Bitten by Desire Read Online Free Page A

jacket. Her smile was brittle. “The Earl of Kilmun, Her Grace the Dowager Duchess—the younger Dowager Duchess of Strathfyne.”
    â€œYour Grace.” He bowed flawlessly in front of her.
    â€œMy Lord Kilmun.” Imogen made her own curtsy, feeling as if she might faint clean away.
    Vaelen! It was him, and he must be real because everyone else could see him too. Heat flushed her cheeks and coloured the soft rise and fall of her bosom, so that the pearls which she wore gleamed pink with it.
    He was here, and he was real. And angry. Though he disguised it well, she could sense it; a glittering thing, sharp and sparkling. Danger. Imogen’s heart beat too fast. Her breath came shallow and rapid, as if she had been running.
    The earl held out his arm. “May I be so bold as to speak to you in private?”
    She was vaguely aware of the dowager clucking in the background, but there was no question of her doing anything other than obeying him. Imogen touched her fingertips to his and felt the contact like a shock. She stumbled and he caught her to him. Then they were alone in a small side room and she had no idea how they got there.
    â€œVaelen. I thought I had dreamt you.”
    â€œYou remember?” He found it difficult—too difficult—to wish that she did not, that his protective cloak of anonymity had been preserved. She remembered him. Something like warmth touched his cold heart. He had suspected as much, had known from that first night that she was different from all the others. It was there, that straining of his feelings on the leash he normally had no problem holding, feelings he had thought himself outgrown centuries ago. But that road led to tragedy for both of them. The very existence of temptation should be enough to warn him. He had been right to seek her out, to warn her she risked her very soul by becoming involved with him.
    â€œWho are you?” She could still not quite believe this was happening.
    â€œAs you heard, the Earl of Kilmun. I’m sure your mother-in-law has filled you in on my reputation,” Vaelen replied. He could not resist touching her, running a finger down her cheek, watching the colour rise to his touch. A long tress of curling black hair was swept over her shoulder, trailing down over her bosom. Satin black on milky white. His manhood stirred.
    â€œIt was you? You came to my chamber. I didn’t imagine it?”
    â€œNo, but you would do well to pretend that you did. It should not have happened. It must not happen again. That is what I have come to tell you.”
    â€œBut I don’t understand how it happened in the first place.” Colour stole up her neck, flushing her cheeks. “I thought I was dreaming.”
    â€œYou called to me. You should be careful what you wish for.” Imogen looked startled, and he saw that she remembered it all, even those whispered words of warning before he crossed her threshold. “Do you regret it?”
    She swallowed nervously, seeing in the pulse that beat at his temple, sensing in the flare of heat in his eyes that her answer mattered, though she also sensed he would deny it. She didn’t understand what was happening to her except that he was the cause of it, and since it had happened—though she was alarmed and frightened and unnerved—she had never felt so alive. “No,” she said emphatically, “I don’t regret it. Do you?”
    Vaelen drew back from her. “Yes,” he said coldly. Not the truth but it should be.
    Imogen twisted her bracelet around her wrist. The pearls felt clammy, like her skin. She was beginning to feel rather sick. “I don’t believe you,” she whispered shakily.
    â€œIt would be better for you if you did.”
    Her fragile hold on her control broke suddenly. “Why must you speak to me in riddles? It is like trying to grasp smoke. Who are you? What have you done to me? Why can I not stop thinking about