Page 12 of His Darkest Desire

CHAPTER FOUR

The slide of the blanket down Kinsley’s body roused her from a deep slumber. She shivered as the comfortable warmth she’d enjoyed was replaced by the night’s chill. Groaning, she rolled onto her back and reached for the covers, but her hand fell limp as sleep reclaimed her.

She stirred again when the mattress dipped near the foot of the bed, grogginess compounding her confusion. Before she could wrap her sleep-addled mind around what was happening, big, warm hands settled on her legs.

Kinsley remained still as the hands slid up her thighs, raising the hem of her nightgown. Her skin prickled in awareness. As those hands glided higher, her awareness focused on that touch, and heat bloomed low in her belly.

A thousand thoughts raced through her head, but not a single one was coherent enough to understand. This was a dream, wasn’t it? A fantasy? A mysterious lover coming to her in the dark of night?

But something didn’t feel right. This felt…real. The hands upon her felt real.

She forced her eyes open.

The room was darker than before, and the glowing crystals somehow only deepened the darkness. Her memories flooded back. She was in a strange cottage, on a bed with a vine-wrapped canopy.

And someone was touching her legs.

Those hands spread her thighs apart, and the stranger shifted closer to her.

Kinsley looked down. A pair of glowing red eyes stared at her from within a mass of impossibly thick shadows.

She started, yanked her legs away from the intruder, and screamed as she kicked and scrambled up against the headboard. Her hand delved beneath the pillow to grasp the rolling pin, which she dragged out and swung at those unnatural eyes.

The rolling pin halted abruptly before it could reach its target, striking something so solid and unyielding that the impact jolted her arm. Her eyes widened, and her breath hitched as the improvised weapon was wrenched from her grasp, nearly dragging her along with it. She jumped as it clattered on the floorboards and rolled across the room.

“What is the meaning of this?” the red-eyed visitor demanded in a harsh, deep voice. “I have healed you, clothed you, sheltered and fed you, yet this is the welcome I receive?”

Kinsley had heard that voice before. She couldn’t recall where or when, but it was achingly familiar, and she knew she’d heard it.

“Who are you?” she asked as she drew her knees up and pressed her body against the headboard. “What are you doing?”

“I have come to sow my seed.”

To sow his seed?

“What the hell does that mean?”

“Be not obtuse, human.” He grasped her ankle, and though she could not see them in the dark, she felt his long, strong fingers and the pricks of…claws?

She tugged her foot back and swatted at his hand. “Don’t touch me!”

He caught her wrist with a growl and surged forward, slamming his other hand against the wall and caging her in with his body. Kinsley squeaked and pressed herself back, trying to make herself as small as possible. With him so close, she could see nothing but darkness and those glowing crimson eyes, could breathe in nothing but his dominating scent. Oakmoss, amber, and musk. It was heady, masculine. It was pure seduction.

And his heat. After the chill that had crept across her skin, his body heat scalded Kinsley right down to her center. Her nipples tightened and tingled beneath her nightgown, and a familiar shiver of awareness swept through her.

“You will not make demands of me,” he said, voice low and brimming with power, danger, and fury. “We have an accord, and you shall fulfill your obligations to me.”

“Obligations? Wh-what obligations?”

“Are mortal minds truly so fragile, or do you believe me easily deceived?” His hold on her wrist strengthened. Though it didn’t hurt, the potential for that grip to become crushing was quite apparent. “Feigning ignorance will not release you from our agreement.”

Mortal?

“I don’t understand. I…I don’t remember,” Kinsley said, trying hard to keep her voice from quaking.

He caught her jaw with his other hand and tipped her head back so she was staring directly into his inhuman eyes with their slit pupils. “In exchange for saving your life, you must bear my child.”

“What?”

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