Wolf of Arundale Hall by Jennifer Leeland Page A

need and desperation flickered in her greenish eyes. Her neck was corded and stretched as each blow made her arch her back. The sight was arousing and frightening.
    Elizabeth couldn’t move. The man’s strikes came faster and then, suddenly, he ripped his pants open and gripped the woman’s hips. His cock pinned the woman to the saddle and he thrust like a wild man inside her.
    The woman’s mouth opened and her muffled scream penetrated the thin glass. The man’s hoarse shout also reverberated against the walls and Elizabeth stared at them. Her gaze was drawn to the man’s right hand as he stroked the woman’s cheek, a sweet caress filled with emotion. Damp response gathered between her legs and she wanted to escape.
    “Would you like that, Elizabeth?”
    “Let me go, Joshua,” she whispered. Her gaze was riveted by the couple on the other side of the window.
    “Would you like me to take you that way? Bent over, your sweet bottom against my waistcoat and my cock buried inside your pussy?”
    She bit back a moan and struggled to free herself from his grip. He whipped her around to face him. “Tell me,” he demanded.
    A sob escaped her lips and she closed her eyes. “Yes. Yes, I want that. I’m a whore. You’ve proven your point. Now let me go.”
    “Stop saying that.” He shook her by the shoulders. “You are not a whore and that is not what I wanted you to see.”
    Her lip curled and she glared at him. “Why torture me like this?” She jerked her head toward the woman. “She trusts him. You can see how much they want each other, how much they— How much they—” Her voice broke and she pursed her lips. The love between the couple had been palpable. Why the lovers had come here was beyond Elizabeth’s understanding, but she knew love when she saw it.
    “Elizabeth…”
    She stiffened and stopped fighting. “Why did you show me this?” Her heart twisted in her chest. Why would he want her to watch another couple, a couple clearly in love, when the two of them were further apart now than when there had been an ocean between them?
    He cupped her chin, his fingers gentle but insistent. “It can be that way for us. I wanted to tempt you, not hurt you.”
    “Tempt me?” She reared back, breaking his hold on her. “Nothing could tempt me to foolishly give myself to a man who spurned me once.” Numb and bitter, she held his gaze. “I do not need you, Joshua. Not for anything.”
    Something flashed in his eyes and he abruptly released her. “I see.”
    The sting of his grip still resonated through her flesh and she rubbed her upper arms. She’d scored a point, finally breaking that iron façade he presented to her. Why didn’t she feel the satisfaction she’d thought she would?
    Because she still loved him. Hopelessly, helplessly, eternally. She turned and fled that dingy room, heedless of the eyes that watched or the picture of desperation she must have made.
    Outside, the carriage was waiting. Joshua’s hand gripped her arm and she jumped nervously. Impersonally, he helped her into their carriage and she cringed in the corner, avoiding his stare.
    He sighed and ran his hand through his hair. “I wish you would believe me, Elizabeth.” His back curved and he dropped his head into his hands. “When I ran from Arundale, I believed I was a monster, dangerous and wicked.” He lifted his head but didn’t look at her. “On the way to Jamaica, my worst nightmare came true.”
    It seemed like an eternity before he continued. “I killed a man. Horribly.” His voice cracked and Elizabeth longed to touch him, to tell him it didn’t matter. He gripped his hands together and stared at his clenched fingers. “I…ate the man’s heart, apparently a part of the Beast’s ritual.”
    Stunned, she stared at him. “Like the man murdered and left on my doorstep.”
    “And your horse, Shadow.”
    “What does this have to do with the ten years you stayed away?” She crossed her arms. Unreasonable? Yes,