Elegant Sins - Stasia Black Page 0,52

I couldn’t look at Montgomery. He’d just branded me in front of a roomful of men who would have turned on us if he hadn’t.

This wasn’t a safe place. I thought I could handle it all, that it was worth it, but it hurt so much, and this was all getting out of hand—

I couldn’t help the tears that started flowing down my cheeks. It was the first I’d cried since coming here.

“Shit,” Montgomery cursed. “I’m so sorry. Grace, you have to believe me. I had no clue that was about to— I’m so sorry.”

It wasn’t his fault. I knew it wasn’t his fault. But I couldn’t get the words out to absolve him. I just kept crying.

Montgomery pulled me into his arms and then, when that wasn’t close enough, into his lap.

I sobbed into his chest. His strong arms wrapped around me and for the first time all night, I felt safe.

I thrust my face into the soft fabric of his robe, drying the worst of my tears and finally looked up at him. I didn’t realize we were so close. Our faces were only inches apart.

And then, where moments ago I’d only been looking for comfort, there was suddenly… more.

The intensity of the evening, the rush of adrenaline from the pain, his wanting to save me from it, the circumstances that trapped us both—

I grabbed desperately for his face and kissed him.

He was surprised by it. I could tell in the way it took a moment for him to respond. But then respond he did.

His arms tightened around me and his mouth sealed over mine. It looked like I wasn’t the only one with some pent-up feeling and emotion from the evening.

Everything he hadn’t been able to say all evening he said in his kiss. He was sorry for my pain. He valued and cherished me.

The pain in my hip was suddenly overshadowed by the euphoria of being in his arms. I buried my hands in his hair, dragging my nails down his scalp. He groaned and shifted beneath me.

“Grace,” he moaned low, shifting me in his lap and pulling his lips away to press his forehead against mine. “I need to put the ointment on your burn. I hate the thought of it hurting.”

I shook my head and tried to kiss him again, but he just laughed. “Lay back.”

I groaned in disappointment, but I did flop back on the bed like he asked.

He went about administering the ointment, applying it with the gentlest fingers. I opened my mouth and then clenched my teeth against the pain, but then moments later the most wonderful thing happened. The burning was replaced by a cool, soothing, numb feeling over the whole area of the brand.

I let out a long breath of relief and flopped my arms over my head. “Can we kiss some more now?”

Montgomery just shook his head at me, wide-eyed. “I’ve never met anyone like you.”

I snorted. “That, I believe.”

But Montgomery wasn’t laughing. He was looking at me with that dark-eyed intensity I was coming to know well. “In fact, I think you deserve a reward for tonight.”

And then he crawled on the bed in between my legs and started massaging my thighs. My inner thighs. Upwards toward my—

But he paused before he got anywhere interesting and looked up at me. “Feel free to tell me if I’m out of line.”

I just tightly shook my head, barely daring to breathe. “Oh,” I managed in a breathy little gasp. “You’re fine.”

He didn’t wait or second-guess himself. He dove face-first into my sex, and I was soon learning that he had talents with his tongue I never even could have guessed.

And a night that started in the worst pain of my life ended in the sweetest ecstasy.

15

Montgomery

Time…

Grace had to be feeling as if the walls were closing in on her. I sure as hell was. Enough time had passed that I lost count of what day we were on in this self-imposed exile from society. Her branding was healing nicely, thanks to whatever ointment Mrs. H kept giving us to apply. My tattoo was all but healed as well, and for the most part, Grace and I tried to forget that we had a forever mark on our bodies.

Time…

I had never actually spent so much time with one woman unless you counted my mother growing up.

And yet, regardless of how many hours and days Grace and I spent together, the girl was still very much a stranger. A bizarre fact