My Lord Vampire (Immortal Rogues #1)(14)

Simone frowned at the mysterious words. Did he speak of a traitor to his country? Or a personal enemy that sought to harm his family?

“This Mr. Soltern is one you hunt?”

“Yes.”

She considered him for a long moment, wishing he were not so terribly clever at hiding his emotions. The pale, perfect features gave nothing away.

“What does this have to do with me?”

The dark gaze abruptly returned to her face, the uneasy tension fading as he allowed that mocking smile that so annoyed her to return to his lips.

“The time is not yet right to reveal such information.”

Feeling as if she had neatly been put into her place, Simone eyed him with a jaundiced frown. She wondered if he was deliberately offensive to keep her at a distance or if it was simply his nature.

“Fah.” She snapped open her fan. “You wrap yourself in mystery in the hopes of beguiling me.”

The dark brows rose in a taunting fashion. “I need no mystery to beguile you, my love. There are far more pleasurable means of doing so, if I chose.”

Her teeth clenched. “Is that so?”

“Shall I demonstrate?”

He stepped closer and Simone momentarily battled the urge to flee to the safety of the ballroom. Those earlier shivers of dark excitement returned as she felt the heat of him caress her bare skin.

Hoping she appeared far more assured than she felt, she gave a lift of one shoulder.

“If you wish.”

“Actually I am confident it is your wish,” he audaciously retorted, lifting a slender finger to trail it down the low cut of her neckline. “I would not desire to disappoint you.”

Her eyes widened, as much as from the shocking heat that flared through her body at his touch as by the arrogance of his claim.

“Why, you ...”

She had not quite decided upon the proper insult for his outlandish behavior, but in the end it did not matter as he abruptly lowered his head and claimed her lips in a branding kiss.

All thoughts faded as she was struck by a bolt of lightning that singed her from her lips to the tips of her curled toes.

Shimmering heat cloaked about her and the faint scent of... what was it? Cinnamon? A musky spice that clouded her thoughts and filled her senses. She leaned heavily against his hard, chiseled form as her knees became weak. His mouth moved with a practiced skill and Simone gave a low moan of pleasure.

She shivered as a potent desire flooded her body. His hands molded her ever closer, making her vibrantly aware of every hard curve and plane of his muscular form. She opened her lips, allowing him ready access to the moist warmth of her mouth.

This was what she had sensed between them from the beginning, she acknowledged dizzily.

This fierce, blazing hunger that threatened to consume them both.

She knew she should be terrified. This was not what she had planned at all. He was the one who was supposed to be lost in a haze of need.

Still, it was not until those clever fingers slid upward to lightly cup the fullness of her aching breast that she came to her fogged senses.

A pleasure that she had never before dreamed existed exploded deep within her, making her sharply pull away in shock.

Dangerous waters, indeed.

Licking her tingling lips she regarded him with wide, startled eyes. His own expression was much more difficult to read, although there was no missing the thick tension that smoldered in the air.

“You tremble in my arms,” he at last murmured in smoky tones.

“I ...” Determined to deny his arrogant charge, the words stuck in her throat.

“Yes, my temptress?” he prodded.

The lie would not come and she sucked in an unsteady breath. Surely it was not cowardly to realize when it was best to retreat? There would be other nights to teach this gentleman a lesson he so richly deserved, she attempted to ease her damaged pride. And on the next occasion she would be prepared to battle those dizzying sensations that threatened to overwhelm her.

“We should return to the ballroom,” she managed to say in a husky voice.

His lips twitched as if he were fully aware of the heat that still tormented her.

“But I have not yet fully beguiled you.” His accent was more noticeably pronounced as he reached out to gently stroke his hand down the curve of her neck. The dark eyes smoldered with an unreadable fire as she shivered beneath his caress.

“We will be missed,” she breathed.

“I thought you shunned society’s rules?”

Those fingers brushed the frantic pulse at the base of her neck, the moonlight adding dangerous shadows to his lean countenance. He suddenly appeared different.

Harder.

Perilous.

Inflexible.

A predator that could destroy her with ease.

“Gideon?”

“Do you still prefer to be among the wolves?” he demanded, his dark velvet voice sending a shudder through her. “There is danger here in the dark.”

Simone readily believed him.

She could feel the danger.

It pulsed in the still air and cloaked about her slender body. She suddenly felt vulnerable in a manner she had never before experienced.

“This is madness,” she whispered more to herself than to the gentleman watching her with those glittering eyes.

“Then remain with the sheep where you are safe, my dear.”

The challenge was unmistakable, but for once Simone was not so swift to rise up and meet it.