Page 74 of A Virgin for the Duke of Thorns

But his hand was gently rubbing her back in soothing strokes, and her body was deliciously tired from all their exertion. Maybe she should heed his advice.

Just this one time.

Smiling, she closed her eyes and nestled into his chest. She was his now—as thoroughly as she had wanted.

Why, then, was she feeling greatly uneasy about all of this?

CHAPTER 30

Alice woke up to something warm and wet trailing lightly along her inner thighs. Her eyelashes fluttered open, and she sat up quickly, only for a large, warm hand to grasp her hips gently.

“Shh…” a deep, hypnotic voice soothed her. “Stay still for now. You are going to be quite sore later.”

She frowned and watched as Colin crouched between her legs, cleaning the blood and the fluids from their earlier lovemaking with a soft cloth. His handsome features were smoothed into a most neutral expression, almost as if he was doing some mundane task and not peering between her legs.

Her heart, which had pounded loudly in her chest just an hour or so ago, felt as if it was sinking to the very pit of her belly as she watched him, his movements so methodical that she wondered if this was not the first time he had done this.

He is a Wolf, that insidious voice sang in her head. Heaven only knows how many women he’s bedded—and how many more he has been so solicitous towards after the deed was done.

She pushed up on her elbows, ignoring the stinging pain between her legs as Colin shot her a reproachful look.

“I told you to be still, Alice.”

Alice. Her heart felt cold inside her ribs. Alice, not little lamb.

She bit her lower lip, focusing on the physical pain rather than the colder one that was beginning to seep into her bones.

“Colin?”

“Hmm?” He did not even look up at her.

She took a deep breath. “What sort of woman would you truly like to marry?”

She watched as the hand holding the cloth paused, hovering over her thighs for the span of a few breaths. And then, she heard a sigh that sounded as if it was being wrung from his very chest, dripping with irritation.

“I thought we already talked about this, Alice,” he said, pressing his lips into a grim line. His eyes hardened, as if to tell her that this was not a conversation he wished to have.

Well, how unfortunate! We are going to have this conversation, whether he cares for it or not!

She had already given herself to this man, had surrendered herself to the soul-crushing passion of his kisses. She had offered her innocence up to him on a golden platter, and he had devoured it before her very eyes.

The very least he could do was be brave enough to confront her and all the wild, seething emotion that roiled in her.

“No, really, Colin,” she persisted, her voice taking on a steely edge. “What kind of woman do you envision yourself marrying?”

His eyes were pleading with her when he finally raised his gaze. “Alice, please do not do this. You know I am not good enough for you?—”

The harsh laugh burst out of her mouth before she could stop it, dredging up all the pain and longing and anger that she had been tamping down for the past week or so. All of it brought up in the bitter twist of her lips as she smiled at him.

“I suppose that is your way of saying that you do not want me,” she spat out.

She pushed his hands away from her as tears started scalding her eyes. She held her mutilated nightdress closed to her chest with one hand as she stumbled out of his ridiculously large bed.

Her bed had not been as large as his, and they were both in the guest rooms in the same corridor, separated only by a stretch of hallway. Had he been expecting her to come knocking at his door tonight? Was there any other woman he was looking forward to bedding over the weekend?

Suddenly, that very short distance between their doors seemed endless. It was like they were two people on different sides of the world, when only a short moment earlier, it felt as if their souls had all but melded together.

“Alice, please?—”

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