Page 69 of A Virgin for the Duke of Thorns

But Colin was a Wolf, and in his eyes, she was probably no different from all the other women he had had before her. It hurt her, but Alice knew that she must part with him before the damage grew greater.

Before it became irreparable for both of them.

“I… I am glad that you understand,” she finally choked out.

“Oh, I can understand your dilemma quite well.” He stepped around her, his narrowed gaze on her. “After all, your main purpose for this betrothal was to find a more suitable match, was it not?”

Alice frowned, taking a step back. “That is not what I was saying?—”

He reached out and tilted her chin up so that she would meet his fierce gaze. “Oh, I know very well that I may not be the sort of husband you had in mind. So… who is it, then? Who do you think would be better than me?” He paused and allowed a feral smile to tug at his lips. “Ethan, perhaps?”

“You are mad!” She choked on her nervous laughter, backing towards the door as she looked at him with wide eyes. “You must be going insane!”

He stepped towards her, his long legs eating up the meager distance she managed to put between them. “For you,” he breathed hoarsely. “Yes, I am mad. For you, Alice.”

Her back hit the door, and she looked up at him, his eyes glazed with lust as he devoured her with his gaze alone. She felt her body heat up with that look, felt herself coil and uncoil, felt the pulsing and the beating and the fierce, fierce longing to feel his hands on her once more.

He braced his hands on either side of the door as he stared at her, his pupils dilating until she could hardly see the blue in them.

“I am going insane with want, and I cannot stay away any longer,” he rasped against her cheek. “I am going to make you mine tonight, little lamb. Just for tonight.”

“You—”

Her words were cut off when his mouth crashed onto hers in a fierce kiss that stole her words and breath away. She threw her arms around him as the passion she felt for him razed all sense and logic to the ground.

She kissed him back in wild abandon, her blood singing as his tongue thrust into her mouth. His muscled body pressed against hers, caging her between his hardness and that of the door.

She moaned into the kiss, her fingers spearing into his hair as she pressed herself closer to him. She had been longing for this ever since he had touched her so intimately in his study, had wanted him to touch and brand her in a way that only he could. Wanted him to imprint himself on her until there was no doubt that she was his.

Breathless, they gazed at each other, acknowledging the wild passion that flared hot and white between them.

“Just for tonight,” she murmured.

He smiled at her, pulling her flush against his hard body, his fingers digging into the soft flesh of her hip.

“Just for tonight.”

CHAPTER 28

Just for tonight.

Those words echoed in his brain as he reached for her, this woman in his arms who had been like a fire in his blood ever since she had crashed into his life. Her silken locks brushed his fingers, tumbling over her shoulders in a portrait of artless seduction. Her lips were still swollen from his kiss, her eyes glazed with lust as she looked at him.

Colin had never seen anyone so breathtaking.

He drew her in for another kiss, smothering the soft mewls she had begun to make, swallowing them whole as he savored the taste of her lips moving against his, of her tongue learning to tangle with his own.

Bedding virgins had never appealed to him in the past. He preferred his women to have some experience in matters of the bed. But Alice, with her eagerness and untutored passion, stoked a different fire within him, one that burned hotter, fiercer, brighter than he had ever imagined.

Even then, he found that his desire for all other women had waned drastically after he became a duke. He had all but become a celibate monk until he met her.

Alice.

Her name was a song in his blood. It was the rhythm to which his heart beat.

Alice. Alice. Alice.

He felt her press herself against him and nearly lost his fragile grip on his sanity. Did she have any idea just what she was doing to him? For all her inexperience, she certainly possessed an innate skill in driving him to the brink of insanity.

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