Heart of Darkness (17 page)

“And Jaegar wants the ring for exactly the
same reason as you? Because of the legend?”

Wolfe nodded. “A child fused from both light
and dark...it is found in one of our most ancient of texts. The
resultant babe will neutralize all difficulties for their parents.
For example, I know that during the night you can heal
yourself...tonight is a case in point. But during the daylight, is
your power not stronger?”

Hesitantly, she murmured, “Yes, that's true.
Tomorrow, I shall need to sit in the sun for a while to recharge
myself. I-I, earlier on, I fell from rather a high floor and I know
that it almost killed me. I can only thank God for the ring,
because had I not had that on my finger, I would have died. Then I
had to use the healing power a few times more and I could tell that
it had almost dissipated entirely. At nighttime, I can hold the
most basic of disguises.”

“Tis not a disguise. Tis simply glamor.”

“Glamor? That sounds very Sidhe,” she replied
with a faint smile.

“Tis what you are, Isabeau. You have more
powers that you have yet to explore. We're all talented in certain
areas. I, for example, can control animals. I can communicate with
the magical beasts, such as the griffin that took a fancy to you
but I cannot control him. I can also, rather frustratingly, command
light. The lights that bob around the castle are fueled by my
power. There are myriad other talents in my arsenal. But they are
at their peak strength, during the night. At day, I must sleep. It
is the same for you, only in the reverse.”

“Why was it vital that I'm untouched?”

“I suppose it is following the legend of pure
soul and heart to the letter.”

“And it did not matter to you?”

He laughed roughly. “That is one of those
questions, Isabeau, that damns me however I answer.” He hesitated
and then spread his hands out as though weighing his response. When
he eventually replied, Wolfe's voice was hoarse. “I have reached
the stage, Isabeau, where desperation rides me. To be born like
you, of the glorious light...” he sighed and bowed his head. “...To
be made into the dark, is a torturous and painful process. One that
attacks me every night of the week. I find that I'm willing to do
anything to cure myself of something that was forced upon me. I'm
apologetic that it affects you, but all I can do is promise that I
do you no harm and that I will eventually care for you and the
babe.”

Slowly, Isabeau nodded and murmured, “All
right, Wolfe. I shall help you.”

The change that overcame his face was
miraculous to behold and she sighed as she realized it was a
saddening mixture of relief, hope and desperation. Never had she
seen something so emotive on a man's face and to see it now, on a
man that she could easily love, one who was strong enough to tame
her, was almost heartbreaking. When before, she'd been hidden
behind her safety nets, this one emotive expression had tumbled her
one step closer to the very edge of falling for him.

Quietly, he said formally, “I thank you,
Isabeau.”

His fingers twiddled with the lobe of his ear
as he spoke and it seemed to suggest that he was almost
disbelieving of her affirmative response.

Unsure of how to reply, of what would be
appropriate for her to say, she quietly answered, “You're welcome.”
Nervously, Isabeau added, “You may kiss me if you want.”

His head shot up but she diverted her eyes
anxiously from his. “Something that surprises me about this entire
situation and...I suppose I should not even mention it, but it is
the truth. And that is one thing that I seem to be able to provide
you with...But I find you very attractive Isabeau. The Sidhe are a
beautiful race, it is a part of our make up. But in this case, you
are genuinely a beauty.”

“You do not need to compliment me,
Wolfe.”

“I know. But I suppose I'm just inferring
that I shall enjoy what happens between us and I shall endeavor to
please you. That I promise, Isabeau.”

The words made her smile a little. “I shall
hold you to that promise, Wolfe.”

“I'm surprised that you can laugh about this.
I'm about to rob you of your maidenhood. Does that not cause you
fear?”

Isabeau laughed scornfully and raised her
arms from the armrests on the club chairs and wrapped them about
her waist. “Although I did not see their bodies, I watched my
parents' home being razed to the ground. I watched as everything I
had ever known...love, security, trust, comfort,
affection...suddenly disappeared and overnight, my entire life, the
entire structure of my life, shifted on its axis.

“If there is one thing I have learned, it is
that I live to my own dictates and not to those of society. Had I
been a regular debutante, although my parents would never have
forced this kind of marriage upon me, countless other young ladies
will have had no decision in their future spouse. They might be
bound by the laws of matrimony, but it is rape nonetheless. This is
not rape, Wolfe. I-I want you and I hope that you want me.” She
ducked her head at that last sally.

“May I show you how much I want you?” he
asked gruffly

Slowly, she raised her head and laughed a
little. “You may,” she allowed, with a soft smile.

He stood and held out a hand, and when she
gripped her fingers about his, he bowed low over it. She laughed a
little as Wolfe then tugged her to her feet and when she was
standing, she curtsied as her mama had taught her.

With a small smile on his face, he led
her out of his mother's salon and returned them to her bedroom.
Perhaps she should have felt fearful, or frightened, but she
didn't. She felt almost as though she were in control here. If
these Milesians
and
this
Jaegar were after her, then she would at least prefer to lose her
virginity here, to a man that she at least found attractive than to
the ogre that Jaegar might be. Or the hideous entities that were
the Milesians. Simply losing her maidenhood to one of they would
have entirely stuck in her craw. There was no way she could bed any
member who belonged with the group of people who had killed her
parents.

He opened the door for her and she stepped
into the bedroom and calmly walked over to the bed. She perched
behind there and waited for him to step forward. Although there was
anxiety in the air, it wasn't fraught with the nerves a woman more
than likely experienced on her wedding night. It was different. She
supposed it was simply the tension that came from an overactive
brain!

As he strode towards her, she admired his
masculine beauty and the perfection of his form. It would be no
hardship to revel in his body and have him, revel in her own.

Licking her lips, she imagined removing that
shirt and exploring the flesh beneath. Soon, she would not have to
imagine, it would be reality.

Huskily and with a confidence that she did
not truly feel, she ordered, “Take off your jacket and shirt.”

He cocked an eyebrow and did not obey her
dictate. Instead, he stopped just before her bed and then complied.
Slowly, he shrugged out of the tightly fitted jacket and then,
unraveled his cravat. When he lifted the linen shift over his head
and she saw the expanse of skin beneath, her heart shuddered. With
hesitant hands, she lifted them and rested them on his belly.
Inspired, when his muscles tensed, she leaned forward and pressed a
kiss to the central line of muscle that were gathered there.

A slight laugh had his belly shifting and
moving against her mouth. “Are you sure you are a maiden?” Wolfe
asked huskily and then let his hands tug and gather the thick and
copious waves of her thick, red hair. He swept it to the side and
bared one of her shoulders. The tips of his fingers trailed along
the length of her throat.

“Are you casting aspersions on my honor?” she
asked, her voice mock-annoyed, but her lips were smiling. “I
challenge you to a duel.”

He laughed and she was sure that this was one
of the first times, in her presence anyway, that Isabeau had even
seen him truly amused! The emotion literally transformed his face.
From a sardonic and somewhat demonic cast, to a vivacious and
masculinely beautiful one.

If she had found him attractive when he was
the former, then she certainly found him attractive as the
latter.

He bent down and her eyes caught the
delicious play of muscle along the length of his torso. Never
before had she seen a man's flesh in this stunning display of
nakedness. Before she could explore him further with her gaze, his
mouth caught hers and instantly, Isabeau was swept away in
something that was completely beyond her control.

The slow beat of her heart and the steadiness
of her breathing became a thing of the past. Instantly, she felt
her body's increase in exertion as she reveled in his mouth and he
in hers. His tongue gently lathed the silken expanse of her lower
lip and the sensation was so magical that a slight shudder rushed
through her. She blew out a gentle breath that parted her mouth and
he took immediate advantage. The slippery muscle entered her mouth
and brushed tauntingly against her own tongue.

Swallowing a little convulsively, Isabeau
shuddered at one of her first tastes of an intimate touch. The very
delicacy of his kiss ensured her cooperation more than anything
else. Perhaps she had swiftly decided to comply with Wolfe's
wishes, perhaps it had been rather impulsive, considering he had
kidnapped her and held her against her will, but...

Inwardly, she groaned. It always came down to
the but.

To say that something inside him called
to her, seemed rather simplistic. Childishly facile even,
but
there was something that
did
call to her.

It may have been the fact that they shared
the loss of their parents through the hands of some mad group of
people who despised the Sidhe.

It may have been that he had told
her
why
her parents had died.
That in itself came as some sort of relief. For years, she had been
fleeing someone or something...yet had been entirely unaware as to
why!

It may have been simply because they now
shared the same blood. Sidhe. She finally knew what her powers were
and that was also thanks to him.

Perhaps it was the fact that his story simply
touched her. That he'd lost people he needed at far too young an
age then been...Isabeau did not even know how to describe it. He
had suffered more than torture. He'd been irreversibly altered into
something that he wasn't. It was akin to...she shuddered at the
thought of what he'd been through.

For all these reasons, and more, she accepted
his kiss and his touch. She reveled in the hands that cupped her
breasts through the thick velvet of her dress and because she
hungered for him and wanted him, she quickly pushed the bodice down
and let him touch the never-before-exposed flesh.

Immediately, she quivered. As his hands
pressed against the swollen nubs of her breasts, as they tweaked
and rubbed them, quivers of fire swam through her and exposed her
to another side of her nature that she had never even known
existed.

He pressed her back against the bed, and she
let him. There was nothing here that she wanted to run from.
Nothing that frightened her. She relished the possessive drag of
his tongue against hers, moaned in pleasure and affirmation as he
cupped her ankles and slowly dragged his hands along the length of
her calves. He gently and slowly but surely spread her legs and
moved in between them.

Her back was now pressed against the
eiderdown and as his own weight was added to hers, she was
enveloped by its cushioning bosom. She welcomed the press of his
hips to hers. Indeed, more than welcomed. A part of her felt
thrilled and the other, desperately voracious. He had taken her
somewhere that she had never before experienced and she wanted
more. Hungered for it dangerously.

When his chest was a leaden weight against
her torso, she moaned as her breasts were squashed indecently
against his. His mouth literally ate at hers and she merely added
fuel to the fire. Inwardly, she knew that the moans and whimpers
that escaped from her throat merely deepened his own hunger for her
and enticed him all the more.

Perhaps he'd expected a frightened virgin and
was shocked by her reaction, but even though her innocence
remained, she had been forever altered by her experiences the four
years past.

Her arms tightened about him as her hands
explored the silken expanse of his back. His own fists gripped her
thighs and pressed them to his muscled hips. When she began to
wiggle against him, the friction was so delicious that she almost
cried out from it. It powered through her, setting her alight in so
many ways that it seemed impossible.

Her hips began to rock against his and she
gasped as he released her mouth and began to suckle at the exposed
skin of her throat. She felt his tongue and teeth there and groaned
as he sucked and she knew there would be a mark there. Perhaps it
would brand her as his whore, but she cared not.

She pressed a hand to his head to keep him
there, the sensation his mouth wrought in her body with this gentle
suction amazed her. So powerful was it, that she almost did not
hear the knocking at the door. Only when he stopped, when he kissed
her and touched her as though to soothe rather than to incite, did
she realize that he was leaving.