Escaping The Beast: A Darkhills Romance (The Darkhills Series Book 2) by Elizabeth Greene (young adult books to read TXT) 📕

“Yes, everything is fine,” she stammered, “well, no actually. No, it is not fine.”

“What is wrong?” Lucian’s hands reached out and gently held her arms, pulling her into his room.

His warm strong hands on her skin sent shivers down her spine and she had another embarrassing flashback to how he’d used his hands on her the night before. She found herself sat on the edge of his bed again, the cool silky bed sheets gliding beneath her as she perched there.

“Katherine? What is it?” Lucian’s eyes had lost their sleepy edge and were now looking at her with the patented, Lucian Nightingale, steady focus.

“I’m pissed with you,” she snapped out of her daze and decided it was time to stop beating about the bush with him, professional and polite language be damned.

“You’re pissed off with me? Why, what have I done or not done?” Lucian’s brow furrowed in confusion. Hearing the crude language come from his mouth was a revelation. One that she found she quite liked.

“Because you got someone to go rummaging through my home to bring me my stuff. I told you I wanted to get it myself,” she replied.

Lucian folded his arms across his chest and set his jaw in a hard line as he continued to hold her gaze.

“You are well aware that our contract requires you to remain at Tumbricane for the duration of the term.”

“Yes, but you also told me I could make reasonable requests, and being free to get my things definitely falls into that category.”

“I said I would consider your requests, and I did, then took action to ensure you had what it was you desired while also maintaining the conditions of our agreement,” Lucian replied, “as far as I see it, I have given you no reason to be ‘pissed’ with me,” his sharp jaw raised slightly making him look haughty and too good looking for his own good.

“You’ve had someone go into my apartment, likely break-in, and paw through my personal space, my personal belongings, how can you not see what is wrong with that picture?” Katherine fumed at him, jumping off from the bed and squaring up to him. Echoes from the night before began to flare to life, adrenaline seeping into her veins.

“You said you didn’t want a stranger going through your things-”

“Exactly, but you did it anyway,” she fisted her hands at her sides to resist the urge to poke him in his stupid, infuriatingly perfect chest.

“And I respected your wishes, and you now have your belongings, why do you insist on persisting with this?” Lucian stared down at her. She hated that he could do that.

“How have you respected my wishes?”

“You didn’t want a stranger going through your personal effects, so they didn’t. I collected your belongings for you,” Lucian placed his hands on his hips once more.

“What?” Katherine spluttered “You got my things? You, Lord of the Manor, drove five hours to the city, broke into my apartment, grabbed my stuff, and then drove five hours back- all before sunrise? Come on Lucian, I’m not an idiot.”

“I have never thought you to be an idiot. And yes, this Lord of the Manor drovethree and a half hours to the city, did not break in but was let in by your housemate, gathered your belongings, and drove the three and a half hours back, before sunrise,” Lucian ground his teeth in frustration, his voice rising as he continued.

“And then do you know what this Lord of the Manor did? He checked the doors were left unlocked for you so you could explore the grounds as you so wished, he wrote you a letter to re-iterate his most sincerest apologies for the events of last night that could’ve been avoided if he had not been so absent-minded, and finally, finally he went to sleep because after all of that, and let us not forget getting into a fight with a dragon, he was bloody tired.”

“OK, a couple of points I’d like to pick up on there,” Katherine stood her ground, cocking her hip to one side, “One: you cannot drive to the city from here in three and a half hours; I’ve driven it, so I know-”

“You can if you’re not driving an economy rental,” Lucian argued back.

“I wasn’t finished,” Katherine pressed her finger to his lips and received a low growl of frustration in return. She didn’t care, for all his huffing and puffing she knew he wouldn’t hurt her. “Two: my housemate wouldn’t have let you into my room so you must’ve broken in, and finally you, a stranger, went through my stuff which remains a massive invasion of my privacy.”

“Actually your housemate did let me in,” Lucian took her hand away from his mouth and held it against his chest, pulling her forward, “in fact, she was especially useful in helping me gather your things, in particular packing your more intimate items of clothing as I knew you would not wish for me to rummage through such things, as you so put it. Not that it would even matter because as you are well aware, you and I are far from being strangers.”

“How are you not a stranger?” Katherine scoffed indignantly.

“I believe I stopped being a stranger to you the moment I brought you to climax twice last night,”

A blush rose up over her face, burning her hotly.

“So? Plenty of people enjoy casual sex, have one-night stands,” she stammered back, refusing to back down.

“Is that what you enjoy, Katherine?” Lucian asked, his eyes heating.

“Sometimes,” she admitted, “it helps to satisfy a need, and I don’t have time for a boyfriend, I’ve got plans, plans that you have disrupted by kidnapping me,” she bit out, shoving her face forward to meet his.

“If you have needs, Katherine, I have already proven that I am more than capable of fulfilling them. I am not keeping you from your plans,