Total pages in book: 34
Estimated words: 32259 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 161(@200wpm)___ 129(@250wpm)___ 108(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 32259 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 161(@200wpm)___ 129(@250wpm)___ 108(@300wpm)
Hamish reaches out, his large, powerful hand taking mine and making me shiver as he closes it around mine.
“Let’s go, little queen,” he purrs quietly, his eyes never leaving mine.
I can hear my friends whispering to each other behind me, but I don’t look back as I let him pull me away from the table, and then from the hall. He leads me down passages, and up winding stone stairs until suddenly, we’re at the door to his chambers.
“Come with me, Una,” he purrs into my ear from behind, making me gasp audibly as he reaches past me to swing the heavy wooden door wide. Inside, the cavern of a room is bathed in firelight from a crackling fire in the hearth. A huge, four-post bed commands one wall, and it’s there that my eyes land.
And I tremble.
We both step into the room, and when the door shuts heavily behind us, suddenly, my nerves break.
“I’m not some conquest, you know!” I snap, whirling at him, my hands planted on my hips as I glare up into his handsome face.
Hamish arches a brow, eyeing me.
“A conquest?” His brow furrows, and his head slowly shakes. “No, my little queen. You’re the only conquest.”
His words give me pause, but I whirl, still fuming as I stalk into the room. I hear him follow, and I whirl to face him again.
“So, it’s true then? I’m a battle for you to win? A challenge for you to claim for what, bragging rights? One more notch on your—”
“What you are, Una,” he growls lowly, his voice edged like a sword as his eyes blaze brightly in the firelight.
“What you are is everything to me. You, and you alone. Notches?” His eyes narrow, his jaw clenching. “There are no notches in this room, angel. Just you and I.”
We stare at each other, the tension thick in the air as fire sparks between our eyes. Until finally, with a huff and roll of my eyes, I march for the door, brushing past him.
“I won’t play games with you, my lord,” I hiss through my teeth as I reach for the door. “What happened before was—”
I gasp as his hand slams flat on the door over my shoulder, keeping it firmly shut as my hand yanks at the handle. I turn, my heart jumping into my throat and my eyes going wide at the sheer power in his face as he looms over me, both hands on the door, pinning me between him and it. His chest heaves, his jaw grinding as his eyes blaze into mine.
“What happened before was like nothing else I’ve ever known,” he growls fiercely. “I may have been out of line coming to you like that before we were wed, but I regret none of it, nor will I apologize for wanting you. For craving you, my queen. For lusting after my wife.”
The breath catches on my lips, my chest rising and falling quickly as I shiver under that fierce gaze.
“As I said,” I spit back. “I am not a conquest.”
His jaw tightens as he leans closer, eyes darting over mine.
“You,” he growls, his eyes flashing.
“Me what,” I snap.
“You vex me,” he mutters.
He brings one hand up, and when he cups my jaw softly, running his thumb just beneath my bottom lip, I shiver as something wicked and hot teases through me.
…He does something to me.
I don’t even know what it is, but there’s something about this man that does something powerful and something wicked to me. He ignites something dark inside of me and makes me want to throw caution to the wind. Or do wild, sinful things like what we did earlier, when he ran his hands over me and used his tongue to make me… well, explode.
I blush fiercely at the thought, my mind instantly sinking back into the flashbacks of before. But suddenly, the images change, and instead of remembering the passionate kisses and the wicked touch of his big hands, it’s something else that comes to mind.
Gwendolyn. Gorgeous, cruel Gwendolyn and the words that cut right through me. Those words ripple through me again, and suddenly, I’m pulling back from his hand, shaking my head.
“Why me?” I whisper softly.
Hamish frowns.
“What do you mean, why you?”
“I mean that I have no lands, no titles, no—”
“Because you captured my heart, Una.”
The room goes still at his words, and my heart jumps into my throat.
“Because you drew me in like nothing else in this world,” he growls, leaning into me. “Months ago, I saw you at the spring festival in Gowlyn. I saw you, and I knew you’d be mine.”
I swallow thickly, panting and wanting to just fall into him like I did before. But I shake my head, dropping my eyes.
“As a second choice, you mean.”
He frowns. “No. As an only choice.”