, and God help her, she wanted it. She wanted
to give herself
to his mouth, feel his kiss deepen and dominate while he
pressed that
large, hard body closer into her. She wanted to push herself
against
the hardness nudging her abdomen. She wanted it between her
legs, pushing
into her, because she'd never known a kiss as arousing as
this, and
the sex would be so...