Page 44 of Mine before Dawn
He crossed the room in two strides.
Asha barely had time to gasp before his hands closed around her arms and he hauled her against him as though she weighed nothing. Her feet dangled off the floor.
“James! Stop grabbing me when I say something you don't like.”
She struggled like a wild thing. She bared her teeth at him like an angry cat and tried to wrench free.
Instead, he smiled and backed her against the wall.
Then, his lips were on hers, his tongue demanding entry. The force of it stole every coherent thought from her head. His mouth was rough and desperate and angry all at once, like he had spent the entire week starving for a taste of her.
Asha made a furious growl against his lips and tried to knee him.
James just pinned her tighter against him. Immediately, one massive arm banded around her waist so thoroughly she could barely move.
“Behave,” he muttered against her mouth.
She rewarded his highhandedness by biting his lip hard.
“OW— bloody hell!”
He jerked back, staring at her in disbelief while still dangling her off the floor.
“What’d you do that fer?”
Suddenly all the strength seemed to leave her. Tears spilt helplessly down her face.
“Why didn’t you stay away?” she choked out. “Why? Why did you come back? Why are you doing this to me? What did I ever do to you?”
Varying emotions flashed across his face then. Anger. Hurt. And that possessiveness which would never let up.
“You think it’s that easy?” he said roughly. “You think you can just shove me out after lettin’ me in?”
His eyes blazed bright, cutting into her like shattered glass.
“No, darlin’,” he said hoarsely. “Not happenin’.”
She shoved against his chest uselessly.
“Then what?” she cried. “I stay your mistress while she sits in your home and has your children?”
James blinked.
“What?”
“It’s never going to happen. NEVER...”
She was shrieking like a banshee now.
“The girl from London! Your childhood sweetheart.”
Realisation began dawning slowly across his face.
“How could you send her to Mrs. Wilmslow’s shop? How could you be so cruel,” she sobbed. “With your mother, no less. You did it on purpose, didn’t you? You wanted me to see—”
And suddenly, the light in his eyes changed, like something clicked in place. The bastard’s smile widened.
Asha made a sound of pure outrage and struggled anew.
