“Aye.”
“You know Tulley will desire that we produce a son.”
“Then you had best make haste to win my trust, sir.”She shrugged.“Or perhaps that son will be conceived this very night.”
“Why?”
Melissande flung out her hands.“I know naught of you, sir, and what I suspect is not encouraging.I will not be reduced to chattel without a fight.”
Quinn eyed her for a moment, then stepped closer.Melissande retreated from the resolve in his gaze, but Quinn did not halt.He closed the distance until Melissande found herself backed into the wall.Then he leaned over her and she closed her eyes that he might not see how keenly aware of his proximity she was.
“I offer that pledge, my lady, and I take your wager,” he whispered.“We both have need of a son and I intend to be...persuasive.”His lips brushed her cheek again and Melissande held herself taut.
Curse Tulley!Had she been a man, she would never have been in this position.Curse all men for their need to lord their power over women.
Curse Quinn for making her want to surrender.
The thought was so clear and the truth of it so resonant that Melissande clenched her fists.
“I will not be readily convinced,” she managed to say.
“I think otherwise,” he whispered, his breath fanning her cheek.Melissande kept her eyes closed, knowing that if he was smiling slightly, she would be lost.“I shall make you shiver,” Quinn vowed softly and she knew it was true.She felt his lips touch her cheek, as gentle as a butterfly, and it took all within her to keep from turning her head for another kiss.“I shall make you moan and I shall make you beg me to touch you.You will not invite me to your bed; you will entreat me.And we will conceive a son.”He kissed her ear and she found her back arching toward him, her hunger for his touch making her burn.“And then, we shall conceive another.”
His lips touched her jaw, his kiss leaving a trail of fire that made Melissande gasp with need.
His power over her was terrifying.
She had to stop his assault, no matter what it took.
“Never!”she said with vehemence.“I will never yield willingly to your embrace and I will neverentreatyou, sir!”
Quinn, of course, smiled that wretched smile.
“I shall take this as a challenge, my lady,” he murmured.His gaze swept over her features, his eyes glowing with such heat that he did, in fact, make her shiver.
He leaned closer and Melissande knew his intent.Desperate to escape his kiss, she ducked beneath his arm and fled for the door.
“You were not invited,” she whispered and saw his eyes flash.She lunged for the doorway, certain that Quinn would catch her and take his vengeance.
To her relief, she safely gained the portal.She flung herself into the corridor without a backward glance, then ran down its length.What had she done?What was in her mind to taunt him?Within hours, they would be alone, and he would beat her, just as Jerome had beaten his women.
She might not see the morning.
Melissande’s heart nigh stopped when Quinn bellowed from behind her.“My lady!You would test the patience of a saint—and I have already told you, I am no saint!”
She had finally prompted him to lose his temper.
And it was as fearsome as she had thought.
She ran.
It was only once Melissande had raced up the stairs to her assigned chamber, and locked the door behind herself, that she dared to halt and catch her breath.She listened, but no one pursued her.
Was it possible that Quinn’s fury only made him shout?
Or did he restrain himself until they were alone?
Melissande’s hands were shaking.She sat on a stool opposite the door and struggled to compose herself.In that moment, she realized that she had not thought once of Arnaud after Quinn had walked into Tulley’s chamber.
