The Pearl at the Gate Read Online Free

knew would haunt him until he died.
    Jenesta already knew his twisted cravings. There was no reason to hide any longer. She owed him something for the destruction she had caused.
    She would pay with this night.
    His feet moved of their own accord, matching her steps with the awakening instincts of the hunter.
    Jenesta’s breathing sounded loud even above the rain driving against the windows and roof. Roake stalked her, lengthening his strides so, for each one she took, his brought them a little closer together.
    “Why did you come in here, madam?”
    Jenesta’s lips trembled open, but no sound came from them. She was almost to the far wall. Another step and she would feel the stone behind her—know there was nowhere left to run. Roake followed, taking an extra step to stop less than an arm’s length away.
    “My instructions were clear. Why did you defy me?”
    Her silence provoked him to action, propelled him into his fantasy. One swift movement and the lawn wrapper and nightgown tore beneath his hands to hang in rags from her shoulders.
    Jenesta gasped, her face flooding with color, but before she could react further, he closed the distance between them, roughly cupping her breast with one hand as the other made short work of the remnants of her garb.
    She leaned away and slapped him across the cheek.
     
    The sound that emerged from Roake’s throat was a growl of triumph, of vindication. Jenesta’s heart leapt with joy.
    Yes, my love. Yes.
    She was challenging him—had been from the first step hinting at retreat—wanting to give him all he dreamed of and achieve fulfillment of her own dream in return.
    Luckily, they seemed one and the same.
    Roake leaned into her, pressing her back to the cold stone. Yet she hardly felt the chill. Her body was aflame.
    His voice rasped harshly into her ear. “Did you look at my journal?”
    Jenesta forced her reply past the yearning clogging her chest. “Yes.”
    “So you know what I have to do now, don’t you.”
    It was not a question, but she wanted to answer, wanted him to know she was complicit in what was to come. “Yes.”
    His movements were swift, sure, as he pulled her away from the wall and across the room. Using his foot, he tugged the chair out from beneath the desk. His hand curved tight around her arm, no hint of gentleness left in his touch. Jenesta stumbled as her feet tangled in the silk on the floor, and the pearls rattled, rolling off the edge of the carpet onto the floorboards. Roake paused with his hand on the chair, looking down at the pearls.
    His gaze swung to her face. Roake’s eyes were the color of an approaching storm, wild as lightning slashing in the sky. Yet something else flashed behind them—it looked like sorrow or fear but she could not tell precisely.
    Inexplicably, he murmured, “One night.”
    The chair was flung roughly aside and Roake pushed her toward the desk, his hand braced on her back to position her facedown on the smooth surface. Then he grasped her hands and pulled them out to the side, curving her fingers around the edge of the wood. He leaned into her, overwhelming her in his power. Jenesta shuddered, surrounded by his hard body, the tang of his distinctive scent, his rigid cock pressing into her arse through his trousers.
    His voice rumbled like distant thunder as he asked, “Did your tender sensibilities allow you to read past your punishment for slapping me?”
    Jenesta shook her head, the want too strong to allow a reply. Roake’s breath was hot against her cheek and fanned the flames rising to scorch her from the inside out.
    “Good.” His rough voice held such anticipation, Jenesta moaned. Roake chuckled, and ground his cock into her, sending shooting spasms from her cunt to her breasts and all the way to her fingers and toes. “The element of surprise is always a benefit. Stay exactly where I have placed you, Jenesta.”
    Slowly, he straightened, and stepped to the side of the desk so she could watch him take