Devil Takes a Bride by Gaelen Foley

“Tell me, my clever Miss Carlisle,” he asked in a sinister purr as he pressed his advantage, stalking her aggressively through the room. “Are you in the habit of deceiving my aunt as you did me?”

“Obviously you have not heard a word I’ve said. I see there is no point in trying to reason with you in your present state.”She cleared her throat, determined to bring the situation under control, backing away as he advanced, step by slow, tantalizing step. “Wh-why don’t you go upstairs, change out of your wet clothes, and have something to eat? Then perhaps you will be in a more receptive humor— ”

“Don’t…manage me, little miss,” he taunted just as she found her retreat blocked by the sofa behind her.

She blanched, bending back as he leaned closer, trapping her against the couch. Her heart pounded wildly.

All dressed in black and wickedly handsome, he loomed over her, his shoulders so broad she could no longer see the door behind him. She gasped when he reached out and captured her chin between his black-gauntleted fingers, raising her face to inspect her.

She stared up at him, wide-eyed. A cynical smile full of menace and mockery curled one side of his lips as he studied her at close range, his pale eyes gleaming with dangerous intelligence.

Lizzie felt absurdly faint, a trifle dizzy. He smelled of winter and leather, wet horse and warm, ruthless male. For a moment, she could only watch, transfixed, as an ice crystal melted off his long, jet lashes with the throbbing heat of his body. Her gaze tracked the droplet’s trickling course down the scratched side of his sculpted face to the corner of his hard, beautiful mouth. When he licked it away, she caught her breath abruptly, jerking her face out of his light hold…