She gave Lucian a scathing look, which she saw had no effect. His face could have been carved from granite for all the emotion he showed.
The silence lengthened, gathering tension with every drawn-out moment. As she stood defiant before him, he spoke again, this time in a voice that was low and silken.
“I think you’ve already proven you don’t have the willpower to resist me, any more than I can you.”
Brynn felt sudden despair well up in her. That was the problem. She found Lucian irresistible. But she couldn’t give in to her urges. All she could do was try to protect them both with cold indifference. She lifted her chin, giving him an icy stare.
Lucian viewed her chill expression with feigned apathy. A sharp longing knotted his insides as his gaze swept over her. Her vibrant hair shimmered, cloaking her shoulders in a mass of fire and silk. He had to set his teeth to keep from dragging her into his arms. It would be wiser, he reminded himself, to get this over with at once, before the hunger burning within him eroded the last of his self-control.
“You had best accustom yourself to my visits,” he said, keeping his own tone cool. “I intend to sleep with you each and every night, at least until you conceive.”
“Until I conceive?” Brynn narrowed her gaze, finding a glimmer of hope in his declaration. “And then you will leave me alone?”
There was a long pause. “If you wish it. Once you present me with an heir, there will no longer be any urgent need for me to ‘slake my lust,” as you put it.“
“I shall hold you to that promise.”
Regally she went to the bed, then slid beneath the covers, giving him her back. Moments later she felt the mattress shift as he sat beside her. She stiffened when his fingers plucked the sleeve of her nightdress.
“You won’t need this.”
“I prefer to keep it on,” she said tightly. “It isn’t necessary to remove it to do what you intend to do.”
His voice was low, compelling, and darkly masculine as he replied, “There is no reason to make this difficult, Brynn. Conceiving a son should be pleasurable for us both.”
“I don’t wish it to be pleasurable. I only wish you to be done with it.”
“Very well.”
She heard a quiet rustle as his dressing gown fell to the floor. He pulled down the covers before joining her in the bed.
Brynn shivered. She could feel him at her back, feel his hot skin as his body pressed against hers. His heavy arousal was obvious through the fabric of her nightdress.
When his hand moved to her arm, she tried not to flinch. She kept herself rigid, even when he began stroking her… her arm, her waist, her stomach… touching her purposefully, silently. After a moment, his hand rose to her breasts hidden by her nightdress. His fingers splayed over the sensitive mounds, deliberately brushing her tingling nipples until they peaked and thrust against the delicate fabric.
Brynn drew a sharp breath, finding it difficult to remain unresponsive. There was no warmth, no real tenderness in his caresses, but he was arousing her all the same, despite her effort to resist.
Eventually his hand swept lower, and he drew up her nightdress, baring her body to the waist. Brynn bit her lip hard as his palm skimmed her buttock, then slowly slid over her hip around to her belly, seeking her woman’s mound. When he touched her there, she clamped her thighs together, knowing he had found her cleft wet. Not accepting her resistance, he urged her thighs apart and slid two fingers deep into her.
Heat seared through her. Brynn shuddered, involuntarily arching against his tormenting hand while his thumb rubbed the tiny bud of femininity with her own sleek moisture. It was impossible to remain passive.
Her breath quickened audibly in the silence.
Finally he left off arousing her and grasped her shoulder, rolling her toward him so that she lay on her back.
“Look at me, Brynn,” he urged hoarsely.
She did look-at his chiseled face dark and grim with concentration, and lower, at his hard, lean, graceful body with its powerful, swollen erection. Brynn shivered, despite the mildness of the August night. Lucian had possessed her body once before, but he was still a stranger, one who was prepared to invade her with his foreign hardness.
Shifting his position, he mounted her, lowering himself till their bare loins just touched. Impossibly, the muscles of her lower body tightened and clamped down in eager anticipation of his possession.
He entered her then, thrusting slowly into her with a detached control, relentlessly filling her. Brynn gasped, tremors moving through her body at the shock of his uncompromising maleness inside her.
Squeezing her eyes shut, she averted her face. She felt helpless lying like this, impaled by his flesh, totally at his mercy. Yet when he began to move, the traitorous warmth in her began to blur the edges of her resistance.
As he withdrew, her quivering inner flesh clutched helplessly at his thick length, not easing until he sheathed himself fully again.
He kissed her then, covering her mouth firmly with his. He tasted of brandy, hot and sweet and potent. Sh