“Why do you care who I marry? You’re courting St. Clara,” he reminded her, his eyes filled with fire.
“I do not care who you marry!” Her voice rose, to an unrecognizable level. For a moment she forgot herself, allowing her anger to take over. “If you choose to spend your life with a viper like Florentia Vaughn, then you deserve each other. I wish you all the happiness.”
“I don’t want fucking Florentia Vaughn. I want you.” He took hold of her and crushed her body to his. The heat of him threatening to incinerate her from the outside in.
She went willingly, letting her body lead her instead of her mind. Everything about him assaulted her senses, and she could take it no more. Julia pressed her lips to his, initiating the kiss. She needed to control him, wanted to show him that he wasn’t in charge of her.
Henry’s hands were everywhere. She gripped his neck and pulled him closer as she dominated the sensual dance of their lips becoming one.
A loud crash from the house startled them, and they broke apart abruptly. Julia tried to compose herself, but she could still feel him everywhere. She wanted more. So much more.
Taking her by the hand, Henry led her deeper into the garden so they couldn’t be seen by anyone. Once they reached the safety of a small group of trees, silence engulfed them.
“T-Thank you for standing up to your mother for me.” Her voice sounded small to her, but she needed to fill the void.
He ran his hand through his short hair, and she briefly longed for his boyish curls. “She was being despicable to you and to Windchester.”
“Yes, but isn’t she always?”
He sighed, nodding his head in agreement. “I’m sorry I didn’t do it sooner. You’ve never deserved her mistreatment.”
“No, I didn’t, but at the time, all I wanted was for her to like me. It didn’t matter how she treated me as long as I had—” She stopped abruptly, not wanting to finish her sentence.
“She resented you from the moment we first met.” He looked up at the stars shining down on them.
“I don’t understand why.” She couldn’t think of any reason why the woman loathed her so much.
“Because I refused to give you up. I’d never argued with Mother before. I’d always been rather agreeable, since she often would compare me to my father and his philandering ways.” He put his hands behind his back. “When I informed her of our courtship, she forbade it, but I refused to end it. I knew I wanted you from the moment I saw you. I had to make you mine. I don’t think she liked that someone else had so much power over me.”
“I don’t have that power anymore.” Her throat constricted at the admission, a chill running through her.
“You do. You always will.” The words filled the night air like a prayer, and Julia tried desperately not to believe it.
“You never would have done that three years ago,” she told him truthfully, trying to change the subject.
He chuckled, his gaze on her lips. “There are a lot of things I wouldn’t have done three years ago. I’m no longer that man, Julia.
“Nor am I the girl you left behind,” she reminded him firmly. There were parts of her that never wanted to be that vulnerable girl again, but when she was with him like this, she longed for the intimacy they once shared. She hated that he had this effect on her, that she wanted him so ardently that she didn’t know what to do.
But she was no longer the foolish girl she once was. She was a woman now irrevocably changed. There was no going back to her former self.
Henry stepped closer, his hands wrapping around her waist under his jacket. “I want to kiss you again,” he whispered as he ran his leather-covered thumb down her cheek.
The slow drag of the material lit a fire under her skin, scorching her from the inside out.
Julia couldn’t find the words to protest as she tilted her head up, her eyes searching his. “Then do it.” She’d barely finished her sentence when his lips crashed against hers.
God, she needed this.
Needed him.
Her arms wrapped around his neck and pulled him closer. His mouth slanted across hers. Fire coursed through her body, awakening places that she thought were long defunct. The dinner jacket fell to the ground as his hands gripped at her bottom. He grinded his hard member against her.
She whimpered, wanting more of him and hating herself for it.
He moved his mouth from hers and trailed hot, fiery kisses down her neck. His teeth grazed the tender spot of her neck he had discovered years earlier. The sensation sent sparks to her core. She clenched her thighs together. “Henry.”
“’I’ve missed my name on your lips.” His mouth slowly glided against her skin to her swollen lips. He reclaimed her. There was nothing she could do but surrender.
