Wicked Surrender (Regency Sinners)(30)

She gave a snort. “I shall not scream.”

“We shall see about that.” He bared his teeth in a smile as he put her gently to one side and entered the bedchamber. “Close the door, Bella.”

There was a strange fluttering sensation in the pit of her stomach at the assured way in which Dante marched into her bedchamber as if he had a perfect right to do so. It was as if a part of her almost wished she could stop fighting him and just give in.

She could not, of course. Dante believed her to be guilty of a crime she had not committed. No amount of command on his part could prevent her from fighting against that. Against him.

“Close the door,” he repeated softly.

“Close it yourself.” Bella deliberately walked away from the open doorway. “And make sure you are on the other side of it when you do so— Dante!” she gasped as he crossed the room and kicked the door closed before turning to glare at her. “What will the marquis think—”

“He will assume—knows full well—that I am bringing you to task for your disobedience,” he assured her grimly as he strode toward her.

Bella took a step back to every one Dante took forward, until her thighs came into contact with the bed and she could retreat no farther. She held her hands up defensively “You cannot do this.”

“Watch me.” He continued to advance until he stood directly in front of her. “You can either kneel beside the bed and bend over, raise your night rail ready to receive your punishment, or I will do it for you.”

She swallowed as her mouth filled with saliva before going as suddenly dry as she saw the dangerous intent in those glittering dark green eyes. “I am not a child,” she protested weakly.

“And I do not intend to punish you as one,” he assured her softly.

“A spanked bottom is retribution for a child.”

“Not the way I intend administering it.”

Bella ran her tongue nervously across her lips. “How—”

“Kneel. Bend. Lift your night rail. Now,” Dante added harshly as she remained unmoving.

“This is ridiculous—”

“No, your behavior earlier tonight was ridiculous.” He glared. “You could have been attacked by a wild boar as you walked unprotected through the forest, and bled to death before anyone found you.”

Bella recalled those glittering eyes she had seen in the darkness and her mad flight to escape whatever predator was stalking her. “There are wild boar here?”

“A few, yes.”

She repressed a shiver. “I do not—”

“Do not force me to make you obey me, Bella,” Dante snapped.

There was no doubting the anger thrumming through his tightly tensed body. Bella continued to stare at him for several long rebellious seconds before she slowly turned to kneel beside the bed.

“Bend.” He placed his hand in the middle of her back to hold her in place once she had done so. “Night rail up.”

Bella squirmed with mortification at the thought of being in so vulnerable a position. “I cannot— Dante, please do not make me…” She broke off with a gasp as Dante gripped her night rail and ripped the back of the garment until she felt the coolness of the air on her bared back, bottom, and the backs of her thighs. “Daffodil,” she choked. “Daffodil, Dante.” She turned to look at him with tear-filled eyes.

He shook his head. “That is only to be used during lovemaking. What I am about to do to you is not lovemaking. Not yet, at least,” he added gruffly. “If you will not take care with your own welfare, then someone else must make you do it.”

She sniffed inelegantly as she turned away from him, very close to tears. Of humiliation. “You are the one who intends to hurt me now.”

His breath was a warm caress against the side of her throat as he bent over her bared back. “And afterwards, I shall kiss it better. But the punishment must come before the pleasure, Bella, so that in future you remember not to challenge my concern for your welfare in this way again.”

She buried her burning face in the bedcovers, fingers tightly gripping the damask cover as she anticipated the first punishing blow.

Dante was breathing hard as he gazed down at the length of Bella’s bared spine and the full swell of her bottom. Her delicious bottom. God, how he longed to forgo the punishment and kiss her there, lick her, taste her. Would she be shocked if—when, he did so? Would she cry “daffodil” again? Or would she surrender to his demands, to the pleasure he would give her after the pain?

The darkness of her hair was loose about her shoulders and looked beautiful against the pale gold of her skin, her back slender and unblemished. The globes of her ass were equally as unmarked.

But not for long.

Very shortly, they would show the imprint of Dante’s hand as he administered red welts on that unblemished gold. The backs of her thighs too. He intended for Bella to remember this punishment every time she attempted to sit down for the next few days at least. To remember and know never to ignore his instruction again.

But she would remember the pleasure that followed too. He would make sure of that.

But first…

Bella quivered, her breathing becoming ragged as she felt the light caress of Dante’s fingertips run lightly over her bared flesh. Her shoulders. The length of her spine. The indentations at the top of her bottom. The twin globes he had bared for him to punish.