Read The Duke and the Dryad (Elemental Series) for Free Online Page B

continued scanning down his body and stopped at the bulge under his hose. Instantly, she felt her face redden so she looked away.
    “There’s no use hiding my huge desire to lay with you,” he told her. “Something about you intrigues me more than any woman I’ve ever had.”
    She looked to the floor and wet her lips, but did not answer.
    “Come here, Rae-Nyst. Or I think I’ll call you Rae.”
    When she didn’t respond or move, he repeated his order.
    “I told you to come to me, darling. Now I suggest you do as I command. Or do I need to remind you of the deal we’ve made because you stole and killed my prized bull?”
    She walked to him slowly, no longer looking at him. His words and stare frightened her, yet excited her at the same time. She’d never felt this way before, nor did she know what to do about it.
    “I didn’t forget,” she said. “But you need to know that while I stole your bull I did not kill it.”
    “I saw you with the axe in your hand, so do not lie to me. And how did you steal the beast to begin with, without my men seeing you?”
    “I have skills even though you may not think so. And I am apt at getting what I want, and even you can’t stop me. Your defenses are so weak that no one even noticed as I left with the bull, sneaking out right under their noses and through the front gate - unnoticed.”
    “Another lie,” he grunted. “As well as insisting you’ve plowed my field and also prepared a meal in this short of time. ’Tis impossible.”
    She had lied about how she’d stolen the bull, but he didn’t need to know it. Let him worry that he and his defenses were not up to par. She liked rattling his confidence as well as his pride. It gave her power over him, and satisfied the playful fae side of her as well. With the way he was breaking her down inside just by his perusal, she felt she needed any advantage she could get.
    He walked up to her and put his hand under her chin, lifting it until she once again met his eyes with hers.
    “I am no fool,” he whispered.
    His eyes were mesmerizing, and though his words were harsh, she saw a gentleness deep within him. His craggy brows lifted slightly, and his gaze settled on her mouth. She knew she should push him away, but something about him intrigued her as well. This man was tall and handsome. His body was of a warrior, but in his eyes she saw he was hiding pain and anger from something that had hurt him long ago.
    “Nay, you are no fool,” she answered softly, her eyes now resting on his mouth as well. The warmth of his hand on her chin was nothing compared to the warmth that engulfed her from being so close to a near naked man. She’d longed for the touch of a man her entire life. And though she feared him, she needed to know what he tasted like on her lips. She couldn’t go back to the forest now, before having experienced a kiss from Duke the Destroyer .
    She raised her mouth in invitation, and his head came closer as he touched his lips to hers. The essence within her cried out in elation as his own essence mixed with hers in a tingling vibration. He tasted like ale and power, and his scent was musky, calling out his sexual prowess that she found hard to ignore. Her lips melded with his in a tantalizing heat, surprising her at the amount of passion locked within a mere brush of his lips. His kiss was gentle at first, but when she reached up and put her arms around his shoulders, he moved closer, his need to lie with her rubbing against her in the process.
    “Who are you to bewitch me like this?” he asked, his mouth coming down upon hers this time in a much more powerful kiss.
    It all happened so fast, she didn’t know what to do. He put his hand around the back of her head and pulled her closer, invading her mouth with his tongue.
    Sparks of desire shot through her body, the need in her calling to the need within him. She gripped his hair with her hands, reveling in the combined power now flowing through them. Then he