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

I have gone out of my way to enable you to continue studying for your degree, you have merely had a change in location. And for the record, if anything this is detainment: not kidnapping.”

“Oh, you can fulfil my needs, can you? Well let me tell you, buddy, I’ve had better.”

“I think you described it as ‘the most mind-blowing orgasms of your life’.” Lucian corrected.

“If you hadn’t noticed, I was trying to get away from you and back to my room, I was just being nice so that you’d let me leave.”

Lucian dropped her hand only to grab her beneath her thighs and heft upwards, walking her backwards so her back bumped against the tall bedpost. She hated the bastard, she hated herself more for the way she immediately wrapped her legs around his waist.

“Don’t lie to me, Katherine, or try to pretend that this fire between us is anything other than exquisite, if you want me to prove it to you again, I’ll gladly do so,” he breathed harshly against her lips.

Katherine’s core was hot with need, she could feel the length of him pressed against her through her running leggings and she wanted him badly. She hated the attraction she felt towards him, the raw and powerful need to fight him with her body.

“Don’t you dare,” she threatened.

“Oh, I do dare, Katherine, I dare to make you scream my name to the heavens when you give me your pleasure.”

Lucian’s eyes were two orbs of dangerous intent and Katherine wanted to dive headlong into something dark and hungry and satisfying with him, but it wasn’t right. She didn’t come to him with the intention of being seduced, she came wanting a fight. She had just never met someone with whom she had clashed with such intensity before and it was utterly intoxicating. She needed to regain her power. Retreat and regroup. She couldn’t win in a battle of desire, he outwitted her every time and she couldn’t deny how much she wanted to give in to him. She needed to back down now and figure out how she could avoid turning into a helpless, little sex kitten whenever she was around him.

Lose the battle to win the war. Katherine told herself.

She shifted her eyes away from his, she couldn’t bear for him to see her defeated.

“Lucian, please stop,” she whispered, the tremor in her voice betraying her weakness.

Immediately she found herself lifted and placed down upon the edge of the bed, she looked down at where he knelt on the floor in front of her.

“Of course, Katherine, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to frighten you, I would never-”

“It’s fine,” she waved a hand dismissing his sweet and genuine concern, afraid that if she looked too deeply into his eyes she’d crack, and heaven forbid, would begin to cry. “I should go. I’m sorry for waking you.”

“You could keep me awake for a hundred years and I wouldn’t mind,” Lucian assured her, rising as she did and following her towards the door.

“Anyway, none of this matters,” she sniffed as she tried once again to brush off their argument and her surrender. “I’ve got my stuff now, so I can get on with my studies.”

“Of course it matters, Katherine, please, don’t walk away, we can discuss this calmly,” Lucian tried to convince her to stay but she knew she had to get out of his company.

She needed to run, not so far as to risk another dragon attack, but enough to help focus her mind on something other than her situation, and other than a man who had her tied up in knots.

“I think I’ve bothered you enough for today, sleep well Lucian.”

“Will you at least join me for dinner tonight? I promise I will keep my mood in check,” Lucian asked. It was a low blow. Katherine knew he had been trying to get her to join him for dinner since they first met, and he was persistent even when he could see she was on the ropes.

“Fine, Lucian. Dinner would be great.”

Her voice held no enthusiasm. She knew what would happen. She would sit down with him, they would argue, get in each other’s faces, and then bam; the sexual chemistry would strike again and she wasn’t sure if she’d have the strength to resist, not when she already knew how good it could be.

“I’ll see you tonight then. Enjoy the rest of your day, Katherine,” Lucian said to her retreating back, she was already putting one foot steadily in front of the other, descending down the dark stairs that led to the great hall.

She crossed the room and pulled on the great doors. They opened for her revealing the misty early afternoon, she looked around and spied a path that led around the side of the mansion and towards a small open patch of land and a cluster of buildings beyond. Katherine closed the doors behind her, shutting out thoughts of Lord Lucian Nightingale, and broke into a jog.

Chapter Ten

Lucian

Lucian couldn’t sleep after Katherine’s visit. He paced to his walk-in closet and threw on a pair of black slacks and one of his standard white shirts. He had pushed her too far, he’d lost his temper in the face of her aggravation and he’d clearly taken the challenge too far. He didn’t mean to break her, but as she had walked away from him with her shoulders slumped, he had cursed his own stupidity. Her spirit was what made her both infuriating and irresistible, and she’d lost it in a blink of an eye.

He didn’t regret his sexual advances, he knew she was feeling the same way. He saw her eyes dilate with hunger, could hear her pulse quicken, and the scent of her arousal had been a drugging aroma that had woven its way into his senses in the most delicious way. But then something had happened and she’d closed herself off from him, locked her fire away leaving him feeling