Page 37 of The Time Of Kings

“No, yes… look, can we just skip this part and go back to kissing.” Naturally after she said this, I let my displeasure be known.

“Let me be certain in this, you are denying me the knowledge of your name, am I correct?” I asked in a firm tone that would have been coated with distain and anger had I been dealing with anyone else.

“I… erm… I don’t like talking about myself,” was her weak excuse, and it was one that would not abide.

I removed myself from the bed, taking with it the temptation to extract all I wished to know by other means. Means that would end up using her own pleasure against her. A sinful act I might have no choice but to indulge in should she continue to think she could keep things from me.

“And what of my own name? For you have not once wished to know of it,” I reminded her, annoyed that she seemed to care little to know it.

“That’s not true,” she argued, making me frown and now questioning her reasons at suddenly being at such ease with me.

“My being Lord here is enough for you then, is that it?”

She jerked back a little as if I had just struck her with the force of the insult and what I was in fact implying.

“That’s not it, I told you that I don’t like talking about myself and…”

I slashed an angry hand down through the air as if it were thick with her bitter secrets.

“So,you are a wanted criminal,”I surmised as being the only reason for her to keep her true identity from me. However, she continued to deny the claim.

“I told you that I wasn’t.”

“It matters not,” I said firmly as I walked towards a decanter and poured myself a drink. She was also quick to follow, making me glance her way.

“What do you mean, it matters not?” she asked in an incredulous tone, as if shocked by this revelation. Did she truly not know who I was? For she was mine now, and any crimes that clung to her past would mean nothing to me. For I would never allow her to be punished for them. Although it did make me wonder what those crimes could be and the severity of them. Because for such a pure soul, one I had easily recognised her possessing, I would have been surprised to discover it was as bad as she believed. Which was why I told her,

“I would protect you no matter what crimes you had committed.”

Her reaction to this was utter shock instead of the relief I was expecting.

“You… you cannot be serious,” she said, shaking her head, and again the sight of her beautiful hair framing her face from the action had me momentarily transfixed. But then this coy game she played with me aroused even more anger and frustration within me. I slammed down the glass before gripping her chin and forcing her gaze to meet the serious one of my own.

“Do I look as though I jest to you?” I rumbled before demanding in a dark tone that brook no argument,“Now tell me your name, girl.”

“Why is this so important to you?” she asked, making me jerk my head back a fraction in shock. Did I hear that correctly?! Well, my answer to such would most certainly put to rest whatever unsure notion she had in her mind about her future. Along with how serious I was about becoming a bigger part of it.

“Because, my dear, I believe it is customary for a husband to know the name of his wife.” Oh yes, now it would sink in. Her eyes became wide, and she turned to jerk from my hold.

“Your wife?”she uttered in a quiet voice of disbelief. Which was why I chose that moment to firm up the claim, so as she could not dispute the choice of my words.

“Yes,my wife…for make no mistake, little thief, that is what you shall soon be,” I said, after bending slightly to look her in the eyes so as she could see the sincerity in my own. Again, the disbelief was easy to read in her beautiful stormy blue depths. But, once more, she retreated, putting the little space I would allow between us before arguing further.

“So, first, you are convinced the only reason I don’t grant you my name is that I must be a criminal, and the next assumption in wanting your lips at my core, is that I must be after your title. That I fancy myself as being the next lady of this castle…?”

Her words hit me like a verbal assault. It had been a long time since anyone other than my own kin would even dare to speak to me in such a manner. So much so that I found myself taking my own step back in light of my astonishment. I didn’t know whether I wanted to kiss the argument from her lips or put her over my knee and sexually punish her like the master of her body I had declared myself to be.

However, in my shock, I merely continued to watch as she took angry strides to the door, pausing long enough to give me what I had been pushing her for.

The gift of her name.

“Oh, and my name is Catherine… My Lord, Dominic Draven.”

However, this parting gesture on her behalf was not to be her last, like she believed. The moment my wits returned, I was quickly out the door and storming down the halls of my castle. Naturally, it didn’t take me long to catch up to my little runaway, nor did it take me long to see for myself the hurt I had inflicted. Not when she frustratingly wiped her tears away before shouting back at me a feeble warning I promptly ignored,

“No, don’t you come near me!”

But this was when I hit my limit on dealing with this unruly woman of mine. I manhandled her in a way I knew she would have little movement to fight me and, therefore, less chance of getting hurt. So, after tossing her up over my shoulder, I banded my arm across her legs to prevent her kicking out like she tried to do.

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