White Lace and Promises by Natasha Blackthorne Page A

devil,” she said, unable to resist giving him a slow, sensual smile, the kind she knew drove him insane. Not because she still wanted him, but because she wanted him to suffer as she had suffered. To lie awake at night, aching for her alone.
    “You knew I would come.” He used that chiding tone she’d also grown to resent. He held no rights over her and never had. Everything she’d given him had been given willingly. Out of love. But he’d proven himself unworthy and made a fool of her.
    “You’ve come here for nothing,” she said in her coolest voice.
    His lofty mask vanished and, with a grin, he sat beside her. “I wanted to congratulate you. You’ve done very well for yourself, my dear.”
    She lifted her chin. “I love him. He loves me.”
    His grin stretched into a grimace. He paled.
    Fierce joy fired her senses.
    Yes, Joshua, take that and know what it feels like to be replaced with something better.
    He laughed softly and came closer. “Who are you trying to convince—me or yourself?”
    She put a hand to his chest and tried to push him away. He latched his arm firmly about her waist. She pushed harder but he only tightened his hold. Oh, bugger! For such a slender man, his lean muscles always held surprising strength. A renewed rush of cool rationality washed over her, stripping away her satisfaction in the moment. How stupid and foolish of her to have lured him here. To have goaded him with her engagement. She pushed at him again. “Let me go, Dr Wade .”
    He remained immovable. “Now don’t be disagreeable. I thought you’d be over all this wounded pride by now. And what did your pride gain you? This whole time, you could have been living in luxury, my Beth.”
    Beth. He’d given her the nickname. She’d been his special little Beth. And later it had pleased her to hear better men whisper it in her ear. Now she was sickened that she’d ever fallen for him.
    “Let. Me. Go,” she said. This wasn’t the first time her emotions had got the better of her sense, but it might be the one she regretted the most.
    Maintaining a relentless hold on her, he buried his face in her neck. “You’re so stubborn.”
    A faint scent of camphor and vinegar clung to him. He must have seen a patient on his way here. No one could fault his dedication as a physician. Not even Beth. She’d once idolised those things about him.
    His body went rigid against hers. “I can smell him all over you. Tell me, how does he like all those little refinements I taught you? It should make me furious that you bestow them on him.” He tightened his hands on her waist. “But, truthfully, the memory of you there on your knees, sucking his cock, just makes me crazy to fuck you. You forgot I had the key to the schoolroom, forgot that I alone know of your little penchant for hiding there. But I never forgot any of it, Beth. I never forgot you .”
    The last of her tolerance melted away to be replaced by a seething rage. “You’d better let me go.”
    “I try, honestly I do.” His lips found her neck. “But then I see you and—God, you drive me insane.”
    She cringed away from his hot, seeking lips. “I am warning you, I am going to make you sorry.
    “Never,” he breathed against her ear.
    She drove her elbow back and up, into his ribs—a sharp, wicked thrust.
    Groaning, he let go and grasped his side. “I forget what a”—he gulped for breath—“vicious little harpy you can be.”
    She stood and curled her lip. Men were such fools. “I have warned you repeatedly. I am not yours and never shall be again.”
    “Of course, you realise”—he panted for another breath with exaggerated effect, his tone playful—“you are only inflaming my passions. You do it intentionally.”
    She glared down at him, struggling to keep from raising her voice. “Shame on you, Joshua—you are a married man now and I am engaged.”
    He looked up at her, his eyes glittering with arousal. “This changes nothing. You know you’ll