Wild Passion (3 page)

He was gone.

James wrapped his arms around her waist and lifted
her. In two steps he was at the bed. She gasped as he tossed her to
the mattress, as if she didn’t know this would happen. When he
followed, sinking into her lush body, she didn’t even have time to
protest. His lips locked to hers. She was soft, so damn soft. He
thought only to frighten her, yet when he rested his thumb on her
chin and applied enough pressure that she parted her lips, he lost
control. He slid his tongue into her warm mouth, deepening the
kiss. His cock swelled.

He gave her no time to protest, no time to think
about the ramifications of her actions. James nudged his knee
between her thighs, parting her legs easily. Instead of slapping
him as she ought to, the minx moaned wrapping her arms around his
neck. How often did she break into rooms and offer her wares for a
bit of treasure?

He pushed aside the thought, his hands moving around
her hips and cupping her bottom, bringing her up hard against his
arousal. James could take no more teasing. He’d have her begging
for his touch.

“You smell lovely,” he said, tearing his mouth from
hers and nuzzling her neck. “What is your name?”

“Adel…” His mouth moved down the elegant column of
her neck and her breath quickened. “Adelaide.”

His fingers moved down her shirt, undoing the buttons
and parting the material. Her lovely breasts were pushed high from
her corset.

“Beautiful,” he repeated, pressing a kiss to the top
of each mound.

She shuddered, her fingers slipping into his hair and
tugging restlessly at the strands. James pulled the corset low
enough that a nipple sprung forward, pebbled and dusty pink. With a
grown, he lowered his head, taking the hardened bud between his
lips. Adelaide cried out, arching her back.

As his mouth worked her nipple, his left hand slid
down her body, flipping open the button on her trousers. When his
finger slipped inside her breeches, finding the soft curls, she
didn’t fight him. No, she shifted, restless, almost agitated.

“Will you come for me, my little thief?” he murmured,
leaving her breast and pressing his mouth to hers once more.

His fingers slipped between her wet folds, finding
the opening of her sheath. His finger dipped into her heat. Hell,
she was tight. Adelaide groaned, rocking her hips against him like
she knew exactly what to do, exactly what she wanted. Heated lust
roared through his veins, demanded he take her.

He’d never lost such control. Never felt as if he’d
die if he didn’t have her. Finding the waistband of her trousers,
he yanked the material down to her knees. She sucked in a sharp
gasp of surprise, but he didn’t give her time to recant. James
settled himself between those silky thighs, his erection pressing
to the entrance of her sheath. His body strained with desire,
heated blood pounding through his veins.

“Now, my sweet, you’ll see what happens to beautiful
women who tease.”

“Yes,” she whispered in that husky voice.
“Please.”

He lifted his hips just enough, then thrust inside
her. “Oh dear God,” he whispered, resting his forehead to hers. She
was tight. So damn tight.

Adelaide whimpered and for a brief moment, concern
overrode his desire. Then she arched her back, taking him deeper
and all concern vanished. Lord, she wanted him as much as he wanted
her.

James lifted his hips and rocked into her, thrusting
into her tight sheath over and over again. “Yes, perfect, wrap your
legs around me,” he whispered as she ran her feet over his
calves.

Her head fell back, her eyes squeezed shut as a moan
escaped those perfect lips. “Please,” she whimpered.

When he felt her body tighten, he lost what little
control he had left. James cried out just as Adelaide shuddered,
whimpering her release. Completely spent, he collapsed atop the
woman, sinking into her soft curves. Her harsh breathing whispered
across his shoulder. Dear God, he felt devoid of feeling, floating
in a cloud of pure pleasure. She moved ever so slightly and
rippling desire shook his body. So much for being in charge.

With a groan, he shifted and pulled up her trousers,
buttoning the breeches together. Although his body was almost gone,
his mind remained in charge…barely. James pressed his mouth to
hers, drawing her into a devastating kiss as he grabbed her wrists
and shoved them over her head. She squirmed against him, but he
held her arms tightly behind her. Throaty whimpers escaped her
lips, whimpers that made his entire body thrum with a need he could
barely ignore. She arched her back pressing her pelvis to his. His
erection grew thick and hard once more, pressing painfully to his
trousers.

James was practically lost. He was supposed to be in
control here. Instead, she was quickly taking over his body…his
bloody soul. She groaned against his mouth. It was with a murky
head and protesting cock that he was able to take the tie from his
pocket and wrap it around her wrists, binding her arms together. He
pushed away and stumbled from the bed, his breathing harsh. His
trousers hung low on his hips, his shirt damp with his sweat.

The lust fled and her face became furious as she
struggled with her bindings. “You bastard!”

He grinned. “No, quite legal, I assure you.”

“I will find you,” she seethed, her face flushed as
she scurried from the bed. “I will always find you. You cannot hide
from me. There is nowhere you can go where I would not hunt you
down. I will get what I want.”

The words were ridiculous, yet for some crazed moment
he actually believed her. “Is that so?” He couldn’t say she
frightened him, but she definitely intrigued him.

She growled low in her throat, almost like a cat
hissing. Dark strands of hair had come loose around her heart
shaped face. Her eyes flashed under thick lashes. Lord, she was
beautiful.

A sudden pounding on the door startled both of
them.

“
Monsieur
? Are you well? We heard a loud
noise.”

James tugged at his breeches, pulling them to his
waist. It was then that he noticed the blood. He froze, his heart
pounding. Virgin’s blood?

“
Monsieur?”

James parted his lips to respond and at the same time
reached for Adelaide, intending to slap his hand over her mouth.
Instead, she got to him first. He saw her leg coming, but too late.
Her knee hit his groin.

The pain wasn’t immediate, no, it took a moment, but
when it came…
Shite!
James sucked in a breath and crumbled
to the floor.

Vaguely, he was aware of Adelaide stumbling to the
windows, her hands still tied behind her back.

“Don’t!” he managed to get out between clenched
teeth. She couldn’t possibly be thinking to jump. She wasn’t that
insane… was she?

She lifted her foot, stepped onto the window
ledge.

“Adelaide! Don’t!” Panic flared through him as the
image of her perfect body crumbled on the stone lane flashed to
mind.

“Bloody hell.” He stumbled to his feet, ignoring the
aching pain in his gut and groin, and raced toward her.

Adelaide jumped.

“No!” James screamed.

He fell against the window ledge and looked below.
The ground was empty. Thank God. The scuffle of feet over tile had
him jerking his head left. There, just below, was a small roof atop
a cottage. She skidded and slid across the tile, a small shadow in
the night. As if sensing him, for one brief moment, she paused.
James held his breath. Adelaide glanced back.

Something shifted between them, something in the very
air. An understanding of more to come.

“
I will find you,”
her voice whispered through
his head.
“I will always find you. You cannot hide from me.
There is nowhere you can go where I would not hunt you down. I will
get what I want.”

Reaching the end of the roof, Adelaide jumped into
the darkness.

Through the wave of pain still weaving its way
through his body, James chuckled. She was gone, but he knew he’d
see her again. Hell, he actually looked forward to it.

When she was two and ten Adelaide had been taken to
the closest dress maker where her mother had traded in her best
silk gown in order for Adelaide to have the newest fashion. It was
a dress Adelaide had worn for a year, before she had outgrown it. A
silly waste of money, in her opinion, but
Maman
had wanted
Adelaide to know the life she had once known. After that year,
reduced funds and an active lifestyle had sent Adelaide toward more
manly clothing. After all, it was easier to climb into caves and
race down cobbled lanes at night when wearing men’s trousers.

But not tonight. No, tonight she found herself
wearing a fine dress once more and feeling very much like she had
at twelve… odd. Still, she must dress like a lady in order to sneak
into Lord Emery’s bash. And so she’d slipped through the kitchens
wearing one of her mother’s old gowns. Dresses that had at one time
been lovely, but were now mere reflections of where her mother came
from… a wealthy family who had disowned their daughter when she’d
gotten with child. Dresses they should have sold long ago, and
would have to if she didn’t reclaim her statue.

It wasn’t often that she felt like a woman, a real
woman. And as much as she would have liked to enjoy the fact that
she wore a gown so fine it felt like warm butter, she couldn’t. No.
Because the gown wasn’t truly hers and it was so old that someone
would surely, eventually, notice. The hem was slightly too short,
the bodice slightly too tight and she would never, ever wear mauve.
Yes, her mother had been and still was tiny, but it was the only
gown she’d found that would button.

And this life… this life of wealth and privilege was
not truly hers. Still, she looked well enough to find the shadows
and blend into the potted plants. As long as no woman realized how
ancient her dress was, she should be able to slip in and out
unnoticed. She’d seen this place last night in her visions, a ball
where he would sell the statue. Her anger momentarily interrupted
her nerves. If the man hadn’t been such a cur, she wouldn’t be in
this mess.

Merde.
For years she’d ignored the advances of
men in her neighborhood, men who thought merely because she lacked
money, she also lacked morals. In one night, in one silly moment,
she’d lost her virginity. Not that she had dreams some Prince
Charming was going to sweep her from poverty. Still, her virginity
had been hers and she’d so easily given it away. What made it worse
was the realization that she would most likely do it all over
again.

She moved quietly down the hall, following the sound
of music, avoiding the gaze of passing servants, no doubt wondering
why she was so close to the kitchens. At the doors, her nerves got
the better of her and she paused, letting the image wash over. The
roar of the crowd was almost unbearable. Her pulse raced, her body
trembled with excitement and nerves. The glow of candlelight
softened the image of lords and ladies dancing, conversing,
laughing. A variety of brilliantly dressed women with coifed hair,
flirting with dashing men in black suits. Such a pampered life of
ease. A life her mother once knew. It was like a painting of what
heaven might be. She tilted her chin high in the arrogant manner
she’d seen before from ladies shopping in Paris. She didn’t have
time to stand and gawk.

Swallowing over the lump of anxiety clogging her
throat, she stepped into the room. She didn’t wait for someone to
recognize that she didn’t belong. Instead, she moved around the
perimeter of the room, hiding in the shadows, looking for the best
way upstairs because she knew… had seen… the statue tucked behind a
bookcase in a room on the second floor. She hadn’t a clue how to
dance. She sure as hell didn’t have an invitation, but that didn’t
stop her from attending the ball.

A man strolled by. Adelaide froze.

He smiled, nodded. “Good eve.” And he moved on. She
released the breath she held and continued around the room. How
silly she was! She’d never been so nervous, and she’d dealt with
murderers!

She rested her gloved hand on a marble column and
closed her mind to the festivities before her. Immediately, she
delved into the darkness and for a brief moment and it came.
Flashes…pictures of what would happen. A puzzle she must fit
together. She saw him chasing her, she saw him stopping, watching
in horror as she cradled the statue close and jumped from a window.
And then… then the vision ceased because she either wouldn’t make
the leap or because that was all
he
could see. It was a
chance she was willing to take.

Someone bumped into her, throwing her off balance.
Adelaide opened her eyes, gasping.

“I’m so sorry, I didn’t see you there,” a male voice
said. An older man with silver hair and dark blue eyes looked down
at her with curiosity.

“Tis fine,” she released a shaky laugh, stumbling to
regain her balance. “I’m…”

He reached out to help, his firm, gloved grip resting
on her arm. The moment he touched her, an image flashed to
mind.

A church, the very man before her coming closer…
closer, wrapping his hands around her neck.

Adelaide’s blood went cold. She jerked back, away
from him.

His gaze narrowed. “Are you well? You look pale.”

“
Non,
no. I’m well. Thank you.” She spun
around and dove into the crowds, bumping against guests in her
haste to escape. “Excuse me.”

Her heart hammered madly, threatening to make a mad
leap from her chest. The future wasn’t written in stone, she had to
remind herself. She could change the future, the future could
change. Still, Adelaide couldn’t help but glance over her shoulder.
The man stood there watching her. Fear coursed like chill ice-water
through her veins, a shiver that made her entire body tremble. She
spun back around and her gaze focused on a handsome face, familiar
dark hair…familiar smile…