Read Threshold of Pleasure (Mills & Boon Nocturne Cravings) for Free Online Page A

own panting breath and the pounding of her heart. She dared to glance behind her—a mistake because she didn’t see the root until after her toe got caught. She fell so hard the air got knocked out of her and she writhed on the ground, gasping to get it back.
    When she was able to breathe again, she jumped to her feet, crouching in a defensive position, prepared for the inevitable attack, but the animal was gone. There was nothing there. The forest was silent.
    Eden turned three hundred and sixty degrees, searching and listening for any telltale sign. Thank God. She leaned against the nearest tree, closed her eyes, and focused on slowing her breathing and her heart rate.
    When she opened her eyes, he was there. Not the wolf, no. The pale man. Naked and glorious. He approached her with silent footfalls, his pale eyes glowing in the dim light.
    “Go away,” Eden shouted, feeling every bit the trapped prey and hating herself for it.
    Do you fear me ?
    She laughed. “Not likely. I’m just not in the mood to be eaten.”
    That’s a shame.
    He came nearer still, close enough to touch, and the closer he came, the harder it was for Eden to breathe.
    His pale-eyed gaze swept across her body and Eden shivered. She looked down. Her tattered gown lay in a puddle at her feet and she stood completely naked with nothing but her fists to protect her.
    You nearly gave yourself to him , yet you stand in fear of me. Why?
    “I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.” She inched a teeny step to the right, hoping to distract him so she could make a break for it. “Do me a favor and open your mouth when you talk to me.”
    Can’t you hear me?
    “Of course I can hear you. I’m speaking to you, aren’t I?”
    The man smiled and Eden expected to see fangs behind those sensuous lips, but she saw only the gleam of straight white teeth.
    He leaned toward her and whispered, “Is this better?”
    He was within striking distance. “Yes,” she said through gritted teeth before driving her knee up, hard, and feeling a sense of satisfaction when it connected with something both soft and solid.
    But it wasn’t the part of him she’d hoped to nail. He’d moved so quickly she’d missed her intended target and now her knee was firmly grasped in his huge hand while he regarded her with an unreadable expression.
    “Let go of me.”
    He shook his head and hoisted her leg up higher, driving it to the side and stepping up to the opening he’d created. With the weight of his body leaning into her, he no longer needed to hold on to her leg, and he grabbed her wrists and forced them high against the tree above her.
    “What do you want from me?” she bit out.
    “What do you think?”
    “If I knew the answer, I wouldn’t have asked.”
    He smiled slowly. “You, Eden. I want you.” To illustrate his point, he moved his hips, adjusting the point where his arousal pressed against her naked body.
    She sucked in a breath, appalled by her unconscious response to this stranger. Her sex dripped for him, her heart pounded for him, yet her mind recoiled.
    “You want me, too. Don’t fight it.”
    Don’t fight it? If there was ever a phrase that made Eden want to fight, that was it. She writhed inside his embrace, trying to kick herself free, trying to wrench her hands out from his steely clasp. But it was no good. The bastard was too big, too strong.
    His head ducked down until he was right beside her ear. “I won’t force you, Eden.” He lingered there, as if smelling her hair. “Tell me to let you go and I will.”
    It was so distracting, his sweet breath against her cheek, his heart pounding against her breast, his cock wedged so close one little adjustment and he’d slide right inside her. She bit down on her lip intending to tell him to back off, but no words would come. The heat between them was too intense, too fierce. She didn’t want it to end. So, she moved ever so slightly, adjusting her leg up higher on his waist, and felt