Read Online Velvet Embrace by Nicole Jordan - Free Book Online Page B

no longer cool this time. They were hot and fierce and passionate. And when his arms came around her possessively, pulling her full against his hard length, she was robbed of breath. For a moment Brie even responded to him,' pressing against him, clinging. But then the sharp wave of desire racing through her body alarmed her with its intensity. Moreover, a sudden memory of the physical violence she had once suffered at a man's hands made her panic.
    Tearing her mouth away, she pushed frantically against Dominic's muscular chest. "No, please!" she cried, trying to get away and finding it impossible; the door was at her back, leaving nowhere to run.
    Dominic was surprised by her sudden reversal. When he felt her struggling, though, he loosened his hold and tilted his head back to study her. "What is it, chérie ?" he murmured soothingly, stroking her cheek.
    Hearing the gentleness in his voice, the panic that had gripped her subsided and Brie came to her senses. "I . . . I can't," she said, biting her lip.
    She felt his warm breath caress her temple before his lips followed, tenderly brushing the sensitive spot. "Why can't you?" he asked in a voice thick with passion. "Are you married? Can I expect to find myself challenged by a jealous husband?"
    Brie closed her eyes, feeling her heart pound. "No, but I . . . I am . . ."
    His eyebrow lifted inquiringly. "Under some gentleman's protection?"
    "Yes!" Brie latched onto that excuse with fervent haste.
    "Then you can leave him."
    "No! I mean, I don't want to leave him. I am happy with my current situation. He is kind to me, and . . . and I've been with him a long time, you see, and I don't want to—" Brie was aware that she was babbling, but she couldn't help herself. When Dominic pressed a finger to her lips to silence her, she was grateful.
    He smiled at her then, the kind of smile that could lure a woman's soul from her body. "I can be quite generous," he said softly, persuasively. Brie swallowed hard. Her eyes were wide and shadowed when she finally shook her head.
    Dominic deliberated a moment before releasing her. Then he stepped back. "Very well," he said lightly, his voice at odds with what he was feeling. "Tell Homer I will be up in a moment."
    Brie felt relief flood through her. She fled, before he could change his mind.
    Dominic stared thoughtfully at the closed portal. She was indeed a mystery—one he hadn't yet figured out. She was as skittish as a virgin, yet from the way she had responded to him, he would swear she was no stranger to a man's touch. But that flicker in her eyes had been fear. She was afraid of him for some reason. Perhaps he had been too harsh with her earlier. Or perhaps she was afraid of what her current protector would do to her if she were to accept the advances of another man. If she even had a protector. Brie's stammered excuses had given him reason to doubt that she was telling him the complete truth about that.
    But why then had she not accepted his offer? He dismissed the possibility that she was merely being loyal to whomever had her in keeping. Women were never loyal where money was concerned. So who was she? She wasn't trained to be a servant, although he had already seen she didn't mind hard work. Jacques had liked her, which was surprising, considering the way she had ripped up at him at first. Normally Jacques didn't care for women, unless they were in his bed. In fact, the coachman was even more cynical about women than Dominic himself. Brie was lovely enough to attract a rich protector, so why was she dressed so poorly? She looked to be in her early twenties, meaning she was old enough to have had half a dozen protectors. . . .
    Why that thought disturbed him, Dominic wasn't sure. But no matter, he reflected. He would just have to go slowly. Brie Carringdon couldn't be so far different from other women that she would continue to refuse the generous terms he would offer her. Nor so different that she could withstand a full-scale