She lunged to her right and pulled his hip out of her way, spinning him easily since he was braced to be pushed in the opposite direction. He was forced to release the wall and wrap his arms around her or the clever minx might have succeeded!
He pulled her close, forcing her elbows up and away, limiting her ability to gain momentum against him.
She screamed up into his face. “Nooo!”
He was grateful she had returned to human language.
Her lungs pumped like billows against him and he realized he was also struggling for breath. She was so much stronger than he’d believe her capable.
And so much softer, damn her.
CHAPTER TWELVE
With one arm wrapped about her waist and the other across her back, he slowly moved his hand up beneath her glorious tresses, but only for a more secure hold, not to enjoy the feel of the heavy strands against the flesh of his hand.
Yes, he knew better than to touch her. But her safety had to come before all else or his preparations were for naught.
She struggled against him, but beneath her grunts of frustration he felt her barely concealed sobs, and he suddenly understood. She would rather fight to the death than allow him to see her weakness.
He almost laughed in relief but knew the woman would take insult.
Pride.
Her pride had very nearly killed them both. And perhaps her pride was the source of her previous woes as well. But Gaspar took heart, for pride was an affliction he could cure. He only needed to get her safely inside her cell, and he could begin.
He pressed the side of his face to hers and whispered in her ear. “My lady, do you wish to live?”
She lifted a boot and kicked his shin in answer.
He reached up and put his hand at the back of her head, rotated with her, and crushed her body against the wall, knocking the wind from her and pressing so firmly she was unable to breathe deeply. She panted in his ear while he waited for her to appreciate the power he held over her. If nothing else, she wouldn’t have the strength to fight her way out.
He tried not to dwell upon what any other man would do with that power, especially with a woman who felt as if she were designed to fit perfectly against him. To say nothing of the taste of her. He had no need to put his lips to her in order to know her flavor. Just the smell of her hair woke his senses more easily than any woman from his youth. If he were ever to taste her in earnest, his soul would be lost to the devil in the blinking of an eye. The knowledge was as certain as the scar across his face.
Isobelle Ross was the embodiment of his salvation. It was one of the two reasons he’d brought her to his island. But the body he was pressed against could just as easily be his destruction. So he would tread carefully—just as carefully as he must tread those steps beyond the door.
“Please…” she whispered.
He stopped pressing, but did not step back. “You wish to live?” he asked into her ear.
“Aye.” Her word was little more than a breath, and chills raced up his back and into his hair where that breath had burrowed itself.
“I wish you to live as well, woman. So I suggest you trust me.” He leaned back to look her in the eye.
She shook her head. “Trust is earned, not freely given for any who would demand it.”
He sighed. “You must step inside your…room.”
Her head shook faster.
“Hear me, my lady. This was fashioned for your safety. Can you not look upon it as such?”
“I canna,” she whispered. “Ye doona mean to keep me safe, but only to keep me. And when ye’ve wearied of me, ye’ll make a fire at me feet.”
Her fingers moved slightly between his hands and the wall against which he pressed them, and he realized it would be much easier for her to trust him if he weren’t poised to ravish her. So, still holding her hands, he lowered them, warily, while looking into her eyes, willing her not to fear him.
“I vow, Isobella Ross, I have brought you to this tower to save you from such fires.”
Her gaze dropped to his lips. He licked them without thinking, and her eyes widened. Without realizing it, he’d begun to lean toward her, and her panic threatened to return. He took one step back and released her hands, then turned so his body remained between her and the door.
