The Dare Collection April 2019. Nicola Marsh

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      ‘What are you, a toddler?’ His expression turned thunderous. ‘This area is private and I told you it was out of bounds. What made you think you could just come up here and start looking around?’

      Another wave of defensive anger went through me, his tone reminding me of the way Dad would berate me for my behaviour, telling me I was an insult to my mother’s memory.

      It never failed to hurt me.

      ‘You patronising asshole,’ I said, stung. ‘Don’t call me that.’

      ‘I’ll call you anything I damn well please. Especially if you’re poking about in places that don’t concern you.’

      ‘Yeah, I know,’ I shot back. ‘I said I was sorry. I was just curious about you, okay?’

      He went quite still, like a big predator spotting prey, a kind of electricity gathering around him that made something inside me pulse with excitement despite my anger. ‘Curious about me?’

      My mouth had gone dry, my quicksilver emotions changing in response, the anger beginning to fade, excitement building. ‘I wanted to find out more about you.’

      ‘What more?’

      ‘I don’t know.’ Another blush heated my cheeks. ‘Anything really.’

      He leaned down, his face inches from mine, his astonishing blue eyes filling my vision. And I could smell his scent again, warm and sexy and masculine. ‘If you’ve gone through my stuff, there’ll be hell to pay.’ He moved his muscled body closer, his heat surrounding me. ‘I’m sorry about the toddler thing, but understand me: I wouldn’t allow my brothers up here, let alone the daughter of my enemy.’

      My breath hitched.

      He was so beautiful and I stared, my anger forgotten.

      The sharp angle of his jaw was made even sharper by the faint black line of his beard and his cheekbones were to die for. The blade of his nose was straight, though I could see a few faint scars bisecting one eyebrow, scar tissue pulling at the corner of one eye.

      It was a fascinating face. One that contained secrets and mysteries.

      His black lashes were thick, a perfect frame for those startling pale blue eyes and the anger glowing in the depths of them.

      I didn’t look away. I couldn’t. ‘I didn’t go into your things, I promise.’ God, I wanted to touch him again. To feel his hot skin and the prickle of his beard against my fingertips. ‘I only looked and then I...had to go smell your clothes a little.’

      He blinked. ‘Smell my clothes?’

      I wasn’t embarrassed any more, not now he was right in front of me, overwhelming me with his physical nearness. A bomb could have gone off behind him and I wouldn’t have noticed. ‘What can I say? You smell nice.’ Somehow, without my conscious control, my hand was lifting, my fingers brushing along his jaw, the delicious prickle of his whiskers against my fingertips. ‘And...you feel nice too.’

      Ajax became statue-still. You’d think I’d shot him rather than simply touched him.

      I shouldn’t be doing this. I should control myself better, especially when I’d already made him angry by intruding on his privacy.

      But I couldn’t make myself stop. My fingertips grazed the sharp plane of his jaw, the feel of his skin sending short, intense pulses of excitement through me. This was so new, so different. It was wondrous.

      The anger in his eyes changed, becoming something hotter. Brighter. ‘What are you doing?’ His voice was strange, deep and oddly husky.

      ‘Touching you.’ Helplessly, my gaze dropped to his fascinating mouth and I brushed the curve of his bottom lip. My God. It was so soft. Who knew there could be something soft about Ajax King? ‘Is that okay?’

      He was so still and he was staring at me so fixedly.

      Perhaps he didn’t want this. Perhaps he didn’t like it.

       Control yourself, girl. You’re an embarrassment.

      Dad’s voice echoed in my head like a warning and a part of me curled up in shame. Yet that wasn’t enough for me to take my hand away.

      He was fascinating, addictive. A temptation too great for me to resist and it had been so long since I’d touched another person, so long since I’d had any physical contact with anyone at all, and I ached. I’d been so isolated and I was so lonely.

      This was my chance to take something for myself.

      Every other woman got to choose their own partner so why couldn’t I?

      ‘Stop,’ Ajax said in that strange voice.

       Remember what happened the last time you made a choice.

      Yes, I remembered. Cam.

      The shame inside me grew larger. ‘I’m sorry.’ I snatched my hand away and looked at the floor. ‘I didn’t mean to touch you. I should have asked or something. I’m not very good at—’

      ‘Look at me, Imogen.’

      I took a breath and looked, the note of command in his voice irresistible.

      The heat in his gaze nearly flattened me.

      Desire burned in his eyes. He liked me touching him. I could tell.

      My breath caught.

      ‘It’s not that I don’t want you to touch me,’ he said roughly. ‘It’s that you shouldn’t. And you know why.’

      Of course I did. The whole virginity thing.

      ‘But...you can kiss me, right?’ I stared up at him. ‘Dad wouldn’t know if you did.’

      ‘No,’ Ajax murmured. ‘No, he wouldn’t.’ His attention drifted, falling to my mouth. ‘But what I want doesn’t matter.’

      That puzzled me. Why would he think that what he wanted didn’t matter? And what did he want anyway?

      ‘Doesn’t it?’ I asked. ‘Why not?’

      Somehow he was closer than he had been a moment ago, though I hadn’t seen him move. He still had his hand wrapped around my arm and I was so aware of it I was sure I could feel every line of his fingerprints on my skin.

      He didn’t answer, his gaze lifting to clash with mine again.

      There was a pressure in the air around us, the relentless build of attraction getting stronger and stronger.

      ‘Please,’ I heard myself say. ‘I’ve never been kissed before. Not properly. And I... I’d like my first proper kiss to be with someone I want.’

      He stared at me another long, aching second.

      Then he closed the gap between СКАЧАТЬ