Burned by Darkness - Alexandra Ivy Page 0,11
flowing through her body.
“Do I have a choice?” she muttered.
His lips brushed an erotic spot just below her jaw. Or maybe the heat of his lips made every spot on her body an erotic spot.
Dangerous, dangerous, dangerous…
“And that the trolls in good faith gave you to my father, and that it was within my right to purchase you?”
“I never agreed to become your concubine,” she argued in husky tones.
“Fine.” His mouth seared a path down the curve of her neck. “Then the debt must be repaid.”
She swayed, exquisite darts of pleasure shooting through her as he released a small burst of power that branded her skin where his lips lingered.
It should have hurt—she didn’t doubt that his dragon-fire had singed her neck. But instead she grew damp between her legs.
Oh dear goddess.
What was wrong with her?
“I can’t pay it all,” she breathed in desperation. “At least not right now. But I have money—”
“Not you.” He jerked his head up, his elegant features suddenly hard. “The debt is your father’s and only he can pay it.”
“I don’t know how to contact him,” she muttered.
It was true. She’d deliberately avoided him after her escape, worried they would use him to try and get to her.
What a joke. All this time she’d been trying to protect him when he’d happily used her as collateral.
Baine studied her with arrogant satisfaction. “Then you belong to me.”
Lifting his hand, he released a burst of fire that nearly blinded her. Then, allowing it to recede, he revealed a delicate golden chain.
A dragon marque.
Panic raced through her as he calmly slipped the necklace over her head, the precious metal warm as it settled against her bare skin.
The golden chain might be exquisitely crafted, but it wasn’t just a pretty bauble. It was a visible claim that she belonged to Blaine. And no one, not even she, could remove it.
“No.”
His head once again lowered, his lips only intensifying her panic as he traced the line of her jaw. His touch was light, but it ignited tiny bursts of excitement. How could she be terrified and furious and aroused all at the same time?
“Yes,” he murmured.
“Baine.”
His mouth scorched the curve of her throat, the brush of his dragon-fire making her shudder.
“I like the sound of my name on your lips.”
The urge to whisper his name again and again was nearly irresistible. Crappity, crap, crap.
“If you will just give me time I can pay you back—”
Her words were cut short as he covered her mouth in a kiss that demanded complete and utter surrender.
“I have waited twenty-five years,” he at last whispered against her throbbing lips. “The debt will be paid now.”
Without warning Tayla felt herself being swept off her feet and carried toward one of the double doors located behind the throne.
“Where are you taking me?” she demanded, not surprised when the words came out as a squeak.
“To the harem,” he informed her, stepping through the door and into a long corridor lined with priceless tapestries. “Where else?”
Where else, indeed.
Trembling as he pressed her tight against his chest, she studied his starkly beautiful face as he easily carried her down a long flight of stairs.
A voice in the back of her mind continued to screech out a warning. She needed to flee. This dragon was dangerous. And not just because he could turn her into a crispy critter.
The first time she’d encountered Baine she’d told herself her fierce response to his beauty was a result of her weakened state.
She’d been kidnapped, terrorized, and tossed through a portal into a dragon’s lair.
Any female would be a little sensitive.
But now she couldn’t pretend her reaction was anything but the result of a female screamingly attracted to a gorgeous, sensual male. She had to get away before her treacherous desires made her do something she was going to regret.
But even as the urge to flee pulsed through her body, there was another part of her mind that whispered she wasn’t being fair.
How could she leave?
As much as she might hate it, her father had given her as payment. The debt might be Odel’s, but he’d paid it by selling his only daughter.
Wasn’t she being as dishonorable as her father by trying to escape?
Trapped in her dark thoughts, she barely noticed her surroundings until Baine came to a halt and slowly lowered her to her feet. Taking a step away from the sizzling heat of his body, she glanced around the vast courtyard with a large fountain in the center of the smooth paving