Lydia Dare - Wolf Next Door

A mischievous little smile lit her face. "Well, maybe I did." Then she shook her head. "That's not true, you know. I hated what we'd become to each other. I hated that you'd moved on and left me behind. I hate that you rejected me." A sad laugh escaped her, and she stared at his cravat to avoid his eyes. "You had a different woman in your bed every night. And…" her voice trailed off.

"I wanted you, Prisca," he said softly. "I burned for you. I always have."

Prisca shook her head. "Please let me go, Will."

He brushed his knuckles against her cheek. "Tell me you don't want me."

Slowly her gaze rose to meet his, and he saw such vulnerability in the violet depths that his heart clenched within his chest. "I didn't want you to

have

to

marry me, Will. I never wanted that. I…" She took a deep breath. "I wanted you to

want

to marry me."

"How could you doubt that I want you, Prissy?" He watched her face as he asked the question.

"I've no doubt that you

want

me, Will," she sighed. "But I also know that you want anyone who wears a skirt and has a beating heart."

Will nearly flinched at her words. But he deserved every one of them, truth be told.

She pushed against his chest, but he just tightened his arm around her. "No," he said softly. "Let's finish this before you pull away from me completely."

"We can talk just as well if we're several feet from one another, Will," she rationalized.

"I'll not let you go, Priss."

Thirty-Two

I'll not let you go, Priss.

Wasn't that what she'd hoped for?

Dreamed of? Wanted above all things?

She forced herself to relax against him. "I'm sorry you were forced to marry me," she said quietly.

"I wasn't forced to do anything, Prisca," he growled. He never called her Prisca unless he was angry.

"You had very little choice in the matter."

"Prisca, I had every choice in the world. If anyone

didn't

have a choice, it was

you

."

"I'm not sure I know what you mean."

Will's chest expanded as he took a deep breath. "I'm quite incapable of doing this well," he mumbled.

"Doing what?" Prisca felt a little dizzy, like they were walking in circles and not getting anywhere.

"Telling you how I feel."

"How

do

you feel?" she whispered.

"Oh, where to start," he groaned, scrubbing his face with his hand.

"The beginning?" she suggested.

Will stepped back from her and motioned to the bed. "Sit. Get comfortable. This may take a while."

He looked so pained that Prisca nearly felt sorry for him. Nearly, but not quite.

"Let me dress," she said as she suddenly realized she still stood in her chemise and wrapper and nothing else.

"Don't," he commanded her.

"But you're fully dressed," she complained.

Will quickly tugged his shirt from his trousers and over his head. "Is that enough?" His grin was teasing.

Her eyes roamed over his chest and shoulders and down to his flat stomach. He reached for the buttons of his trousers, which were already tented by his length.

"No!" she cried. "That's quite enough." He'd seen her in nothing, so she assumed sitting across from him in her chemise would be all right.

She sat down on the bed and scooted to the center. He followed and leaned against the headboard after he tugged his boots off and pulled his legs up onto the bed.

"Come closer." He motioned for her to slide toward him.

"Why?" Her mind became a muddle when he was near.

"Never mind," he said, his eyebrows drawing together. "I'll come to you." He spun quickly in the bed and laid his head in her lap. "Is this all right?"

It was more than all right. But she just nodded and settled her hand upon his head. He nuzzled into it until she parted his hair with her fingertips and began to stroke him. A long sigh of contentment was her reward.

"You know what I am, Priss," he said quietly.

"I don't know anything. I read some books in your absence and that's all. I am grossly uneducated on the topic. All I know at this point is that you infuriate me." She lifted her hands from his head until he reached up, took her wrists in his, and pressed them back to his head.

"I love you and cannot live without you," Will said quickly, the words spilling from his mouth like water from a waterfall. She began to scoff and he said softly, "It's the truth."

"Oh, Will." She stopped stroking. "Please don't say the words just because you think it will make me happy."

"Brimsworth did push my hand. But it was a push I needed."

"What's this about Brimsworth?" she encouraged him.

"He's one of us. Well, not just like us. Brimsworth is wild. And dangerous. I refused to let you put yourself in a position where he could hurt you. And I

thought

you might still love me."

"You had doubts?"

"I had a lot of doubts," he grunted. "But then your body warmed when I touched you. And I knew I still had a chance."

"I seem to warm a lot when you're around," Prisca mumbled as heat crept up her face. She was rather warm at that moment. He turned his head and kissed her belly. "Stop that," she scolded. "We're supposed to be talking."

"I can't even talk when I'm around you. All I can think of is being inside you."

Prisca closed her eyes as his comment swept over her. She shook it off and went back to stroking his hair.

"Where were we?" he asked playfully. She tugged at his hair until he chuckled.

"You were jealous of Lord Brimsworth," she reminded him.

"Right. I was jealous, I suppose. So, I found you in the woods on that cold night, and I took you to Simon's cottage. I said I couldn't carry you home, but, in all honesty, I could have carried you to the moon and back, being what I am. But if I had, you wouldn't have been forced to marry me."

"Oh," she breathed.

"But you got foxed and fell asleep on my chest before I could make love to you. Call it divine intervention. But I had to make you think we'd been together when we weren't. So I had to let it look like I'd had you. It worked. I got to claim you as my bride. I trapped you."

"And that's why you let my brothers think we'd had relations."

A rueful smile settled on his lips. "I couldn't let there be any possible way Sir Herbert would refuse me."

***

Will lay with his head in her lap and listened to her breathe. She didn't utter a word, but her fingers continued to massage his head.

"I love you too much to let you marry another. Nor will I allow anyone to hurt you." He watched her face as her violet eyes flew to his.

"You truly love me?" she asked hesitantly.

"Always have."

"Then why did you wait so long?" Her eyebrows scrunched together.

"Because I'm a beast," he said. This time, he didn't want to look into her face. If he saw revulsion mirrored back at him, he would certainly die of misery.

"About that," she started, holding one finger in the air to stall his speech.

"Ask me anything," he offered. "I promise I will tell you the truth.

"You're what's called a Lycan?"

He nodded.

"In other words, a werewolf?"

"That's a slang term," Will said.

"Ben said something similar. I assumed it's derogatory."

"You would be correct."

"What does it mean to be Lycan?" she asked softly.

"It's hard to explain. For us, it seems so normal. We shift into wolf form when the moon is full. With it come some enhanced senses, like hearing. I can hear even the smallest things, like your heartbeat." He trailed a finger slowly down her chest and smiled when her nipples became small pebbles that pressed against her chemise. "I can smell small scents, like your desire. And that lilac perfume you wear drives me crazy. It has always been the first thing I sniff for when I walk into a room."