Bound by Love (Russian Connection 2)

“Why?”

“Do you want to be discovered?”

Stefan smiled. In this moment he was indifferent to who might come across them. Or what the consequences might be.

He needed her. Now.

“What I want is you.” He pulled back, his gaze sweeping greedily over her beautiful face. “Come with me, Leonida. There must be privacy to be found in this vast monstrosity.”

She jutted her chin, but Stefan did not miss the blush staining her cheek.

“The palace is not a vast monstrosity,” she inanely argued. “Most visitors claim it is even more beautiful than Versailles.”

Stefan snorted. “Yet another monstrosity, but at the moment I have little interest in discussing architecture.”

“Neither do I.”

Heat blazed through his body. “Then let us find someplace where we can be assured we will not be interrupted.”

She trembled as he pressed her against his hard arousal, but with a sudden motion she was pushing her way out of his arms.

“No, this is not why I came here tonight.”

Stefan gritted his teeth. His overwhelming impulse was to sweep her off her feet and lay her on the nearby divan. Whatever Leonida’s protests, he sensed her yearning. He did not doubt he could overcome her ridiculous barriers and seduce her.

Instead he planted his hands on his hips and fought back his male instincts.

Ridiculously, he did not want to compel her capitulation. He wanted her to admit she desired him with a force that equaled his own.

Pride? Or something more dangerous?

Impossible to know.

“I do not care why you came, only that you are here,” he growled. “I knew you could not hide forever.”

“I have not been hiding.”

He deliberately lowered his gaze to the mouth still swollen from his kisses.

“How could such beautiful lips utter such dreadful lies?”

She brushed her hands over the shimmering folds of her gold gown. A certain indication she was not as composed as she wished him to believe.

“Not wishing to receive you in my home is not hiding. My mother has been ill.”

“Predictable.” Stefan shook his head in frustration. “You were nearly killed because of her selfish refusal to admit the truth and she is the one to seek sympathy.”

She stiffened at his harsh words, her expression settling into mulish lines that he recognized all too easily. She would protect her mother to the gates of hell. No matter how unworthy the Countess might be.

It was a loyalty he grudgingly admired even as he wanted to shake some sense into her.

“You know nothing of my mother and it most certainly is not your place to judge her,” she snapped.

“And what is my place, Leonida?” he countered. “I am allowed in your bed, but not allowed to protect you from those who take advantage of your overly generous heart?”

Heat flooded her cheeks. “You have no place. What happened between us is over.”

With a hiss of anger, Stefan prowled forward, backing her against the wall.