Read Online Midnight Eyes by Sarah Brophy - Free Book Online Page B

at the bottom of the stairs.
    He turned, despite the demon that rode him mercilessly, and even managed a smile at the innocent bewilderment on her face.
    “Sir, this is madness,” she said breathlessly, all the while trying to reclaim her hand, which remained resolutely held in the warmth of his. It took only a slight tug for Robert to bring her body up to the burning heat of his. The silent sliding movement of her skirts over his thighs was almost his complete undoing.
    “This might be madness,” he said hoarsely as he bent and placed an arm under her knees and swung her up to his chest, “but it is a divine madness, Wife.”
    She let out a small squeak of protest, but as she felt his powerful strides start up the complaining stairs, she suddenly felt calm. Held against the warmth of his broad chest, listening to the steady beat of his heart, she almost dared to feel safe for the first time since her parents died. For this one, precious moment it was as if Roger and his dark games didn’t exist.
    She was amazed to find herself actually snuggling herself against him. Her mind struggled to equate this strange behavior with the terror of her dark memories. She should be running, freezing, screaming or any of the things she did when Roger touched her, but somehow, it just wasn’t the same. Robert surrounded her so completely that he blocked out all of the darkness, leaving her free of it for the first time in her life.
    It wasn’t to be trusted, she told herself sternly, even as she let herself enjoy the sensation. He wasn’t to be trusted. This was all an illusion conjured by Roger. She should be trying, however inadequately, to protect herself. She needed to prepare herself for the pain and fear that Roger always brought into her life, albeit that this time he was using this stranger as his weapon.
    Instead, she found her arms tightening around her husband’s neck, drawing herself as close to him as she could be.
    Robert was right. This all must be some kind of divine madness.

Chapter Four
    Robert leaned against her chamber door, panting for a moment. He still held her tight to his chest, his arms like steel bands around her.
    “Perhaps you should put me down now,” Imogen whispered huskily, barely able to recognize the voice that shattered the silence as her own. She didn’t even recognize herself in the wanton who so willingly embraced a man who was essentially a stranger, for all he was her husband, in her bedchamber. But she was. Despite all that Roger had done to her, he had not robbed her of her ability to find pleasure in the touch of this man. The realization staggered and amazed her. It was almost frightening, and a part of her wanted to run away from this strange new sensation, but a deeper, more primitive part had turned to molten lead. That was the part of her that seemed to be making her decisions at the moment.
    “Perhaps,” he said hoarsely and began to slide her slowly down his body till her feet made contact with the floor. She was unsurprised to find that he didn’t let her go. She couldn’t seem to let him go either. Not just yet.
    She felt almost dizzy as the dazzling heat rose through her body. She was feeling things she could scarcely identify, wanting things she should not be able to bear, but if her mind struggled to understand this bewildering new world, her body seemed to know of it already. It knew exactly what it sought, and moved instinctively against Robert in the getting of it.
    He moaned in the back of his throat and lowered his mouth to claim hers.
    She drew in a sharp breath at first contact, then slowly her hands wound themselves around his neck. It was the first kiss she had ever wanted. She whimpered as she felt his tongue move along the seam of her lips. He answered her small whimper with a demanding growl of his own and she opened her lips in eager response to his primitive demand.
    Her first true kiss.
    It quickly deepened, taking Imogen to a place she had never known