Queen of Hearts by Jayne Castle Page A

in so many ways, began to struggle then, but his hands moved harshly, punishingly away from her face, across her shoulders and around her back. She was hauled against his hard, lean length and made to feel the toughness, the utterly masculine dominance in him. For all her height and feminine strength, Janna was helpless. He held her as easily as if she were cooperating instead of trying to escape. As it had been that night in the car, his embrace seemed designed to brand her in some strange fashion. Janna knew she was being taught that he was her master and the knowledge angered her, sending a fierce desire to defy him through her blood-But when she succeeded in wrenching her mouth from his and turning her face aside he didn't punish her as he had last time by painfully nipping her ear. Instead, to her surprise, his lips softened and began a sensual progression down the tender, sensitive line of her throat.
    "We are going to be so good together," he husked against her skin. "I'm going to make you want me with all the fierceness you now use to fight me," he promised, a hint of savagery in his tone. "And it's going to be worth all the trouble you've caused me when I finally have you completely."
    Janna experienced a wave of hopeless despair. Why did he have to talk in terms of possession? Why, a tiny corner of her mind asked desperately, couldn't he talk in terms of... of love.
    The thought stunned her. She couldn't possibly be thinking in such terms, could she? A new kind of fear began to curl through her as she felt the deliberately teasing touch of his lips at the curve of her shoulder where he had pulled aside the collar of the shirt. She was aware that her wrists were locked in one of his large hands and that the fingers of his other hand were beginning to move with casual arrogance just inside the opening of her shirt.
    "No!" she protested brokenly as she felt the first button being undone.
    "Yes," he countered with casual certainty. "Relax, Janna. The time of surrender isn't yet. In this lesson all you're supposed to learn is that I can touch you whenever and wherever I wish and there's nothing you can do to stop me."
    Eyes tightly shut so that he couldn't see the effect his caress was beginning to have on her, Janna waited helplessly for the next step in the pattern of intimacy. His mouth moved back to cover hers, felt the feminine quiver of her lips and took ruthless advantage of it. Her lips, unable to resist his any longer parted beneath the onslaught and in the next instant she felt as though she had been invaded. The warmth of his mouth filled hers and as he sensed the weakening of her defenses, Adam's hand moved further down, freeing another button and exposing the full curves to his touch.
    Janna drew in her breath in a small gasp as his hand molded her breast possessively, and then something else began to seep into her whirling mind. The realization took a while to sink in but when it had she knew it was true. Adam was no longer the totally cool, arrogant male engaging in a planned seduction scene. She felt a shiver course through the smoothly muscled body against which she was being held. His breath was coming faster now and when his fingers strayed within the confines of her honey colored bra he groaned softly against her mouth. Janna felt excitement begin to replace the fear deep inside her. A strange, primitive desire to make Adam want her took shape and she had no idea where it might have led if he hadn't abruptly released her, setting her away from him. "So," he said thickly, bringing himself under control with what seemed to Janna an effort of will. "I think that's enough for now, don't you? You will remember this little demonstration, won't you, Janna?"
    "Remember it?" she gasped, wishing she could regain her own self-control as rapidly as he did. As it was she wasn't sure if she would have been able to stand if he had released her at that moment. "How could I forget it? You've succeeded in demonstrating