Read Meet Me At the Castle for Free Online

thought me strange. But my affection for this place has been a part of me for so long I cannot say when it started. Maybe I’m insane. That I have limited my world only to this place would seem a mystery to most people. Although I felt much happiness being here, I have also experienced a sense of incompleteness.”
    He nodded, moving toward her again. “You are the sanest person I know. I, too, have loved Cromar, and I always shall.”
    His voice was like intoxicating drink upon her senses, a deep rumble that drugged her. She was rooted to the spot as he stood before her with a wild hunger in his eyes. It frightened her in a way she could not explain. At that moment she knew leaving him would be far more painful than the destruction of her paintings, and she never could have imagined that.
    He must have seen the turmoil in her, for he slowly walked toward her, the sound of his boots echoing in the room.
    Resolutely she backed away like a frightened animal, until she felt the cold stone of a wall behind her. She pressed her palms flat against it, trying to take the chill within her so frigid relief would remind her of reality.
    But he kept coming, and soon he was in front of her, a scant inch separating them from touching. “You are afraid of me.”
    “No.”
    He reached up and cupped her face, his hands hot upon her skin. “Do you think me a monster?”
    “No.”
    “Then why do you tremble so?” His voice dropped to a whisper as he leaned closer, so his lips just brushed hers.
    His words were deep, simmering along her skin like heated brushes of flesh against flesh, and she closed her eyes. Frightened by the overwhelming barrage of longing…longing for something she could not name.
    “Damian.”
    But if she expected him to deepen the touch of his lips, he surprised her by moving them across her cheek. His fingers brushed aside her hair so his mouth could caress the tender circle of her ear, dabbling along the skin as if he could memorize every inch.
    Her breath quickened as pleasure radiated through every part of her body. Still, she kept her hands braced on the wall, too terrified by her feelings to move.
    Intently he slid his lips to her neck, nuzzling there with a touch that spun through her, causing her to gasp. She opened her eyes, and she could barely see through the haze of delight that brought tears to her eyes. Damian shuddered, and he lifted his head to look at her. As one tear slipped down her cheek, he removed it with a gentle sweep of his fingers.
    “Oh, that I would be able to remove all tears from your life forever, sweet Elizabeth.”
    As he cupped her face again, his mouth descended. And as he touched her mouth with his, a new fire leaped bringing with it a glorious heat. His lips were so gentle at first that she ached for their pressure to increase. She touched him, clasping his waist, and he pressed her against the wall. Ignoring the chill, she absorbed the heat of his body. In that moment all she knew was the essence of Damian. Everything that must be him flowed into her, as if his power, his need, were all hers, to hold and to keep.
    As she tasted the warmth of his mouth, she relished the musk scent of him, the heightened sense of belonging in this moment and in this time, in a world where nothing mattered but him.
    As he deepened his kiss, his tongue moved into her mouth, pushing inside gently, rubbing against her own tongue. Surprised, she moaned and pressed against him. She met his sensual touch with her own, her long-denied passion and instincts compelling her to lose all inhibition.
    Suddenly he pulled his lips from hers. His breath came fast, and his face was flushed. “Elizabeth.”
    His gaze swept her features, and she in turn attempted to memorize every nuance of his finely sculpted face. It was possible after tonight she might never see him again. The thought brought more tears to her eyes. With just the touch of his lips, her whole life had changed yet again. And nothing her father