With This Kiss

 
    One
    C olin stood in the corridor, leaning against the opposite wall with his arms crossed. All his male beauty struck her like a blow in the face, and she cried, recklessly, “You can’t stop me!”
    His hands shot out and unerringly caught her shoulders. “Yes, I can.”
    She began to wiggle, and realized how stupid that was. “Colin, I must beg you to allow me to leave. I need some time alone. I have to think, to decide what to do next. If you would simply forget the events of the day, I would—”
    “I would surmise this is your bedchamber?” he asked, cutting her off. Then he let go of her right shoulder and pushed the door open behind her.
    She stumbled backward, dropping her traveling bag. “Let go of me!” At least she didn’t feel like crying any longer. Instead, she found herself contemplating how hard she would have to shove a blind man in order to make an escape over his fallen body.
    One glance at Colin’s wide shoulders, and this idea fell by the wayside.
    “Lead me to the bed,” he said grimly, kicking the door shut and stepping forward again.
    “I will not!”
    He pushed, and she stepped back again. “If we’re going to stumble into the chamber pot, you might want to warn me,” he said, without a glimmer of humor in his voice.
    There was something wild about Colin that she had never seen in the disciplined young officer who paid visits to her parents. He hadn’t shaved that morning, and his face was dark with stubble.
    Even blindfolded, the set of his jaw expressed raw determination. He looked like a pirate, a man who would take what he wanted without regard for the consequences.
    “No,” she cried, trying to sound authoritative. Despite herself, her knees went weak at the sight of him. He looked like a hunter focused on his prey. She was stupid, stupid , to think that was attractive.
    He crowded her again and she stepped backward once more, retreating before him until her knees struck the back of the large bed.
    “Stop it!” Grace shouted, even as he picked her up and placed her on her back. “You have no right to try to do—whatever it is you are doing.”
    She twisted toward the far side of the bed, and for a moment she was escaping, but then he surged forward, pulled her back, and pinned her down. He was looming over her on his hands and knees, his hair falling over the bandage, his features so beautiful that her hand rose in the air toward his cheek before she snatched it back.
    “Why have you changed your mind about marrying me?” he demanded.
    “It is a lady’s prerogative. This misadventure is over.” She could feel a sob rising in her chest. How could she have allowed this to happen? His mouth… he was beautiful . He belonged with Lily, not with a quiet wallflower like herself.
    “Please,” she said, swallowing back the tears. “Let me go, Colin. Just let me go. For the sake of our friendship. Don’t make me beg.”
    She could feel his glare even from behind his blindfold. But he didn’t answer as she caught her breath, trying to stop herself from crying.
    Then he grabbed one of her hands with that uncanny ability he had of knowing where her limbs were. Before she could stop him, he reared upright—and placed her hand directly on his crotch.
    Grace squeaked and tried to pull away. “What are you doing?”
    He held her hand firmly against his breeches. “You won’t let me speak,” he growled. “You refused to believe it when I said I desire you , not your sister.”
    Grace was so shocked she was sputtering. “Ladies don’t— You can’t do this!” He was pressing her hand firmly against him, and under her palm, that part of him pulsed. She felt a hot flush sweep up her chest, and her fingers instinctively curled slightly.
    “That’s it,” he breathed, and thrust forward, into her palm. A sound escaped his mouth, something between a groan and a laugh.
    Grace’s mind was reeling. She was touching the part of Colin that she’d last seen in the carriage. It wasn’t limp now. It felt large and strong as steel. He had responded instantly to her small caress, his breath hitching.
    “I am not feeling any effects of laudanum now,” he stated, his organ throbbing against her hand.
    “What?” she asked, unable to think clearly, not when his voice took on that craving tone, a note of primitive sensuality that aroused her senses and made her dizzy with hunger. He was here, and everything in her body desired him. She even desired the strong organ