Read The Punishment of Ivy Leavold (Markham Hall Book 3) for Free Online

manners as everybody else, but they no more hid her true nature than the bars of a zoo cage. And the same way that people were drawn to the tigers stalking agitated circles in their pens, they were drawn to Ivy. Women wanted to be her, men wanted to domesticate her, and everybody was fascinated by her.
    Mine.
    My grip tightened on her momentarily and then I forced myself to relax. No, I was not going to win her back that way. I couldn’t stay away from her, but I could also give her space and time. This had to be her decision. She had to want to come back to me. And I would honor whatever decision she ultimately made. Because while it frustrated me that she wasn’t soft and pliable like every other girl I’d been with, that was what I loved about her. Her strength. Her wildness.
    And I was foolish enough to believe that maybe I could have them both—her love and her unbroken nature.
    “May I visit you at your aunt’s house?” I murmured in her ear.
    She flushed, whether from the proximity of my mouth or from the memory of what we had done in her aunt’s front room, I didn’t know. “Yes,” she said. “You may visit.”
    God, she looked so delicious right now. Even with the circles under her eyes, even with the frame that I could tell had grown thinner since she’d left our home.
    I wanted to make her better. I wanted to heal her.
    I also wanted to fuck her ass until she begged for forgiveness.
    But. Restraint.
    “I’d also like to extend an invitation. The Baron is having a party this week, and I think it would be lovely if you joined me.”
    She met my eyes and raised an eyebrow. “Is this the infamous Baron that Molly and Silas went to visit this summer?”
    “Yes.”
    She hesitated. “What will the party be like?”
    I wanted to lie. I wanted to tell her that it would be safe and sedate. But I had decided to invite her because it was precisely the opposite of those things. Because while it was important for me to show her that I would respect her need for physical and emotional space, it was just as important that I show her who she really was. She was like me. And like me, she wouldn’t be happy until she accepted that part of her.
    “It will be wild,” I told her. “It will be debauched. And it will make anything you’ve seen at Markham Hall seem very proper in comparison.”
    There. I saw it before it vanished—the faint wave of arousal at the very thought. Her pupils had dilated and her lips had parted. “I…do I have to participate if I go?”
    “Not at all. You may merely enjoy the spectacle if you’d like.”
    “Will your friends be there?”
    “Yes.”
    She bit her lip. “I’ll think about it.”
    I withdrew a scarlet envelope from my jacket and pressed it into her hand. “There’s no obligation to go. But if you choose to, simply present this at the door and you’ll be allowed in. The address and time and dress code are specified inside.”
    Irritation colored her face. She didn’t like rules or constraints. Unless of course, I was the one constraining her. My cock stiffened at the memory of knotting her wrists with my tie. One day, I’d like to blindfold her again. Yes, one day soon. The anticipation made me grow even harder. I needed to go soon before I ended up fucking her right here on the dance floor.
    “Yes, wildcat, a dress code. It’s a masked party. And I might suggest that you avoid bringing your aunt.” And with that, I dropped a kiss on her forehead, lingering just a second longer than was appropriate to breathe in the flowers and soap smell of her hair.
    Her mouth opened, as if she were sucking in a breath at my touch, and I could see her pink tongue behind those fuckable lips. And because I couldn’t help myself, I wrapped a hand around the back of her neck and whispered, “If you were still mine, my dick would be buried in that perfect mouth right now. If you were still mine, I’d bend you over the nearest chair and make all these guests watch as I ate your