Lacybourne Manor (Ghosts and Reincarnation #3)(34)
Author: Kristen Ashley

She tried to yank her hand away, tried to delay this until later, much later, after brie and shrimp cocktail and all was made right in the world again.

She tripped up the first step but found her footing quickly. She had to, he didn’t hesitate, his strong hand gripping hers; he dragged her up the stairs.

He halted abruptly at the large landing and she slammed into him. The bathroom was obviously to his right, another two-step stairway several paces to the left took him to the upstairs hall. He turned left, and, with some uncanny perception, walked right passed the two other bedrooms to the very end of the hall and up the three extra steps that led him to her bedroom. He entered it without hesitation, pulling her with him.

The light was still on beside her bed (her mother would have given her a lecture about global warming if she saw it, but then again, her mother would probably have other things to lecture her about if she’d been there).

He drew her in the room and then let her go and the force of this action sent her beyond him several steps into the room.

Then he slammed the door shut behind him.

There went any chance at Mallory-induced interruptions.

Sibyl’s belly dropped.

“Take off your clothes,” he commanded without preamble.

All her breath left her in a rush and her heart squeezed. Then she tried another delaying tactic.

“Mr. Morgan, can we just take a moment and talk this through? There have to be ground rules.”

He took one stride, one angry stride, reached out and yanked her into his arms and she tipped her head back to look into his blazing eyes.

“Call me ‘Mr. Morgan’ one more time and I’ll tie you na**d to the bed for a week,” he bit out, apparently, for some reason, livid. “Got that?”

Her entire body trembled.

“It’s Colin,” he clipped.

She nodded.

“Say it!” he barked and she jumped.

“Colin,” Sibyl whispered.

It was then he kissed her.

It was nothing like the kiss the blond version of him gave her in the dream. It was hot, yes, but it was an entirely different type of wild that was heady and needy and so possessive it took her breath away and, darn it all, it did this deliciously.

Then Colin unexpectedly released her and, unprepared for it, Sibyl stumbled back a step. She thought she might fall as her wobbly legs didn’t seem able to support her. She threw out her hand and grabbed the foot of the bed to steady herself.

“Take your clothes off,” he repeated and shrugged off his jacket, dropping it to the floor.

Her trembling hands went to the hem of her camisole.

“These are the ground rules,” he forced the words out between his teeth and took a step forward.

Automatically, Sibyl took a step back.

He stopped at her movement, his head tilted to the side and his eyes turned menacing.

He took another step towards her. She took another step back.

He started speaking again. “You always wear your hair down when you’re with me.”

Sibyl nodded. “Yes, I’ve got that one,” she told him helpfully, trying to diffuse his strangely infuriated mood.

Why he would be angry, she had no idea. He was getting what he wanted, wasn’t he?

He took a step forward. At his continued advance, her mind blanked and she took a step back, rounding the bed.

Colin went on. “Not another man touches you while you’re mine.”

She nodded again and squared her shoulders to try and instil some confidence in herself, some control over her fluttering belly and her trembling legs.

“You aren’t taking off your clothes,” he reminded her in a dangerous voice.

His hands went to the buttons of his shirt.

She whipped the camisole off as fast as she could. Underneath it was the lacy, black, strapless bra she’d bought for the same bridesmaid’s dress for which she bought the shoes.

She heard his swift intake of breath.

He tore his shirt off and the buttons flew around the room like mini-bullets.

She heard her own swift intake of breath, not only at his action, but at her first sight of the wall of his hard, muscled chest and the defined planes of his stomach.

Good goddess, but he had a beautiful body.

Her hands, now trembling, went to the button of her jeans.

Colin continued. “You do what I tell you, no questions asked.”

He took a step forward, rounding the bed as she nodded.

She took a step back.

His hands went to the belt of his trousers and he kept going. “You’re available to me when I say, where I say.”

“I… I…” she had to clear her throat and cursed herself mentally for showing that weakness, “I have a job. What if I’m working?”

She unzipped her jeans and slid them off her hips, kicking them away and standing in front of him feeling desperately ill-at-ease and wearing nothing but lacy black underwear and rhinestone shoes.

It was at that moment she felt the most like a whore and something inside her curled up and died. Her mother and father both told her that her big heart would be the finish of her one day.

This was that day.

He didn’t answer her question about working. He was staring at her like she was a long tall glass of ice water and he’d just stumbled out of the desert.

“Colin?”

Upon hearing her voice, with a start, his eyes moved from her body to her face and they were lit with a fire that turned her bones to mush.

And it wasn’t with fear.

She forced herself to go on. “My job’s important to me. What if I’m working?”

“I thought I just gave you fifty thousand pounds?” he replied.

She forgot about that. How she did, she didn’t know, but she did.

She couldn’t exactly tell him he was buying her body in exchange for a minibus for oldies, he’d think she was a lunatic.

When she didn’t answer he said, “You’re on a two month holiday.”

That thing that died inside her, whatever it was, turned to ash.

He was utterly ruthless.

She could do nothing but nod. She worked more hours than she was paid and hadn’t taken a day of holiday in a year. She also made her own hours and there was always something happening at the Community Centre.

She’d make it work.

From the look in his eyes, she’d have to make it work.

“Is that all?” she asked.

“Would you like more?” he returned.

She shook her head vehemently.

“Take off your underwear but leave the shoes.”

Dear goddess, she was going to melt in a puddle at the side of her bed. How she could be terrified, miserable and turned on all at the same time, she had no idea.