Rake Beyond Redemption Read Online Free PDF Page B

motives other than it was what he wished to do more than anything on earth, he bent his head and took her lips with his. Soft, inviting, at first the merest whisper of a caress. And the sweetness of her took him aback, flooding through his veins, awakening every male instinct. In reply his mouth changed from gentle invitation to dominant demand.
    Marie-Claude knew she should resist, remonstrate— what was she doing? —but could not. The slide of thathard mouth over her lips, with such unexpected delicacy, stirred shivers over her skin. When the pressure deepened, when she felt the forceful sweep of his tongue over her lips, she did not hesitate but, her will shattered, she let them part against his shocking insistence. Her heart fluttered like a trapped bird.
    Whilst Zan’s blood raged. His body responded, his need hard against her as he held her fast. Whatever lay in wait for him in the uncertainties of his future, she was his. His mouth ravaged, his tongue tasted, seduced then plunged as her lips failed to withstand his assault. She was his, now, always. No one would stop him…
    When he felt her sigh softly against his mouth he raised his head, drawn back into reality. His smile was a little twisted, but his hands still gripped firm.
    ‘I suppose I must now listen to you condemn me for my ungallant conduct.’
    But her eyes were glorious, sparkling with life. Her reply, her reaction, startled him.
    ‘I liked it.’ A twist of her hand to free it from his and she lifted it to touch his cheek with her fingertips. ‘I should not, I dare say, but I did. My sister would say that no good can come of it. Do you suppose I shall regret it? I doubt it. Unless you are planning to seduce me, to steal my heart and break it.’
    So she would flirt with him.
    ‘You think I would seduce you?’ An audacious lift of a brow. ‘Do you think I am a libertine?’
    ‘I don’t know.’
    ‘A rake?’
    ‘I don’t know that either.’
    ‘If I was either, you should not be here alone in this room with me. Will you take the risk?’
    ‘I must.’ Marie-Claude smiled. ‘I seem to have lost my will-power along with my wits.’
    Zan inhaled sharply. ‘Many hereabouts would say you’d be foolish to trust me.’
    ‘You’ve given me no reason not to trust you. I would have been regretful if you hadn’t kissed me. Does that make me too forward again? I’m afraid it does.’
    ‘It makes you a delight. It makes you all I’ve ever dreamt of in a woman—’ What was he saying? Zan closed his mouth like a trap on any more revelations before the control of his thoughts and words broke entirely. ‘Where are you staying? I presume you are visiting. Where do I take you home?’
    ‘There’s really no need.’
    ‘I wish it.’ Once again he pressed his lips to hers, all his senses overpowered by her instant response when she slid her hands around his neck, lacing her fingers in his hair to draw him closer. He groaned softly against her mouth. ‘I don’t want to let you go, but I must. Tell me where…’
    ‘Not far. Take me to Lydyard’s Pride.’
    The Pride!
    It was like the echoing clang, discordant and ill fated, of a death knell. The name was like an arctic blast to chill the heat in his blood to ice. Or perhaps it was a searing fire from the depths of hell to blast and destroy the flame of his desire.
    Zan encircled Marie-Claude’s wrists and pulled her hands slowly from around his neck, trying to ignore the skittering of her pulse. Why did it feel as if a bottomless black void had appeared before his feet? And equally in his chest where his heart had been?
    Whilst Marie-Claude could only marvel at the effect of her words. This man who had kissed her with passionwas now regarding her from a distance of his own making, with some species of stark horror.
    What had she said?
    ‘Lydyard’s Pride?’ Zan heard his voice, bleak as the cliffs in a winter’s gale, dreading the reply.
    ‘Yes. The house on the cliff…’
    ‘I know