Bound by Bliss (Bound and Determined #2)(17)

One more pinch. One more bolt of sensation.

And then it happened. It exploded. Her whole body exploded.

Black. Light. Sensation. Wonder.

Fireworks on a summer evening.



And then peace, even as the final quivers moved through her. Stillness as she could not remember in many a year.

“Bliss?” Duldon’s voice called her as if from afar, and yet she felt his breath against her mouth.

She blinked, coming back into her body. He still held her tight and yet with utmost gentleness. His fingers slipped from her breast, and ran up the skin of her collarbone and neck, until once again he cupped her chin.

“Do you still believe I don’t want to kiss you?” His voice rumbled against her ear.

“I am beginning to believe you.” She’d probably believe anything in that moment. He could have told her that he’d made her a gown of stars or that he’d vanquished a dozen dragons in the last hour and she’d have believed him. She might not understand what had happened, but he’d certainly known what he was doing, what he was doing to her.

“Damn. I’ve never had that happen before,” Duldon stated, his voice a whisper that curled about her.

“What?” She tried to collect her thoughts from the clouds they still floated upon.

“You went up like a mortar and all I did was kiss you.”

“That was not all you did.” The kiss had been very nice, but it was the combination of everything that had lit her insides until…She still didn’t know what had actually happened. She’d never even heard of anything like what had just happened to her.

A slow smile spread across his face as he pulled back and stared at her. “You’re right it was more than a kiss, but I’ve never had a woman come just because I touched her breast. You must have been holding that in for a long time, my sweet.”



His eyes were so dark in the dim light that it was hard to see into them. “I don’t know what you are talking about.”

His smile turned into a grin as Duldon leaned and rested his forehead against hers. “I am not sure whether you’re lying or you truly are that na?ve. I know girls are brought up differently than boys, but given that I have no sisters and the uncle who raised me had no children, I can’t say I have much experience in the matter. So you’ll have to explain it to me. What don’t you know?”

She was not going to talk about this. She was not. And the more he talked the more she remembered why she didn’t want to marry him. She was against marriage in general, but the thought of marrying Duldon was even worse. He was a trap she could so easily fall into. She must try to think of him as dull and staid. She must not let herself consider the truth, remember the truth.

Only that kiss certainly had not been dull.

Blast. And blast again. She would not think about this. This was not what she needed, he was not what she needed, not now when she was trying to figure out how to gain her freedom. Her mind became a jumble, that brief moment of peace far gone. If only she could think of something else, pretend to be somewhere else.

“I don’t want to discuss this with you,” she said, slipping sideways and trying to escape.

He let her move, but slipped a hand about her wrist, leashing her. “Not so fast.”



“No.” She knew there was an edge of desperation to her cry, but she could not help it.

She felt him freeze at the word and its tone, his fingers tightening about her wrist. “What has you so upset?” he asked.

It was too much, every bit of emotion and confusion she’d felt this night pouring forth. “I am being forced to marry—and probably to you, a man I don’t care for. Lady Perse, who could help me, has clearly decided that she dislikes me, although she’s always been perfectly pleasant in the past. I just watched Lord Banks doing things I barely knew were possible to a woman I am not even sure I’ve seen before, things that I am sure are not supposed to happen in the library. And then you drag me out here, yell at me, kiss me without my permission, cause whatever that was to happen to me—and then you smile like you’re king. I have every right to be upset.” She tried to yank herself away again, but he held tight.

“I can see why that might be upsetting. And you had an orgasm. That’s the word for the feeling.”

“It was more than a feeling.” Orgasm. That was a word she’d never heard before. And she didn’t want to hear it again or feel it again. It was all much too complicated. She yanked harder. “Just let me go.”

“Not when you are like this. You must calm yourself before you enter the ballroom again.”

“Why? I am a Danser. Everyone expects this of a Danser. Why, I could probably walk into the ballroom, step up on a table, and announce everything that has happened to me this evening and the only thing that would surprise anyone is that I hadn’t done it all before. It’s probably why Lady Perse won’t help me.”



Duldon let out a long sigh. “You know that is not true. It may be said that you are a little wild, but I’ve never heard a bad word said about you.”

“Now you are the one who is saying that which is not true. You know they are all only waiting for me to take that one step too far. It must be why my brother is willing to give me to you. He worries that I’ll ruin myself before I have a chance to make an acceptable match.”