Heart of Darkness by Jaide Fox

same. Almost as
though it were carved out of stone.
     
    If he were forged from stone, then his
sculptor deserved a medal--for what a statue!
     
    She was annoyed at him.
     
    Thoroughly irritated by him and the situation
he had forced upon her, and yet...there was something inside of
him, perhaps his soul, that called to her. And Goddess help her,
she could not resist that call.
     
    Her instant weakening upon the flicker of his
tongue about the sensitive flesh of her finger told her that he was
a temptation, from which she had no desire to abstain!
     
    Grimacing inwardly, she watched as his firm,
but beautifully molded lips started to move and almost as though
she were suffering from a delayed reaction, his words eventually
penetrated her mind.
     
    “...Jaegar must have used his own brand of
magic, Isabeau. Damn his legs! My guards must have been infiltrated
by one of his own.” He hissed. “I shall have to seek out the one
who has betrayed me!”
     
    She blinked. “Jaegar is a sorcerer?”
     
    Although she said nothing, Isabeau felt pity
for the man who had dared to deceive Wolfe. There was a bitter
anger on his face that did not bode well for the unknown man!
     
    Wolfe shook his head.
     
    “Then what is he?”
     
    “The same as you, but not the same as
you.”
     
    Isabeau clicked her tongue in annoyance and
murmured pleasantly, “Are you trying to be irritating? If so, then
congratulations, you have succeeded.”
     
    He laughed again and she watched in shocked
delight, as this time, his entire face transformed into full
animation. His grin cut into his firm, taut cheeks. The skin beside
his eyes crinkled slightly. She saw his teeth and damned his hide,
for even they were attractive! There was no reason to be disgusted
by his yellow-caked, rotten stubs. He had a full set of pearly
white teeth, damn him.
     
    She almost felt disappointed.
     
    Was every part of this man perfect?
     
    If so, was it any wonder she could not resist
him? The man was like a walking God, so it was only natural that
she would feel...she refused to say adulation, but it felt almost
like that.
     
    She was not used to being attracted to
men. For the most part, she viewed them with suspicion and
distrust, fully aware that they could harm her and most dreadfully.
Even though she had been raised to consider men as her only form of
protection, her years alone had taught her that they were the
complete opposite. And sometimes the very reason why she needed to be
protected!
     
    For the first thirteen years of her life, she
had lived in a very similar hall to the one she had stayed in this
past night. Her parents had been rich, very rich and kind with it.
She was not one to be blindly adoring of her mama and papa, simply
because they had passed.
     
    She knew it to be true.
     
    Knew that the servants thought kindly of her
family, for they had always been well cared for. The tenant farmers
had had little complaints, for her father had not charged high
rates and had been a good and generous landlord.
     
    Even at thirteen and a mere girl, she had known this, because in
her family, being of the female sex was not a crime. It was
celebrated. She had been taught how to be the merriest lady as her
parents' wealth had dictated. But in the same breath, she had been
taught literature, history, the classics.
     
    Her father had involved her in his
estate work. She had ridden about the land with him on a small
pony, greeting and speaking with the tenants, who had been hearty
and healthy and dare she say
it, happy with their lot.
     
    At fourteen, however, something had changed.
The manor had been closed and they had retreated to a plot of land
in the deepest Yorkshire to live in a thatched cottage.
     
    Admittedly, it had been a large thatched
cottage. Almost four or five times the size of a tenant farmhouse.
And inside, there had been all the luxuries of home, but it had
been rather confusing as to why they had moved from their manor and
to the