Page 5 of Unwillingly His

It would be a challenge at first. I would have preferred a more mature woman.

The young still harbored silly notions like love and happily-ever-after. They talked incessantly about nothing and had no real drive or experience. Spending time with people her age was tedious at best. To have someone young seemed like an unavoidable chore.

But then there was the lure of witnessing her come into her own, as the woman I suspected she was capable of becoming. It would be like watching something at the very moment of creation.

How fascinating that would be.

It helped that I would be the one molding her, training her.

Like the omniscient god so many amusingly suspected me of being.

The gold in her gorgeous eyes glowed with fiery indignation. “You paid the courts off.”

I shrugged one shoulder as I focused on her mouth. “Semantics.”

Tears filled her pretty eyes and spilled down her cheeks. “Why are you doing this to me?”

Leaning so close I could smell the sweet vanilla of her perfume, my lips skimmed her jaw as I whispered into her ear, “Because I have plans for you, pet. Plans that include making you my wife.”

Her golden eyes widened with understanding, or maybe it was more fear. “I will never marry you. Hell will freeze over before I?—”

I cut off her words, pressing my lips to hers.

She fought me for a second, squirming against my hold.

That only made me tighten my grip on her throat and press against her harder.

She needed to learn she could fight me—but she’d never win against me.

Her only option was to submit.

CHAPTER 4

STELLA

Dark, unholy fire ignited in my veins.

For weeks, I had been so cold, as if I were frozen from the inside out.

Sitting by the fire or drinking a steaming cup of tea brought no warmth.

Nothing broke through the chill.

Until his unwanted kiss.

It was wrong. So freaking wrong.

He was an unrepentant, arrogant bastard.

He was twenty years older than me.

He was the devil who’d just stolen everything from me.

But his touch was the only thing that had managed to crack the frigid layer around my core.

With his body pressed against mine, the icy cast covering my skin cracked and broke away.

And when his lips touched mine, it all melted.

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