Page 59 of Seducing the Knave

“Aye, sir,” an unseen male replied as Max continued toward Elle with a look of barely contained fury.

She had no time—no presence of mind, really—to do anything but gasp as he wrapped a large hand around her wrist and stalked past her to pull her forcefully along behind him back to the landing.

Once she got her breath and her wits back, she began to resist, pulling and twisting her arm in futile attempts to free herself. As a panic claimed her, she started saying whatever came to mind. Requests to wait and let her explain, promises that she’d never leave the room again, pleas to slow down.

But then, as he utterly ignored her, she began to get angry.

He had no right to treat her in such a way.

By the time he tugged her back through the double doors into his bedroom, she was actually quite furious.

As soon as his grip on her wrist lessened the tiniest degree, she wrenched free. For a second, her intended accusations got lost as she noted his dark and threatening visage. The pure power and intensity that fairly vibrated through him were enough to stop her breath.

But then pride rose gratefully to the fore and she lifted her chin to shake the tousled fall of curls out of her face. “How dare—”

“How dare I?” he interrupted sharply, kicking the door shut behind him before taking a menacing step toward her. “Are ye seriously gonna try that with me, princess?”

Doing her best to hold her ground though she suddenly had no idea what he might do, Elle stared him down. “You cannot treat me in such a way.”

His eyes narrowed to slits. “Ye weren’t to go beyond those doors.”

Though her nerves were all on high alert, Elle wasn’t exactly frightened by Max’s manner. He might have been a bit rough and rather forceful just now, but he hadn’t actually hurt her. And she honestly didn’t believe he would.

Despite the air of danger that seemed to constantly surround him, in the short time she’d been in his company, she’d witnessed Max using violence three times now—against Jasper’s men, against the highwaymen, and just now. In the first two instances, he’d only resorted to such methods when it had become absolutely necessary and hadn’t used more force than needed. She was inclined to believe he wouldn’t have beaten the man she just saw unless it had been warranted.

But as he took a long, silent stride toward her, a ripple of panic expanded within her.

Because it wasn’t violence or anger she saw in his eyes so much as hunger. It reached past every defense, every spark of good sense, to twist through her blood, staking a claim upon her that she feared she’d never escape.

Her heart rate quickened. Her breath was too short, too erratic, too shallow. Her blood raced hotly through her veins. And her belly twisted and fluttered when she met his glinting gaze. He stood right in front of her now. His presence, looming and powerful. Dark and sensual.

In an attempt to hide her unruly reaction, she stiffened her spine and lifted her chin to a haughty angle. “I took a little walk. I don’t see how...”

“Ye broke the terms of our deal, luv,” he growled in interruption.

His eyelids lowered over his glinting stare. The muscles along his jaw tensed and his mouth curled with a subtle, frightening perceptiveness. It was a look similar to that threat of menace he could so easily and suddenly portray, yet threading thickly through it was a rich tendril of sensual promise.

It reached for her and wound through her like a sinuous snake. Twisting and turning around her resistance, just as his gaze slowly slid over her body.

“I...”

She had nothing to say. Not when his attention suddenly flew to her lips and that wolfish gleam flared in the depths of his gaze. Not when her core melted in reaction, flooding her body with liquid heat...and breathless anticipation.

His voice dropped to a husky murmur. “Which means I’m no longer bound by me word.”

He roughly shoved his hand into her loose curling tresses to palm the back of her head and dropped his mouth to hers.

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