The Wicked Game (A Wicked Game Novel) by Olivia Fuller Page A

Bennett’s country manor, Angela was a new woman. She was still Angela but now she was something more. She was confident, she was sure, and now she was in charge. How symbolic it was that she was in the carriage alone. She was starting a new life and she was going to do it alone.
    When the groom offered Angela his hand to help her from the carriage she pushed it away and jumped to the ground. How perfectly freeing! She picked up the hem of her horrible green dress and took off running to her rooms. She didn’t know what she would do when she got there, but for the first time she would be the one to decide. She had just come around the final corner before her room when she ran, quite literally, into Andrew. She fell to the ground and when he offered to help her up she shoved him away knocking him to the floor as well. She was on her feet by then running once again. She threw open her door and ran inside trying to close herself inside but before she could do that, Andrew was in the room with her and he slammed the door behind them.
    “What the hell was that all about?” He was only a few inches away from her and she could feel his rage as he screamed.
    “You have the audacity to ask me that?” she screamed. She suddenly thrust her finger at him. “What the hell was that about huh?” Andrew gave her a confused look. “Damn you! You know bloody well what I’m talking about! Up there. In your room. That harlot!”
    Andrew took a step back from her. “What?”
    She crossed her arms and glared at him. He suddenly realized what was going on and now he took a step back towards her.
    “How—how did you know that?”
    She didn’t say a word and just continued to glare but he managed to figure it out.
    “You saw that?”
    “Yes damn you! I saw it! You, you—”
    Andrew threw his hand over her mouth and silenced her. Angela stopped dead. “You really want to know what was going on up there?” Andrew was still covering her mouth and so she shook her head ‘yes’ intently. “Are you sure?”
    He had uncovered her mouth now and she leaned into him closer than she ever had before. “Yes! Tell me!”
    “That was because of you!”
    Angela slapped his face. “Because of me? How dare you!”
    Andrew rubbed his cheek as he recoiled from the blow. “Yes!” He grasped her by the arms and pulled her into him. “Because I wanted you so much and I knew I could not have you! I had to do something to get you out of my mind but it didn’t work! All I could think about was you! All I ever think about is you!”
    And for a moment Angela was speechless, but then the words of freedom came to her. “Well I am here now so you have no excuse…”
    “Excuse for what?” Andrew responded slowly.
    “You have no excuse not to have me.”
    He shook his head in disbelief. She was giving him an open pass to make her his. He had dreamed about this since the day he first saw her and now it was happening but he couldn’t possibly take her up on it… could he?
    In this moment all of his objections faded away and all he was able to care about was the way that she was looking at him. It made his body feel good but he had the feeling that her body felt even better. So he reached out and touched her and felt her relax as her body melted into his.
    ***
    Up until this moment she had her doubts, but Angela was now certain that she was a new woman. In a flash of passion she had offered herself to Andrew and he had accepted. Without a hesitation he reached out and grasped her and his touch burned her skin.
    He pulled her to him and gently brushed his lips across hers. It wasn’t a kiss, not really, and yet her body relaxed and went numb. He looked her in the eyes and then he waited. And waited. And waited. A mischievous smile spread over his lips and he whispered, “I like making you wait.”
    She wasn’t sure how she managed to get the words out but she said, “Just do it,” and so he did. Urgently he pressed his lips to hers and Angela