Nightshade by Jaide Fox Page A

your word that you would not … ask more of me!” she said accusingly.
     
    Anger hardened his features. He closed the distance that separated them, catching her upper arms in a hard grip. “That I would plague you no more for your favors?” he growled angrily.
     
    The blood rushed from her face and then back again with a vengeance. “I did not say that!”
     
    “That is what you meant, but I made no such vow!”
     
    Disconcerted, Bronwyn searched her mind but, in truth, she could not recall anything that had been said between them that night. She was not even certain that she had found the nerve to demand that he agree to her terms before she allowed him to bed her, only that she had meant to do so. Instead of responding with the lie that teased at her tongue, she took a different tact. “The king’s man is here,” she hissed. “You must go! You can not be found here for I am promised by the king’s decree to another.”
     
    He released his grip on her arms but before she could feel any relief, he fisted one hand in her hair and caught her waist with the other, jerking her hips tightly against his as he dragged her head back, forcing her to look up at him. “I do not give a gods bedamned what the king has decreed and less about the king’s man even now drinking himself into a stupor in the hall below!” he snarled. “You are mine! You did not endure my touch! You did not ‘give selflessly’ to repay a debt. You wanted me!”
     
    Bronwyn reddened. “You bespelled me!” she accused.
     
    Something gleamed in his eyes beyond the anger--amusement, satisfaction. “You bespelled me!” he countered.
     
    “I did not! I do not have the power to cast spells!”
     
    “Aye, you do,” he said in a hoarse growl, dragging her upward as he bent his head to take her lips beneath his in a kiss that was fiercely possessive.
     
    The fight went out of Bronwyn the moment she felt the moist adhesion of his mouth upon hers. She had wanted this, wanted him, to the point of desperation. A sigh of surrender escaped her as she parted her lips for him, strained to move closer.
     
    She had not really believed that it could possibly feel as wonderful as she had remembered, but she felt as if she would swoon with pleasure as his taste, and scent, and heat produced a storm of riotous sensations within her.
     
    He was breathing raggedly when he broke the kiss and Bronwyn could not seem to catch her breath at all, sagged limply in his hold as her knees buckled, refusing to hold her up. Supporting her with one arm, he jerked at the tie of gown, grasping the neck and dragging it from her shoulders when he had released the closure. Dropping to his knees, he opened his mouth over one breast, sucking it so hard the muscles low in her belly clenched in a hard, painful knot and moisture flooded her woman’s place. She caught his head to steady herself, trying to lock her wobbly knees as he tugged and teased the sensitive tip until she lost herself completely in the fiery sensations crashing through her in breath stealing waves.
     
    His arms tightened around her, supporting her as he released one nipple and moved to the other, dragging at her nightrail until it puddled at her ankles. She had no inkling of his intensions as he ceased to tease her nipples and wove a path downward, kissing and sucking at her quivering flesh until he reached her mound. The hot, wet flick of his tongue along her cleft dragged a sharp cry from her. The fingers she had curled into his hair to balance herself tightened as her knees gave way.
     
    He caught her, rising and lifting her into his arms in the same movement. Carrying her to the bed, he dropped her onto the mattress and caught her legs beneath her knees, shoving them upward until her sex was bared to his hungry gaze. Embarrassment filled her but before she could form a protest, he lowered his head and covered her femininity with his mouth. Her hips came up off the bed seemingly of their own accord