The Duke's Runaway Princess Page 0,25

who flitted from party to party just to irritate daddy. So what happened to turn you into the intelligent, successful woman you are now?” He grinned evilly as he said, “And please tell me you have a whole series of tattoos and body piercings from your rebellious stage.”

She had to laugh while she shook her head. “I’m so sorry but no, I never got any tattoos.”

“Not even a little butterfly on your incredibly cute bottom?” he asked hopefully.

Still laughing, she shook her head again. “Not even a butterfly tattoo and no piercings except for my ears.”

He sighed as if disappointed. “I supposed it would be a shame to mar that perfect skin.”

She almost dropped her fork with his words. Her smile vanished and she looked up into his eyes then gasped. He wasn’t looking at her as if the comment were innocent. The heat coming at her from that look almost singed her whole body. She saw the intent, the need that was probably reflected right back at him because her stomach flipped once again and her skin felt as if it were on fire. Her eyes glanced down, noticing his hands and her mind instantly conjured up the image of those large, tanned hands on her skin, touching her everywhere. It wasn’t hard to imagine since her mind took her there every night when she fell asleep.

He took a bite of his salmon, which thankfully released her from that visual image that had captured her so completely. She glanced down at her own food and took a bite, but she couldn’t taste anything else. She was trapped, thinking of his hands and what they might feel like.

She knew that they discussed other things, but as he walked her to the front door, she couldn’t remember any of it.

“Zarah, I want you to remember one thing,” he said, his deep voice sending shivers along her body.

She was already shaking, wishing she could just run out of his house and into the heat of the summer evening. She needed space and fresh air, or at least air that wasn’t filled with this man’s spicy, male scent.

She turned to face him but was too overwhelmed by his nearness to look him directly in the eye. She wasn’t sure what she might do if she got close, so she maintained a distance of several feet, even placing her hand on the handle of the door to open it quickly once he’d told her whatever it was he needed her to remember.

“What’s that?” she asked, worried about what she was feeling and how she could overcome this sense of lust that filled her whenever she was around him.

“This,” he replied and stepped forward, eliminating all the distance between them and pulling her closer, so there was absolutely no space between their bodies. His hand dove into her hair and tilted her head back, and before Zarah understood what he was about to do, his mouth covered hers, his tongue invading her mouth and kissing her passionately and deeply.

Zarah was still for all of one second before she shuddered violently, then wrapped her arms around his neck. She didn’t even realize what she was doing but her body understood. Need eclipsed common sense and she kissed him back, imitating anything he did to her, unknowingly increasing the lust within both of them with her actions.

Derrick wished she had just pushed him away but her soft sighs and her even softer body pressing against his made his body react. The arm that was wrapped around her waist pulled her closer and he angled her head to the side so he could deepen the kiss, his tongue diving into her mouth, tasting her sweetness over and over again. Each time he felt her soft, velvety tongue against his, he wanted more. Nibbling on her lower lip, then pressing her for deeper contact. He tried to pull away, to step back and give her space but as soon as he relaxed his hold, she whimpered and he pulled her closer once again.

Someone was knocking on the front door, the loud banging of the iron door knocker reverberating in the stone foyer finally got through to his brain. He pulled back and looked down at her lovely features. She looked like she’d just been thoroughly kissed and he smiled at the realization that whoever was behind that door would know exactly what they had been doing.

That was an odd reaction he thought as he bent low for one more