and tried to calm the intense arousal pumping through her. The smell of cinnamon filled her senses, and moisture flooded her sex. He groaned.
“Jane….” He pulled her tighter against his body. Through his greatcoat, his large erection pressed into her buttocks and back. She struggled, unable to control her body as her sex pulsed. Rubbing her bum back against the large ridge, she craved his phallus filling her. She was doomed to be a wanton.
“Let go of me!” Her voice held no fortitude. She cursed.
He backed up to his horse, muscles tremoring about her. “I will not permit you to drown nor catch your death out here.”
He growled as he placed her in front of the saddle and mounted behind her in a movement so fast she had no time to slide to the ground.
You goose! Where would you go if you did leave? You have no idea in which direction Sudhamly lies. But where did he plan to take her? Not back to that house. If he could handle her like a piece of dust, all five together could squash her. What a terrifying thought! But this man alone….
“What are you about, sir?”
“I’m taking you home.”
“Home?”
“Indeed, back to Tremarctos.”
“That is not my home, sir. If you are going to take me anywhere, please take me to Sudhamly.”
Warm breath tickled her ear. “I have no intention of letting you go anywhere.”
Her body responded traitorously to those words, trembling with longing so strong; the emotion frightened her. Her heart sped, and warmth peaked her nipples. He wanted her with such conviction. Desire and love with Jonathan paled in comparison. The passion of this man’s voice, of his body when he touched her, spoke to her soul. She was too naive to know that such desire existed in the world.
The ridge of his arousal heated her bum through her dress, and she squirmed in his lap, eliciting a groan from deep in his chest.
Indeed, the passions were carnal. She could not befool herself otherwise. If she returned to Tremarctos, this man would do only one thing to her. The act. He would not stop until they joined completely. The flesh of her sex burned; the remembered sensations of this man’s tongue sliding along her sex slammed into her anew.
His warmth radiated along her side, and she shivered, cozying her face into his coat to get away from the rain and closer to his heat, his intoxicating scent. His head rested on the top of hers. His arms circled her as she sat across his lap, rocking to the beat of horse hooves. He protected her from the rain.
His heart beat beneath her ear, the rhythm calmed her body and soothed her own rapidly beating heart. How could the embrace of this man feel so correct? Promise so much? He would surely do just as Jonathan did—bed her and then leave! No man would knowingly, willingly take a fallen woman. A woman who could be carrying another’s child. And he knew of her folly.
Tilting her head up, she tried to see his eyes. Which of the twins carried her. Raw determination and concern etched his face. His cheekbones were all harsh angles, his dimpled chin set in harsh masculinity. He was ruggedly handsome, more so than any man of her acquaintance. Yet he remained not a man. Or he was “more,” as Devon had said. More? He so desperately wanted to keep her. His intensity scared her yet peaked her hopes. She had never experienced desire this all-encompassing from a man. She needed to know his intentions.
“What…what will happen to me if I return with you?”
He didn’t answer and spurred the horse into a gallop. Tremarctos loomed out of the mist, and she squeezed her eyes shut as her head spun. “Please don’t take me back to that place. It frightens me.”
There is no choice. Tremarctos is my home.
He pulled his mount to a halt in front of the great door. A groom came forth and gripped the reins. Grasping her firmly, the twin swung his leg over the withers and slid down, never letting her leave his hold. He strode up the steps and pushed open the door.
“Damned foolish woman.” Devon strode up to them and then down the hall with them. “You will catch your death.”
A violent hiss of warning came from deep within the chest of the twin who carried her, and his muscles clenched possessively about her.
“Back off, Martin. I’m not here to challenge you, and you know it. I was the one who spooked her off. I want to make sure she is well.”
The muscles in Martin’s body relaxed but did not release their possession of her. Martin…. The one with the velvet eyes.
“Pardon, Devon. I can’t control it.”
“I know, you never could. Just try to go easy. Father wants to see you. He said for you to come to his study at once. I think he is afraid of what you and Mac will do. We all felt you use your mind. It was strong. Like nothing we have experienced before.”
Martin grunted.
He and Mac? What did that mean? Mac had touched her at the table this morning, and Martin had burst from his chair.
Would her presence in this house cause a family squabble? Would she come between two brothers? She couldn’t allow that. Family was important, the most important thing. She rolled her eyes. Her own family! She should notify her parents of her whereabouts. But with the rain, how would they get any note she wrote?
“Martin?”
He grunted as he glided up the stairs, taking them three at a time.
“I wish my family to know I’m well and where they can find me. Is that possible?”
He shook his head but said not a word.
Blast! Ma and Pa would be worried sick at this point. Shame on her for not thinking of them before this!
With his shoulder, he pushed open the door and carried her into the same room she had stayed in the night before.
“Martin, I—I need to know more…. I—I can’t stay here not knowing what is in this house. It frightens me.”
His entire body tensed, and his breath blew out between his teeth.
“I will tell you…. You need to know—just not yet. What Devon showed you was enough for the moment. We are all different, us brothers. Devon has the best control of what he is, and he easily showed you by his command. The rest of us are not that way.”
“But—but what of you, Martin? All this is rather odd, and not knowing what you are…unnerves me.”
He nodded tersely. “As you should be.” He deposited her on the large bed and stared at her with heat in his eyes. “Lock all the bolts. I will send up Jerome and Bruno with hot water for you to bathe in.” His gaze assessed her dress, and he frowned. “Please put on the dress I left for you.”
She gasped. “You left that dress for me? How did you obtain it?”
He stared at her with desire, and her knees jumped. Remembering the gift he’d given her the night before, she quivered. He was real. The man who gave her that bliss was real.
