Dare to be Mine (30 page)

In a futile effort to
recapture the tiniest bit of life, he rasped, “Damn you for being so
beautiful,” just before his lips covered hers in a scalding kiss.
Elyssa shoved at him, unable to keep him from halfway covering her with his
body. The panicky thought that her expensive gown would get wrinkled beneath
Daniel's onslaught gave way to more urgent matters and she struggled anew to
prevent his kisses.

Daniel was not to be stopped, however,
and the kiss deepened as his hands tortuously roved over her gown. He tugged at
the partially unbuttoned bodice, his fingers splaying over the exposed part of
her chest, bringing forth a seductive tingling throughout the whole of Elyssa's
body. The traitorous whimper of a long buried passion sounded from deep in her
throat, the shame of it mortifying. Her tongue finally surrendered to his
passionate kisses and she moaned aloud in sweet defeat. The rough velvety feel
of his tongue against hers was exquisite torture.

It was surreal. Like a long forgotten
dream, lying in Daniel's arms with his fingers and mouth bringing her to a
fevered pitch. How ever could she have forgotten the feel of his warm lips upon
her flesh, the mastery of his hands, his hard body?

Releasing her as abruptly as he'd started
kissing her, Daniel dragged Elyssa to her feet. "Do you hear that?"
he asked. Elyssa stared at Daniel in alarm, for his face was wild, his demeanor
untamed, and as he continued to concentrate on a certain sound. Elyssa likewise
strained to hear, realizing what he was talking about.
The
lovely music being performed below stairs, the sound of it barely making its
way up to the second floor.

"Dance with me." He wasn't
asking, Elyssa knew, and as ordered, she mutely put her hand in Daniel's and
proceeded to dance with him. She knew it was mockery.
Punishment.
And still she wanted to melt into his arms. “We never got our wedding dance,
darling,” he whispered against her ear. It was a slow, intimate dance at best,
for Elyssa was acutely aware of every hard angle of Daniel's body pressed
familiarly against her own.

His fingers tangled in her fancy tresses
and it was all Daniel could do to refrain from yanking the silky mass from the
hairpins. If nothing else, so she couldn't return downstairs in the same orderly
appearance she had left with. But rather to look thoroughly plundered.
Altogether sated.
And unable to return to the arms of that
mincing fop, William Harrison, without giving further thought of himself.

Elyssa wondered if Daniel was drunk or
if he'd indeed gone mad, for she'd never seen him in such a state. He was still
the most incredibly handsome man she'd ever seen, but he now possessed an
intense anger which was directed solely at her. As the faint sounds of music
ended, Elyssa tried unsuccessfully to pull her hand away. "Please release
me. I must get back to the ball," she pleaded.

"Back to Harrison?" he bit
out.

A look of confusion marred her features
and Elyssa asked, "You have been spying on me? How long have you been
inside my home?"

Snatching her against his chest,
Daniel's eyes blazed into hers as he replied, "Your home? As if I have no
right here? As if I should simply surrender my legacy, lacking as it is, simply
because you had the foresight to wed a wealthy, older man who ended up dead before
his time?"

"Please, Daniel, you are hurting
me!" Daniel released his tight grip on her arms, though his fingers
tortuously splayed about her waist, rising higher bit by bit as he spoke.

"There is so much to say, I don't
know where to begin, Elyssa." He was pleased to hear her indrawn breath as
his left hand covered a rounded breast, his right hand going about her back to
undo several more of the tiny buttons. His expertise with women's clothing did
not go unnoticed by Elyssa and she commented on it.

"Women much prefer an experienced
man rather than some bumbling oaf,” Daniel replied. “Is that not so?"

"A woman wants to be cherished for
who she is, and experience does not take precedence in matters of the
heart." That they were discussing something so ridiculous during such a
stressful moment did not go lost on Elyssa.

Exhaling a sound of disgust, Daniel
continued his ministrations. Elyssa closed her eyes briefly at the long
forgotten feel of Daniel's romantic onslaughtk hi d f fingers closing over her breast, the delicious feel
of his tongue invading her mouth. Her eyes flew open as Elyssa attempted to
fight his wicked magic.

She was unable to loose herself from his
hold. Indeed, he seemed to revel in her feeble attempts, for it showed he was in
control. For once in the past year, he was finally in command. Even if it was
only temporary, and only if it was exerting control over her body and not
things he couldn't change.

"Let's get back to matters at hand,
shall we?" he rasped, the multitude of buttons undone allowing Daniel to
easily slide the bodice of her gown down to her waist. Elyssa was outraged,
yanking the gown back over her chemise, but Daniel jerked her hands down by her
sides. "I am certain you don't want your lovely gown to become torn during
our...discussion, do you? I would advise you to stop fighting me,
darling."

Against her will, Elyssa left the gown
alone, for the sooner he had his say, the sooner she'd be able to return back
to the party. How long had she already been gone? Ten minutes, fifteen? It
certainly seemed much longer than the few moments she'd actually been gone.

"Now, about your
crime, Elyssa.
You have been a naughty little girl. Do
you wish to explain yourself?" Elyssa thought Daniel was referring to the
wrong she'd done him by not showing up at the wedding ceremony, when in fact he
was talking about the murder of his father.

For all that he'd callously used her for
his own gain, had Daniel actually been genuinely hurt by her abandonment? He
seemed a man whose will had been crushed, whose eyes bespoke of deep pain.
Surely he hadn't actually come to love her a bit, had he? Her expression
growing soft, Elyssa tentatively reached out to nervously rub her hand over his
immaculate jacket. Stuttering a bit at first, she finally managed to reply to
his question.

"I never expected your
understanding or your forgiveness, Daniel. I hoped you would understand after
everything I'd been through."

Slapping her hand from his jacket,
Daniel's gaze grew angry. He could scarcely believe Elyssa conceded to her
guilt in Percy's death. That she was so sure of herself she'd not even seen to
getting rid of the damned murder weapon. That he had done that himself to
protect her, fool that he was. And now she had the nerve to stand there looking
up at him with a trite look of sorrow and feigned innocence on her face.

"Oh, you did it f romantic onslaughtchance secondor us, did
you?" he asked sarcastically.

"At the time I felt it was the
right thing for us both, and I still believe that. Surely you have come to see it
was the only thing I could do."

"You are a cold, unfeeling
bitch," he bit out, turning his back to her. Elyssa's eyes stung with
tears but she forced them back, incensed that he continued to scorn her for
something he was to fault for.

"Is that right?" her trembling
voice asked, though anger quickly took over. Her words were meant to mock his
certainty. To return some of the hurt he was so callously heaping upon her. And
too, his sudden lack of obsession toward her body was instantly a challenge.
How dare he make her feel vulnerable towards him after all this time? How dare
he manipulate her so easily just by looking so damnably handsome, taking only
the sensation of his fingers on her breasts, the feel of his tongue in her
mouth, to destroy all her hard won confidence over the last year!

"I am cold? So frigid and unfeeling
that you snuck into Greystone to spy on me and watch me with another man?
Wanting me but knowing you cannot have me? Do you wonder how many times William
Harrison has made love to me?"

Turning sharply toward her, Daniel
stared at Elyssa in stunned amazement. The woman he thought he knew so well,
had come to love, indeed had wanted to wed,
was
changing before his eyes. But then again, he'd obviously never known Elyssa as
well as he thought he had.

"You heartless
little cunt,” his voice deceptively calm.
“I don't care
how many times Harrison has fucked you, do you hear me? Go on back to your
latest lover. I'll get what I want on my own terms.”

The female scorn in Elyssa craved to
prove him wrong, yearned to make him sorry for the ruthless words he'd spoken
about her, and suddenly Elyssa wanted nothing more in the world to force Daniel
to kiss her. She was not above spiting herself in the process to prove she was
the one with control over him and not the other way around.

He started toward the door to leave but
Elyssa rushed in front of him, holding her arms out to the sides to prevent him
from leaving. Daniel's tolerant look of boredom seemed to convey she could do
nothing to physically keep him from leaving the room.

"You don't wish to dirty your hands
on me?" Elyssa taunted as she lifted her unbuttoned bodice up a few inches
to remind Daniel that he'd just undone her dress. "I vow you could be made
to kiss me before you set one foot out of this room."

A raised eyebrow betrayed his doubt,
though Daniel remained silent. Flicking the thin straps of her lacy chemise
from her shoulders, Elyssa revealed a tantalizing display of flesh. Daniel
didn't flinch. She splayed her hands over his hard chest and felt the
instinctive tightening of his muscles beneath his shirt, a small forced smile
playing sultrily about her lips.

Reaching her tongue out to moisten her
lips, Elyssa slid her arms up about Daniel's neck and she stood on tiptoes to
barely reach his mouth. Feeling a bit awkward, especially trying to seduce a
man that was completely intent on not being seduced, Elyssa's lips did nothing
more than cover Daniel's. She moved her lips back and forth against his but
received no response whatsoever. Pulling back from him for a few seconds,
Elyssa was discouraged to see a look of
I told you so
on his cursedly
handsome face.

With a bravado increasing within, Elyssa
reached up again and leisurely kissed the crook of his neck, the corner of his
mouth, his lips. She briefly touched her tongue against his lips but received
no reaction. All pride threatened to dissolve as Daniel continued to withstand
her female wiles.

A ribbon of humiliation began to further
weaken her resolve, but Elyssa continued on.
If nothing else,
for her own self confidence, which was swiftly melting into oblivion.
Yanking Daniel by the edges of his jacket, she forced him to look down at her
and lifted her mouth to his. Elyssa could swear she felt the slightest
surrender in his warm lips.
But in the end, nothing.

His deep voice interrupted her as the
look on Elyssa's face grew even more determined. "You have the look of an
angel, yet possess the soul of a dark fallen creature. What happened to the
woman I remember?"

A brief look of hurt flashed across
Elyssa's features and she frantically sought to end this farce before she
allowed Daniel to hurt her any further. Placing his hand dangerously near her
breast, Elyssa pulled his head down toward hers and closed her eyes as their
lips met. She parted her lips, breathless with frustration, and greedily sought
to plunder his mouth with her tongue as he'd so often done to her. The forward
action caused Daniel to nearly lose all control.

He wanted to hurt her.
Wanted to curse herIn between kisses, ishi d f.
Wanted to pull her
beneath him and plunge himself inside Elyssa as deep and as hard as he could.
Finally he could withstand her wantonness no more. His tongue ravaged her mouth
as Daniel held her head immobile, his other hand boldly claiming her breast.

Within seconds Daniel backed Elyssa up
against the bed, their mouths still fused in a heated frenzy. Elyssa longed to
feel his hard, warm flesh against her own yet she knew it was impossible, this
insanity she'd begun. She had finally proven Daniel incapable of refusing her body,
yes, but in the process had betrayed her own vulnerability toward him. And if
she were perfectly honest with herself, Elyssa would have admitted that it was
that incredible yearning for Daniel, that overwhelming need to be held within
his strong arms and to feel his mouth upon her own that had first prompted her
foolish challenge.

Daniel's mouth followed suit after his
fingers and his mouth closed over her nipple, tugging at the hardened peak,
satisfied to hear Elyssa panting. His other hand yanked greedily at her gown
and Daniel managed to lift it up to her thighs. The savage look on his face as
Daniel looked tauntingly into Elyssa's eyes made her feel helpless beneath his
touches. In truth, she wanted nothing more than to feel his hardness thrust inside
her, though Elyssa knew she would hate herself afterward.

Inside Daniel was losing his soul to the
warm and too willing body pressed so intimately against his own. Would it
always be this way? Was he forever cursed to remain beneath Elyssa's spell, no matter
that she had stolen everything he'd ever wanted?