NocC 012 - Caridad Pineiro - The Vampire's Consort - Harlequin 2012-04 Read Online Free PDF Page B

chest at the foot of the bed.
    Placing a knee on the bed to reach him, she tossed the comforter over him. He roused and gazed at her through unfocused and slightly bleary eyes. “Cold,” he repeated, and before she could react, he grabbed hold of her wrist and hauled her close.
    She fell against the length of him and he released her wrist, but solely to yank away her robe and bring her warm body flush to his.
    Closing his eyes, he murmured, “So tired of being cold all the time. You’re so warm.”
    He snaked his hand along her side and to the middle of her back, pressing her tight against him. Eliza had few choices—battle him or battle herself. Of course, there was the third choice: become Swiss and remain neutral.
    She opted for the last one, allowing herself to burrow close, warming him with her body. Tossing her thigh over his to create the most skin-to-skin contact and transfer of heat.
    Or at least that’s what she told herself, denying just how many times she had imagined something like this, but not quite like this, in recent months.
    He quieted, the fine tremble and twitch of his skin ebbing along with his desire, bringing an odd mix of disappointment and relief.
    With his breath and heartbeat slowing until he would seem almost dead with the advent of dawn, Eliza also gradually relaxed, allowing herself to slip into a half-sleep so that when the time was right she could escape from his bed.
    It was in that slumberous state hours later that she experienced the unexpected stirring beneath her thigh as Adrian roused. It was near dawn and she had not expected him to become active again. Yet there was no denying the erection growing ever larger and more insistent against the soft skin of her thigh. No way to ignore the leisurely journey of his hand along the back of her thigh to cup her ass and urge her closer. Or the way Adrian shifted and continued the journey with that hand ever upward to cradle her breast.
    “Adrian,” she warned and took hold of his wrist, but even as she did so her heartbeat quickened in anticipation.
    He bent his head and whispered along the shell of her ear. “You smell so good. Like fresh laundry in the summer sun,” he said and drew in a long breath. “Feel as soft,” he whispered before strumming his thumb along the tip of her breast, drawing a hesitant sigh from her. “I want to feed,” he said and the rasp of his fangs came along the side of her neck. Her heart skittered in her chest, but he continued his tardy pleasure at her breast, driving away the fear.
    He had fed from her before. Had offered her the vampire’s kiss which had kept her alive for so long. But he had never fed from her while touching her like this, and a part of her worried that she’d lose the rest of her soul to him if they continued along this path.
    “I’ll get you a bag, Adrian,” she offered, shifting away from him, but he spread his hands across her back to keep her close.
    “I want to feed from you, Eliza. Nothing else will do.”
    Before she could reply or flee, he rolled over, trapping her beneath him. He eased her thighs apart and gently probed at her center while he bent his head and suckled her breasts. Bit them gently as he slipped the smooth head of his cock into her vagina and paused, almost as if reconsidering.
    In that moment of hesitation, far shorter than the fastest heartbeat, she understood that no matter what followed she was damned. Better she be damned for following her heart than for being a coward.
    She raised her hips, driving him deeper.
    He moaned like a man in pain and dragged his head up to search her features.
    The bright neon green of the vampire filled his gaze. Razor-sharp fangs protruded past the lips she had imagined tasting for so long. This was the deadly side of Adrian, the side she always found so hard to mesh with the caring and loving man she knew him to be.
    “I will not hurt you,” he slurred, the alcohol still running strong through his veins.
    “I