“Remove them,” he repeated as he started to cross the room to her. “I need to see that you are whole.”
That should have reassured her. He just wanted to see for himself that she was okay. She would have wanted the same visual proof if he’d been the one injured. But this wasn’t a normal situation.
“Forget it,” she said and started backing away from him. “I’m not putting myself in a vulnerable position like that when you’ve got punishment on the brain. Do I look like I’m flipping out of my mind?”
She’d just given him a chance to deny it. He didn’t take it. The anger wrapped more firmly around her.
“You can stop right there,” she told him. “I’m fine, good as new. Youwilltake my word for it. And I’ve already learned the lesson you think needs reinforcing, so there’s no need for reinforcing it. I’ll obey all future orders.”
“Then obey this one. Remove your clothes!”
That was about as close as Dalden had ever come to actual shouting. Incredibly, it made herwantto obey him, which was insane!
She shook her head at him, but dread was swiftly replacing her anger. She continued to back away. “That order has nothing to do with safety, just the opposite. And I’m warning you up front, I won’t accept punishment from you. I absolutely refuse to accept it. So don’t eventhinkof—”
She’d run out of room for escaping, had come up against the wall behind her. Not that it mattered when his longer legs had already brought him within inches of her. And it didn’t even take him two seconds to pull her away from the wall and peel that stupidchaurito the floor. He then turned her around, once, twice, held her arms out to the sides, and felt her limbs in a clinical manner.
Brittany bristled under the close examination, was too indignant to be embarrassed over it. He should have taken her word for it.
She slammed her palms against his chest. A normal man would have at least been shoved back a little by it, since she put every bit of strength she had into it. Dalden wasn’t budged. Her hands now hurt.
“Satisfied?” she growled. “Itoldyou I was fine! Why couldn’t you just believe me?”
He dropped to his knees in front of her, wrapping his arms around her. His head rested between her breasts. She was completely confounded by this, too surprised to think for a moment.
“I am sorry for my compulsion to see for myself,” he told her with a great deal of feeling. “I am sorry for the pain you suffered,” he added with even more feeling. “I am sorry I was not there to prevent it.”
“Dalden, stop,” she said, wrapping her arms around his head.
He didn’t. “I am sorry you could not trust me enough to know that I would not give you an order without there being a good reason.”
“Dalden, please, you’re killing me with guilt here,” she told him. “You have nothing to be sorry for. Look, if you must know, when I heard that animal outside the tent, I was hoping it was a normal animal. Our visit to the clearing was unplanned, and I wanted ammunition to discredit the Sha-Ka’an fantasy. And I was only going to satisfy my curiosity with a quick peek. But it saw me, and ended up proving me wrong instead.”
His grip tightened on her. “I am sorry you had to nearly die before you could accept the truth.”
She smiled. He didn’t see it. “You and me both.”
“And I am sorry that I must now make sure that you never let your curiosity interfere with an order given for your protection again.”
She had begun to relax somewhat. Now all her muscles tensed again. He rose to his feet and picked her up to cradle in his arms.
“No!” she cried.
But he was set on his own path, was going to ignore anything she had to say. He didn’t want to punish her, hehadto, for her own “good.” She knew that was where he was coming from, that he really did see this as being for her ultimate benefit, so nothing she said or did was going to stop it from happening.
She should just buck up and take it like a man. How bad could it be, anyway, if it wasn’t going to cause her physical pain? But it was the principle of thing, damnit. She was too old to have lessons taught by way of punishment, as if she were a child.
It wasn’t a law she broke, for crying out loud. That she could abide—break it and pay the fine or do the time. But a rule for her own safety should be at her discretion to decide whether to follow it or not. And the one she broke shouldn’t even fall into that category. All he’d had to do was tell her that there were man-eating beasts in that woods and she would have damn well stayed in the tent.
He carried her to his bed, laid her on it, joined her there, and simply held her to him. He had to force it, she wasn’t exactly laying still—until she realized that was all he was doing. He was trying to calm her first. He couldn’t have missed her rigid stiffness. But there was no way she could get calm under the circumstances.
He must have finally realized that, because he began to kiss her. New alarm bells went off. She didn’t think this was to calm her. How could it when his kissing had just the opposite effect? No, she was afraid he was trying to make amends beforehand, to cushion the blow for the punishment that was coming—as if anything could.
She fought what he was making her feel, desperately fought it. She couldn’t let him get away with this. She had a stand to make here. But it was impossible. She’d never once been able to resist his kisses before. What made her think now would be any different?
Within moments she was kissing him back. Despite the grievance she should be feeling, and would soon be feeling, here, now, there was only him, a man she absolutely adored—when he wasn’t being obnoxiously barbaric. And he certainly wasn’t at the moment.
Meticulously, he brought every one of her senses to full awareness, set her pulses racing, frazzled her nerves in anticipation. So quickly, the coiled tension spread through her body. She was trembling, on fire, brought so close to the ultimate pleasure, only to have him soothe it away and start over again.
