Griffin levels his hard stare on me. “You shouldn’t have left.”
“You destroyed our bed and looked like you wanted to rip me limb from limb.”
He keeps staring. “You. Shouldn’t. Have. Left.”
I toss up my hands. “I thought you wanted me to go! I thought I had to. The castle is your home. Your right. Your legacy. I don’t belong there.”
“Don’tbelongthere?” Careful neutrality deserts him. His eyes flash gray fire.
Suddenly nervous, I shake my head. I think I just woke the slumbering Cyclops inside every man—his inner, primal monster.
“Well, if you’d agree to marry me, you bloody well would!”
Uh-oh.That’s the one. The colossal, one-eyed, battering ram of a warrior creature. Awake. And livid. “That hardly matters, considering everything else that’s going on.”
“Hardly matters?” Griffin demands. “It’ll matter when we have our first bastard!”
I wrinkle my nose. He’s really hung up on that.
“It’ll matter when we have realm functions, and I can’t claim you in any meaningful way.”
I shrug. I don’t give a Cyclops’s eye about my place in realm functions.
“It’ll matter when my sisters tell me they’re doing the same thing with some man because they worship you and hang on your every word.”
My lips thin. Responsibility rears its annoying head.
“It’ll matter if someone steals you, and I can’t tell my army we’re going to war for mywife!”
“No one’s going to steal me.”
“Istole you!”
“Stop roaring at me! I’m not deaf!”
Calm descends like a colossus falling on my head. Griffin goes utterly still, and yet hevibrates.
Trepidation skips along my spine. Our eyes meet, and his are like thunder before a storm.
I catch my lower lip between my teeth. “What are you thinking?”
His ominous answer comes seconds after he grabs my wrists and hauls me to my feet. “I’m thinking about teaching you a lesson,Your Foolishness.”
CHAPTER 3
GRIFFIN SPINS ME AND PUSHES ME UP AGAINST THE WALL. He holds my wrists above my head in one hand, pulling so that my arms are almost fully extended. His other hand palms my naked bottom, its scorching heat a shocking contrast to the cool stone against my front. My nipples pebble against the smooth surface. One of Griffin’s splayed fingers dips into my cleft, sending a lightning bolt of desire through me. I might like this lesson.
His hand leaves my body, though. Cool air rushes in to chill my backside, and goose bumps shiver across my lower back. I wait, a thrilling riot of sensations and emotions heightening my anticipation. What will he do to me? If it’s anything like usual, I’m all in.
Without warning, Griffin smacks my ass so hard I yelp and shoot forward against the wall. The sting is hot and sharp, inside and out.
“Ow!” I glare at him over my shoulder. “Did you just spank me?”
“Yes.” He glares back.Smack!“Twice.”
I gasp. “Griffin!”
“The second time was for kissing pages when you were twelve,” he growls. “The first time was for driving me insane.”
