“Having the bracelet is the only way to ensure that we’ll remain together. I don’t want Ileana to defeat us.”
“Don’t worry,” he said. “We won’t be separated again.” He knelt before her, his handsome features waving in the shadows of the firelight.
Despondency bombarded her and a single tear rolled down her cheek. “I hope you’re right. At the very least, we must stop Teddy from standing in our way.”
“I had a vision last night.” Dimitri leaned closer. “Did Teddy . . . propose to you?”
“Yes,” Alba replied without hesitation. There was no sense in lying.
His straight nose flared with impertinence. “And what was your answer?”
“Simona appeared and I didn’t have time to give him one.”
“What is your answer?” He inserted his hand into her billowing sleeve and trailed his fingers up her arm.
“I cannot marry Teddy,” she said softly. “Not when I feel the way I do about you.”
She watched desire rise in his golden eyes. She sucked in a breath as he gathered her to him eagerly. And when he slanted his mouth over hers and captured her lips with a scintillating kiss, she sighed against them. Their tongues collided, eliciting the very passion that had exploded between them on the bench of the hansom.
Enthralled, Alba clutched the lapels of Dimitri’s greatcoat. She silently cursed all of the clothing between them. She wanted to feel his smooth, bare chest against her breasts and his hand between her legs. Oh, those skilled hands that had sent her to heaven the other night . . .
Dimitri kissed her over and over and she became breathless. “Where is Jochen?” she asked without tearing her lips away.
“He’s out for the night,” Dimitri rasped. “We’ll be alone all evening.”
He smoothed his other hand along her back and up to her neck. Her hair was partially caught in a chignon and Dimitri fingered one of the curls that dangled from it. He drew back to look at her. “You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to make love to you,” he whispered.
“Show me how long,” she murmured in return. “I don’t care if you hurt me.”
Alba’s daring words shot a thrill to every corner of Dimitri’s body. Alba wants me as much as I want her.
Anticipation thrummed through him. He quickly pulled her to her feet. There was no chance of thinking rationally at the moment, for he was useless against the commands of his desire. He kissed Alba again, and as she pushed his coat off his shoulders then to the floor, he held the gaze of her blue eyes. She fumbled with the buttons of his vest as embarrassment reddened her cheeks. Dimitri urged her to carry on with a string of kind words—and when his vest joined his coat on the floor, his shaft reacted. The feel of her hot breath feathering across his face engorged it to a stiff rise.
Alba proceeded to open Dimitri’s shirt while he focused on her beauty. Her fair skin glimmered against her hair and the fan of her lashes thickened in the firelight. In that moment, she looked like a princess—and he was determined to be her prince.
Bending at the knees, he scooped her into his arms and whisked her to the bedchamber. As he sat on the edge of the bed, he perched her on his lap like a treasured artifact meant to be admired. With a flaming desire, his stare traveled from her indigo eyes down farther, to her ripe breasts that strained against him, heavy and aching for his touch. His cock hardened even more as he took her exquisite face in both hands. As he pulled Alba’s lips to his, her sounds of delight came in tiny gasps. Her mouth tasted like sweet, sun-drenched honey, but this time Dimitri kissed her to explore her eagerness—and prompt her willingness. Her response to the kiss was completely uninhibited, even visceral in nature, and it was precisely how he wanted it.
She clapped both hands over his cheeks and yanked him closer. Dimitri assumed she was a virgin, but he could be wrong. She seemed like an open book at the moment, ready for anything. Has Teddy already corrupted her?
Pushing the thought from his mind, Dimitri felt the blood surge wildly through his veins. She squirmed against his erection. Holy Christ.
His cock strained painfully against his trousers. Can I hold out much longer?
Alba yanked his shirt away and pressed the tips of her breasts against his flat nipples. The sensation nearly sent him over the edge. Her heart was thudding as well; he could tell that much. And as she sat against the rise of his cock, her eyes fluttered shut. She shifted her bottom toward it in tiny circles, moaning as she moved.
Dimitri grabbed her left leg and swung it over his hips so that she was facing him—straddling him. She opened her eyes and released her mane from its chignon. In a slow, erotic motion, her black locks tumbled past her slim shoulders and cascaded over her arms like ribbons of taffy.
“Dear God,” he murmured as he put his tongue to her nightgown and traced the outline of her nipples. After all, she had thrust her breasts forward at mouth level.
“Taste me,” Alba whispered. “I want you to taste my breasts.”
He obliged in no time. Tugging on the upper half of her nightgown, he exposed her full, teardrop-shaped mounds. As he bunched the perfect spheres together in his fist, he ran the tip of his tongue over the hard buds. Side to side. Back and forth. He enjoyed nipping at the pearls—sucking, teasing, and licking them to a high charge.
“You’re like an angel,” he murmured gruffly.
She lowered her chin to look him in the eye. “And you are my dark angel.”
He released her breasts and swept his thumb over her rosy lips.
“I’m here with my hair down and my breasts bare,” she said. “Do you think I am a whore?”
“Never, Alba. I love and cherish you with my entire soul.”
“Then God help me,” she murmured as she bent to kiss him. “Because I love you too. And I shall offer myself to you tonight.”
Her words snaked sin around him more persuasively than Adam and Eve’s serpent. He had to have her. Could he resist killing her?
So far his fangs hadn’t descended, yet Alba’s scent was beyond alluring. He longed to bite her and release her blood to flow into his mouth.
Gripping the bottom of her nightgown, he fought the urge with all of his might. Then he guided her hand to his hard shaft. “Fondle me,” he whispered into her lush hair.
Leaning forward, the tawny tips of her breasts brushed against his mouth. She unfastened his trousers with her eyes ablaze and reached deep inside his pants. When she found his penis, tall and erect, she ran her fingertips around its rigid rim. He arched his head back.
“Am I touching you the right way?” she asked.
“Oh, yes,” he replied. “Now stroke it.”
She squeezed his cock. And when she caressed its slick surface in an up-and-down motion, Dimitri’s mouth began to water. The lust he felt was overwhelming. Catching Alba’s mouth with another fiery kiss, he lifted her off his lap. They stood for a moment while she raised her nightgown over her head and he pulled off his trousers and underclothes. Once they were naked, he laid her on the bed. And as he spread his weight over her, he kissed her hotly, receiving a whiff of her perfume. She smelled delectable—like something fresh and undeniably sweet. Breaking the kiss, he ran his tongue down her milky-white neck. And beneath her layer of perfume, he could smell her impassioned blood flow. The scent fueled fervor in him like he’d never known before. Breathing in the unique woman that was Alba, he flicked his eyes to hers.
“I shall be gentle,” he said.
Her eyes twinkled in response.
Realizing that the moment he’d dreamt of had finally arrived, he glided a hand up her leg and edged her thighs apart. Her knees fell to the mattress, an open invitation to which he responded with enthusiasm. He had anticipated seeing her sweet center and he didn’t have to wait another minute. His stare traveled over her stomach until it landed on the curls that framed her pink cunny. She was like a goddess, almost too perfect to touch. Gingerly, he combed the nether hair with his fingers and then pressed his hand against
her damp mound. She seized his wrist and lowered his hand so that his fingers were stroking the slit of her petals. He parted her core and her womanhood responded with a release of ambrosia that astounded him.
“Do what you did to me in your hansom,” Alba whispered, her voice thick with lust.
He gave her a devilish smile as he thrust two fingers deep inside her. This time she placed her hand over his to intensify the sensation. She shifted closer to him while his mouth found her breast. He moved his hand in and out of her while he sucked her nipple and she clasped the bedsheets.
“Lord above.” She pulled in a breath. “How do you know how to do that?”
He wasn’t about to tell her that he’d learned it from Simona. Smiling, he felt her cleft swell around his fingers, and when it started to beat, his cock rose even more.
He withdrew his hand and she pulled him closer—until she spotted the scar that marred his right shoulder.
“Is this from that night in the graveyard?” she asked, tracing the puckered skin with her fingertips.
“Yes.”
“I’m so sorry,” she whispered.
He gathered her in a firm embrace, his rod wedged between her damp thighs.
“Now make love to me, Dimitri.” She panted.
As he buried his head into the pillow next to her hair, her hot breath tickled his earlobe.
Reaching down, he guided the tip of his shaft to her readied core. She sprayed kisses along his neck, then, nuzzling close, she dug her fingers into his back.
The scent of her blood pounded Dimitri’s brain.
Self-restraint. He could ignore the fragrance of blood in the hospital, but this was a different matter. This was Alba’s blood. It was a scent he was becoming addicted to.
He tensed and his balls tightened. Then he froze.
“Damn it to hell!” he snarled as he rolled off her. “I can’t do this!”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Alba wasn’t acting like herself. Blinded by red-hot desire, she could only assume there were other forces at work at the moment. She had nearly yanked Dimitri back between her legs and begged him to finish, but as her senses cleared, she realized he was right. If he made love to her, he might destroy her.
Still panting, she eased into his chest and held his hand. “You did the right thing,” she whispered.
He grasped her hand fiercely. “I’m sorry—but I can’t risk harming you. You mean too much to me.”
“Just hold me tight.” She kept her voice steady, but frustration lay beneath it. As Dimitri embraced her, she tried to hide her spilling tears. My God, Alba thought. What must he think of me? Had she spawned distaste in him?
A moment ago, it was as if she’d slipped into another person’s body—the body of a brazen woman. By throwing her inhibitions out the window and thrusting aside inexperience, it was she who had become the seducer.
Was this how finely mannered women in the reign of Queen Victoria acted behind closed doors? Alba could only wonder. Self-degradation raced through her, until another explanation rose to mind. Had Dimitri “bewitched” her, as Mrs. T. put it?
If so, she didn’t care. Intimacy with Dimitri was like being on a heavenly cloud. And as she lay listening to his frantic heartbeat, she suspected very few women would complain about being hypnotized that way.
Dimitri tilted her face up to meet his. When she stared into his astonishing gold-flecked pupils, he stole her breath away. Lying still, she studied his perfectly set features—until her gaze reached his blood-encrusted mouth. With a wrench of her stomach, she reminded herself that Dimitri was a vampire. No doubt his fangs had dropped during their intense lovemaking, slicing his lip. And while he hadn’t hurt her, she’d been lucky. This time.
She sat up. As she retrieved Dimitri’s shirt from the edge of the bed and pulled it on, Dimitri looked up at her. Flat on his back, he had his muscular arms spread wide while his flaccid penis curled to the side above a bent knee.
“Do you feel like talking?” she asked.
He nodded.
Tonight Dimitri had captured her heart inside a special box no one else would ever unlock. But she was desperate to know everything about him—including what it felt like to be a vampire. Sliding alongside him, Alba propped her head on one elbow. “In those years we were separated,” she began, “what was your life like?”
“To answer your question, Barrister Spencer,” he said, grinning charmingly, “my life was rather boring, actually. After the ever-generous Dr. Rhessa helped initiate my education as a doctor, I put my nose to the grindstone. I studied day and night, working my way through university to pay for my books, clothing, et cetera.”
“So you were extremely focused.”
“Yes. But as I plowed through my internship in Edinburgh, I never erased your image from my mind. Even when I accepted my first post at the hospital in Wales, I did it for you.”
She smiled. “And that’s when you became a fabulously wealthy surgeon.”
“I wouldn’t say ‘fabulously’ wealthy. It is the beginning of my career—and I’m afraid I extended myself quite a bit when I bought this house.” He rolled to face her.
“Why did you do that?” she asked. “You didn’t have to impress anyone here in London.”
“I felt the need to impress you,” he said softly.
She reached for his hand. It felt cold yet strong inside hers. “All that impresses me is your spirit, Dimitri. You’ve always been the bravest, most determined person I know. I was devastated when you left me.”
“I didn’t leave you. I told you, the message I entrusted to Dr. Rhessa never made it past Ileana. You ran away soon after that and I began to search for you.”
“Thank you for not giving up on me. But it seems I haven’t escaped Ileana’s reach completely.” She cast her eyes away as a pit of terror swelled in her stomach. “Will she stop at nothing to destroy my happiness?”
“Some people revel in others’ misery,” he said. “I’m afraid Ileana is one of those evil people.”
She hesitated. “You suggested that we go somewhere together. I’m ready to leave London.”
He traced the outline of her face, and adoration sparkled in his citrine eyes. “I’ll take you back to Romania. I keep a leased flat there. It’s small and a bit seedy, but we can drink wine and stay up all night long. It shall be the perfect place to hide.”
“How long will we have to hide?” Alba asked.
“Until I can destroy Ileana,” Dimitri said grimly. “She’s a witch who doesn’t deserve to live.”
“I suppose she is no match for you—your being a vampire, I mean.” She knew she hadn’t broached the subject very gracefully.
He snaked a hand around her waist and caressed her skin through the shirt. “I’m no fool. It upsets you that I’ve become a creature of the night.”
“‘Upset’ is hardly the word.” She frowned. “Part of me is terrified that you’ll bite me.”
“You tempt me beyond description, but I shall resist the urge to drink from you with my entire being.”
“Then . . . you cannot guarantee you won’t make me a victim?”
“You have my word that I’ll use all of my powers to keep you out of danger.”
She squeezed his hand and nuzzled closer. “I want to know what being a vampire is like.”
He looked uncomfortable. He removed his hand from her waist and stared at her with haunted eyes. “It is hardly fun and games. But I’m responsible for only one man’s death here in London.”
“Who?” Alba asked pointedly.
“A vagabond. I killed him before I learned to completely control my thirst.”
She gasped. “Are you speaking of the degenerate they found behind McGroder’s Pub?”
He nodded.
“I thought Simona killed him.” The confirmation that Dimitri had murdered someone stabbed her with alarm. Meanwhile, Mrs. T.’s suggestion that Jack the Ripper began his killing spree when Dimitri arrived in London sprang to
mind.
“Although Simona has more willpower to stop drinking than I, I’m sure she has purposefully killed people since she arrived here. It’s best that she’s dead,” Dimitri said as he flung back the bedsheet. Securing a dressing gown, he padded to the hearth.
While Dimitri busied himself with making a fire, Alba drew her knees to her chest and rocked back and forth on the bed. Am I really willing to leave everything behind and go back to Romania?
It would change her life as she knew it. Then again, she would have no life if Ileana succeeded in her evil calculations.
Flames began to crackle and Alba joined Dimitri on the plush carpet. She fastened a few of the shirt’s buttons while he stirred the fire. A moment later he turned to face her.
“Alba,” he said, “as you’ve guessed, I cannot guarantee your happiness or well-being. Ours would be an unconventional love affair. You will have to live the life of the night if we’re to be together. When I sell this house, I won’t have to work for a while. That way I can take care of you . . . protect you.”
She broke eye contact with him and stared into the dancing fire. “I don’t need you to protect me from anything but Ileana.”
“I’m also here to prevent you from becoming a vampire,” he reminded her.
“I have a feeling neither of us has control over that,” she said despondently.
Cupping her chin, Dimitri directed her gaze back to his face. “You may be right. But you’re a strong woman—it’s one of the things I love about you. I hope you can summon that strength when you glimpse into the dark side. I’m afraid it’s a mortifying place.”
“I’ve seen Ileana use black magic firsthand. I agree. It was beyond frightening.”
He paused, stroking her loose tresses. “Before you’re to be safe with me, you must do something first.”
“What?” she asked.
“You must let go of the past.”
“I’ll try,” she whispered.
His fingers trailed along the line of Alba’s jaw and her pulse leapt. She didn’t know what had come over her, but her passion for Dimitri was insatiable. Without thinking, she slid her hands against his silk dressing robe trimmed with diamond stitching and let her hands drop farther. When she untied its sash and pushed it open, she glimpsed his rock-hard arousal.
Snow White and the Vampire (The Cursed Princes) Page 17
