Dare to be Mine (15 page)

Sliding his fingers slowly upward
between Elyssa's thighs, Daniel held up his fingers, staring in shock at the
red stickiness on them. His gaze met Elyssa's, his eyes narrowing in shock.
With a pained voice, Daniel ruefully whispered her name.

CHAPTER ">
 

CHAPTER 7

"What have I done?" Daniel
moaned, looking Elyssa guiltily in the eyes. He felt numb with shock, for his
every instinct had told him Elyssa was a temptress, a seducer. She was a
married woman, for God's sake! Never in a million years would Daniel have
believed Elyssa to still be a virgin. A fresh wave of horrific guilt swept over
Daniel as he recalled the brutal way in which he'd unwittingly introduced
Elyssa to the ways of lovemaking. He wouldn't blame her if she never wanted to
see him again.

"I believe you have finally rid me
of my innocence," escaped her lips and
er found d
came
the soft reply.

Wrapping his arms about her, Daniel said
wholeheartedly, "I am so sorry, darling. I had no idea."

"How could you? I am a married
woman after all."

Coming up onto his side, Daniel pulled
Elyssa away from the guilty red stain. He gently grabbed her feet, and one at a
time rubbed briskly until the warmth had returned to them, for there was still
a biting chill in the room. Lying beside her, Daniel pulled a thick plush
blanket atop them and pulled Elyssa snugly against him.

"You must hate me," Daniel
said softly, his hand trailing a path down her dark silky tresses. Elyssa's
tears gave way to muffled crying and Daniel pulled her back gently, her pain
nearly causing his heart to break. Rather than the berating accusations he expected
to hear, Daniel was stunned to hear her sweet confession.

"I find myself in love with you,
Daniel, and I fear I will not be able to hide it from anyone." Feeling
guilty as hell, Daniel was likewise unable to contain the elation he felt at
Elyssa's words. Did she truly love him?

"Elyssa, I don't deserve your love
after what I just put you through."

"Shh," she calmed, her fingers
covering his lips from further self-condemnation. "My only regret is that
it can never happen again."

Eyes narrowing, Daniel asked,
"Surely you cannot mean to remain wed to my father?"

"How can I not?" Elyssa cried.
"I cannot consider divorce. You know the scandal that would cause."

“Besides losing access to all that
glorious money,” Daniel added sarcastically.

"Money has nothing to do with
it!" Growing pensive, she softly added, "Or perhaps it has everything
to do with it, if my parents are to be believed."

escaped her lips and
">
"What?" Elyssa cried, shaking
her head in denial. "If your father made any amendments to his will, I had
nothing to do with it. Do you seriously believe he would discuss such matters
with me?”

Daniel wanted to believe her, needed to
believe that the woman he'd come to care so much about had not maliciously
stolen from him, plotted against him, though a trace of doubt still lingered.

Elyssa placed a tender kiss on Daniel's
lips before confessing, "Daniel, I do love you. And I am glad you are the
only man who has ever made love to me."

"How
is
that?" Daniel
replied
,
any lingering doubts already vanished.
"How could my father be so blind? What a bloody fool to have you in his
bed and do nothing about it."

"In truth, he did try on our
wedding night," Elyssa hesitantly confessed. "I fear I was not very
receptive toward his advances. Percy has harbored a deep bitterness toward me
ever since."

Daniel ran his fingers through his dark
hair as he strived to think of a way to end the entire mess. “So the marriage
was never consummated. You can obtain an annulment."

"I don't know, Daniel."

"Do you really love me?"

"You know that I do,"
came
the soft heartfelt confession.

Daniel's mouth covered Elyssa's tenderly
but passionately. His heart swelled with emotion. Never in Daniel's entire life
had he felt such
a completeness
, such satisfaction, no
matter that the future threatened more upheaval before ultimate happiness could
be attained. In between kisses, Daniel told Elyssa, "Everything will work
out alright. I shall take care of it somehow."was short-livedhi dow

"A beautiful dream, but I see no
way around it."

"Don't worry, love. I will make things
change so we can be together. Fate has deemed it so, Elyssa. Did I not tell you
that from the start?"

She knew it was futile. Knew it was
foolish in the utmost to allow herself the glimpse of a happy future with
Daniel. Yet his words drew her in, made her want to hope against hope that
somehow, some way, she and Daniel might one day be together.

Her heart was near bursting with the new
love she was finally embracing, and if it seemed rather swiftly that she'd
fallen in love with the notorious rake, Elyssa refused to dwell on any negative
thoughts. She knew only that Daniel's expert fingers were beginning their magic
once more. His softly spoken endearments at her ear promised wicked pleasures
as Daniel proceeded to show Elyssa just how gentle and caring a lover he could
be. He meant to put any bad remembrances from her less than tender first time
completely out of mind, and spent the next hour doing exactly that.

The next morning Elyssa woke with a
start. Something was wrong, her mind cried. It was still nearly dark out, and
Elyssa figured it to be close to dawn. She was in unfamiliar surroundings and
Elyssa's mind groggily struggled to discern exactly where she was and how she'd
gotten there.

Finally her eyes lit on the handsome man
lying beside her, his arm still flung across her waist and Elyssa's eyes
softened at the remembrance of the incredible night just shared. She was
helpless to smile at the boyish look Daniel exuded during sleep. She admired
the strong arms, his muscular back, her lips curving up in an appreciative
smile as her gaze continued to stray.

Elyssa tenderly reached down to touch
the pitch black hair lying carelessly about his beautiful face, the tresses
that had trailed the inside of her thighs only hours past as Daniel had made an
erotic ascent between her legs before proceeding to do the most provocative
things.

She marveled at the stark beauty of
Daniel as he snuggled even closer. Even in sleep he was insatiable, Elyssa
noted, and she was amused to see the corners of his mouth lift up in
appreciation of whatever it was he was presently dreaming about.

Elyssa meant to treasure every second
she had with Daniel, for she knew it would soon be over. The past night had
been wonderful. But she was a thirsting man. He mi lpractical enough to know her destiny did not belong
with the man she'd come to love. Rather, she would be made to pay for the sins
of the father, as it were.

A moan broke the silence as Daniel
stretched lazily, finally starting to awaken. One eyebrow raised in
mischievousness as Daniel saw Elyssa staring down at him. Dragging himself up
onto his elbows, he immediately covered her mouth with his own before Elyssa
even had a chance to wish him a good morning.

It was a kiss filled with tender
urgency, as if he was afraid to ever let her go. Elyssa allowed him to pull her
back down onto the bed beneath him, his strong arms shielding her on either
side. The obsession was still there, Daniel mused inwardly, as he continued
kissing her senseless. One night was definitely not enough to sate his intense desire
for Elyssa. Not nearly enough.

He could almost envision himself
spending the rest of his life with her, and that was something no woman had
ever made Daniel feel. Her sweet innocent touches were more alluring than any
aphrodisiac he'd ever known. Her unschooled kisses more seductive than the most
experienced courtesan.

The niggling doubts in the back of his
mind remained persistent, but Daniel refused to believe anything might prevent
him from making Elyssa his own. Why was it that everything bad he had ever
known in his life had been a result of his father's involvement? Damn the man!
The only woman Daniel had ever come to truly care about belonged to his father,
and he even hated her.

Elyssa's hands began shaking as she
reached her fingers through Daniel's dark locks, loving the feel of it between
them. It was dizzying, this profound hunger she felt to be one with Daniel. She
could not imagine never being with him in the
future,
yet moral principle alone dictated that it never happen again.

Too, it would be self-torture to have
only snatches of time with Daniel. A few stolen moments here, a precious night
there, what kind of life could that
be
? Her heart
would break anew each time she was forced to leave him.

A desperate moan escaped Daniel's lips
as his breathing quickened at the feel of Elyssa lying soft and pliant beneath
him. He had to have her again.
And again and again.
Suddenly she pulled her mouth from his, their breathing harsh. Daniel was
startled to see the mistiness in Elyssa's emerald eyes and asked her what was
wrong.

"Please stop," she pleaded. such a thingg">CHAPTER

Daniel graced her with a rakish grin,
replying, "Oh, darling, you have no idea the new tortures I have planned
for your sweet body this morning."

Elyssa started at the feel of his warm
fingers tracing the inside of her thigh, his teeth gently nipping at her neck
before he began kissing agonizingly close to her bare breast.

"Stop!" she softly cried, her
palms flattened against his hard chest in effort to prevent his amorous
onslaught. The urgency in her voice gave Daniel cause for alarm and he stilled
at her request.

"What is it, sweetheart?" the
smooth, silky voice caressed.

"We need to discuss last night’s
disturbing conversation. That is to say, I need to explain the duress I was
under when I admitted to the things I did." Exhaling a sigh, Daniel
wondered silently why it was that women always felt the need to talk about
feelings at the most inopportune times.

"There is nothing to explain,
darling. My father has merely been using you as he has done me for most of my
life."

"But you see
,
he has not planned for me to be your downfall. If anything, he did his utmost
to keep me away from you."

"Your point exactly?" came the
bored reply.

"I had no right saying that I hate
Percy, that I wish him dead. How could I have agreed to such a horrible
thought?"

Guilty that he'd been the one to coerce
her into admitting something she obviously wasn't comfortable facing, Daniel
replied, "Do not worry your pretty head over it, darling. I have wished
him dead myself many times."

Elyssa looked at Daniel, suppressing a
shudder at his cold words. Did she truly know Daniel, this charming, gorgeous
man who managed to say all the right things, made love to her with such
expertise and fervency? How could she be in love with someone so cold and
unfeeling that he wished his own father dead? But then again, how could she
possibly understand the heartbreak of a Greystone for a few days.thiyoung boy whose father had shown him no
affection, a young man who had striven to earn his father's respect, only to be
shunned time and again? Her heart reached out to Daniel in that moment.
Vulnerability shone in his eyes, though his features were set in stone.

Daniel looked accusingly at her, as if
he knew the thoughts conflicting within her mind. For all that Elyssa seemed
different from other women he'd been
with,
would she
too end up thinking him nothing but a cold-hearted man, unworthy of love, only
a temporary diversion until a more respectable man came along to offer true and
lasting happiness?

Slowly Elyssa reached out her hand,
brushing her fingers against his cheek in affection. A harsh sigh of relief
escaped Daniel's lips at the gesture, so simple a touch, yet its intimation
enormous. He grabbed her fingers to his lips, kissing them as his eyes closed
in the near desperation he'd unwittingly experienced. For if Elyssa had spurned
him after his damning confession, Daniel didn't feel he would ever be whole
again. For whatever reason, she was already beyond special to him. She was so
much more than that.

She’d filled his every thought since the
moment he had seen her in the storm, all lush beauty and sweet vulnerability.
Elyssa had touched him so deeply, so profoundly, that he could not imagine a
life without her. She had become an obsession, and his fixation with her was
not a thing likely to vanish anytime soon.

With loving impatience, Daniel pulled
Elyssa's face to meet his in a blinding fervent kiss. She boldly met the thrust
of his tongue with her own, her fingers splaying across his chest. Impatient to
bury himself deep inside her, Daniel pulled Elyssa beneath him, stealing her
breath at his urgent entrance. Elyssa's loud gasp only further served to feed
the fire building within Daniel and he began to thrust deeper and harsher until
short moments later they both reached exquisite rapture together.