She shook her head.
“Then as I see it, there’s only one thing we can do until we find out why they occur.” She glanced at him. He’d joined her at the mantle, but she had the feeling his focus had been on her the entire time. “You should stay in here, with me, where I might keep a closer watch on you.”
~ ~ ~
The beast inside of Davien murmured his consent, even though Cosette’s eyes widened perceptively. There was only a small, devious portion of him that had an ulterior motive for inviting her to sleep in his bed. In all honesty, her story had piqued his interest even further. There were more layers to Cosette du Buoir than he’d ever imagined, and he was determined to peel every single one of them away to learn the truth of the woman beneath them all.
Only then would he be able to rid himself of this obsession with her.
“I don’t think so.”
Her adamant refusal caused him to grin. “Come now, Cosette. We know it’s going to happen eventually. Why fight the inevitable conclusion to our association?”
She crossed her arms. “Is that all you think about?”
The beast inside smiled coyly. “For the most part.”
“You’re a despicable bounder,” she spat.
He barely refrained from rolling his eyes. “I thought we’d already established that. So what will it be? Shall you dare to entertain the demon in his chamber, or return to yours where you might wake up in the bottom of my pond the next time you venture out on one of your late night walks?”
He could see the indecision on her face, the lovely battle between morality, self-preservation, and rational thought. In the end, she lifted those tempting dark eyes to his and lifted her chin. “You stay on your side.”
He placed a hand over his heart. “My dear, Cosette, you wound me. I would never take advantage of a woman without her complete consent.” He leaned forward and breathed in her scent, the very essence of her that would be warming his bed. “And it will come. Very soon. On that, you have my word.”
