ella

r reality. I sat on the edge of the massive four-poster bed, watching the realization dawn in Damien's dark, ruth

raised. I couldn't show an ounce of the terror that had gripped me moments ago. I had pl

just inches above the freezing Italian m

r is cold

a statement of fact, delivered with the absolu

nto dangerous slits as he studied me. He was searching for the trembling, terrified girl he had dr

to me and stalked toward the walk-in closet. When he emer

intimidating shadow over the bed. And then, the most dangerous

l submissio

aggering. As he carefully rolled the silk up my calf, a phantom memory from a past life brushed against my mind. Beneath the terrifying aura of the monste

ine. His expression was a perfect, unreadable mask of Renaissance

ive him th

the distance between us, a

hrough his rigid body, the sheer shock of my willing touch paralyzing him. Before he could

d, my tone a lethal mix of innocence and absolute knowing. "A man like you,

instantly swallowed by a defensive, icy glare

?" he demanded, his voice a low, dangero

uestion deeper, three sharp knocks ec

t from the hallway, laced with careful hesitation.

mien's expression twisted into pure, unadulterated murder. The sexual tension and psychological warfare between

ve shoulders tense, his attention

t beneath the surface, a cold, trium