Within seconds, manipulating her body until he was spooning her, he wrapped the tie he’d discarded earlier in the evening around her wrist—and then wrapped the other end around his.
Startled, she tried to sit up as she began tugging at the knot around her wrist. “Get it off!”
“No,” he bit out sharply.
“Max—this isn’t funny.”
“Hell no, it’s not funny,” he snarled, spreading his fingers out until they splayed across her naked stomach in nothing less than pure ownership.
Erin sucked in a breath, her emotions conflicted. “You can’t keep me tied to your side.”
His tone sharpened, “Like hell I can’t.”
Erin twisted around until she was staring him down. “Take it off!”
His features turned brutal. “Not happening—go to sleep.”
“Max—”
“Go to sleep, Erin,” he snapped.
“I can’t sleep here!” she fought back.
“You’re going to sleep here. You’re not sneaking off again.”
“You can’t control my every movement.”
His dark eyes spitting angry flames, his fingers welded more tightly to her stomach. “Don’t tempt me to prove that I can. You’re going to sleep beside me and you’re damn well going to like it.”
“You can’t make me like it!”
“Maybe not yet. But you’re going to like it—trust me on that score.”
“I don’t trust you!”
He seemed to freeze at her remark but remained silent with a storm cloud brewing on his features.
How in the hell could he expect her to trust him? She took a few uneven breaths and then let out the frustration she was feeling. “Your revenge is ridiculous! You want me to be happy—how can that happen when our marriage is nothing but a byproduct of your hatred?”
His eyes narrowed. “What do you know of it?”
Her lips firmed. “I know.”
He studied her for a moment, all the while keeping her clamped to his torso. “Nora’s been shooting off her mouth, hasn’t she?”
Erin licked her lips. “We talked, yeah.”
His features turned remote and then changed again. She saw a hint of regret before he said, “I’m sorry you had to find out like that.”
Max was sad for her? Because he thought her father had cheated on her mother? “My father is not Nora’s father,” she stated unequivocally.
Even though she could see his frustration, his frown disappeared and his eyes grew softer, almost gentle. “Erin, love, all proof leads to the contrary.”
She licked her lips and began trying to untie the knot around her wrist as she said, “I can believe it might have been my grandfather—they had the same name—but it wasn’t my dad. I’ll go to my grave believing in his fidelity to my mom. It would take my mother to convince me otherwise, and trust me, that will never happen.” She glanced up from the unmovable knot. “You’re blaming the wrong man, and even worse, you’re taking it out on the wrong men, but that’s not really the point, is it?”
He seemed to ignore her argument as he reached out and clamped down on her fingers. “Leave it be. You’re not sleeping away from me.”
“Seriously, Max, I thought your stupid revenge was over a business deal soured by one of my brothers. I know you said it had something to do with your family, but you cannot be serious about this! How the hell can you justify blaming them for something they had nothing to do with? Something they probably don’t even know about?”
“I don’t have to justify anything—now go to sleep!” he snapped.
His temper set hers off as she began to frantically work at the knot.
Fingers of iron clenched around hers, putting a stop to her struggles. “Leave it alone, goddammit. You keep pushing me, Erin, so help me God, I’ll chain you to the fucking bed and keep you in this room—don’t test me!”
At the ferocity of his tone, her motions stilled as she looked into his eyes. There was something new there—some emotion that she was seeing that was effectively turning her brain to mush. He was pissed and he was frustrated, but for once, there was a glimmer of something—something else shining in his eyes. It confused her already screwed-up brain, so when he snaked his arm around her midriff and clamped her to him, she held still and tried to calm the out-of-control cadence of her pulse rate.
****
Chapter Ten
Max sank his arm around Erin’s waist and pulled her so tightly into him that he realized he might be restricting her intake of oxygen. Gritting his teeth, he took a couple of calming breaths and then loosened his hold—but only just enough. No damn way he would let her go completely, no matter what. He needed to feel her against him so badly that he felt like he was only partly sane. Yeah, that was it—she was stripping him of his sanity.
His life had been orderly before Erin came into it. Always calm, always on an even keel. But not now—hell no, he felt as if he were being torn in two. Before Erin, he’d only cared about two things. His business always came first, but the venganza de sangre, the vendetta his father had been obsessed with was always in the back of his mind. Hell, how could it not be? From the moment his aunt had committed suicide, his father had gone off the rails and demanded retribution for her death.