Total pages in book: 119
Estimated words: 115860 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 579(@200wpm)___ 463(@250wpm)___ 386(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 115860 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 579(@200wpm)___ 463(@250wpm)___ 386(@300wpm)
Duke recoils, looking around to see who noticed. “Have you gone mental?”
“I want Sydney,” I demand.
Duke clenches his jaw tight as a fresh tremor overtakes my body, rocking every muscle. The wizard closes the short distance between us, drapes an arm around my shoulders, and drags me to my feet. “Let’s go.”
“Don’t touch me.” I try to throw him off.
“What’s wrong with him?”
Olivia. I know her voice.
“Guess,” Duke barks. “Mr. Hormones destroyed my mobile. Use yours to call Bram. Tell him I’ll be babysitting for a few days.”
She gasps. “All right, but get him out of here. People are staring. They probably think he’s having a seizure.” She turns to Sydney. “Perhaps we can continue our discussion—”
“Sydney comes with me.” I raise my head and glare daggers at Olivia. Marrok will kill me for it later, but now all that matters is keeping Sydney at my side.
“What’s wrong with him?” Sydney looks stunned and concerned.
“Family affliction. We’ll take care of Caden. In the meantime, I’d like to take the book and examine it overnight.” Olivia smiles.
“No.” Sydney’s refusal is a crisp syllable that doesn’t surprise me at all. “Ring me tomorrow. We’ll meet then. Tell me what’s ailing him.”
Duke and Olivia share a glance. No way to answer her. I don’t care what they say. I only know that I’m burning up from the inside and that I need these clothes off and Sydney under me immediately. She’ll soothe me. Serve me.
Only she will do.
I lift my head and send a burning gaze to her. “Need you.”
“I’m here. What can I do?”
Olivia begins edging her away from me. I howl and lurch across the space separating us, teeth bared at the little American Le Fay.
You’ll take her from me over my dead body.
Duke yanks me back with a low growl. “We’re out of time, so you win. But listen to me. You do not, under any circumstances, kiss her. Or get oral with her. No tasting her at all. No speaking the Call. Is that fucking clear?”
Chapter
Thirty-One
Sydney
“Bugger off,” Caden sneers at the Duke of Hurstgrove as he staggers toward me.
I steady him with an arm around his shoulders. Blimey, he’s an inferno. Fear knots my gut. What the devil is wrong with him?
“He needs a hospital!” I bark.
Hurstgrove sighs, and I recognize his expression: dread. “All he needs is a bed with you under him.”
Has Mr. Fancy-Pants gone mental? “If he’s ill, sex is the last thing he needs!”
Before I can extol the virtues of modern medicine, Caden nuzzles my neck. Oh, my days! He smells so musky and manly and irresistible. I shiver, momentarily losing focus.
The duke’s cultured voice brings me back. “That, my dear, is the very thing he needs.”
I cannot have heard him right. “Is this the same affliction his brother has? Some sexual compulsion?”
Hurstgrove looks at the end of his patience. “No.”
“Is it fatal?”
“Only if he’s…untreated. I’ll explain. Just…trust me. Please.”
A horrible thought skitters through my head. What if I did this to Caden by writing my latest “fantasy” in the book? “But—”
“Go. We can’t talk here.” Hurstgrove shoves us toward the door. “I’ll explain when we reach your flat. Can you…care for him?”
“Of course.” If anything I did put Caden in this state, I owe him.
“Thank you.” Hurstgrove slides his eyes shut in relief. “Very much. Let’s go.”
I don’t understand any of this. Once Caden is out of danger, I’ll have a bucketload of questions, and I’ll want detailed answers.
“I’ll come along, in case you need help,” Hurstgrove adds.
“I’ve got sex covered, thank you.” Though I still have no idea how shagging is going to help.
Beside me, Caden nibbles on my ear. I shiver. He’s insistent, almost feral. Though I don’t understand what’s driving him, the female in me basks in his desire.
“I need you,” he breathes, caressing a palm up my hip, under my shirt, to cup my breast. “With me…”
His touch burns me as much as his blistering blue stare. Whatever ails him has completely stripped his control. The way he wants me is so heady.
Except…people are staring—loads of them. My cheeks heat up as if I’ve flushed twenty shades of red. Did everyone see Caden’s intimate displays of public affection?
“I’m sure you do,” Hurstgrove drawls as he tries to move Caden’s hands somewhere more discreet while giving us another shove toward the exit. “But I’ll be in the next room in case he gets…out of control.”
With a nod, I dash out of the pub, dragging Caden along. Olivia holds the door open.
Outside, I halt in the stinging November wind. Since Caden and I walked to the pub, I have no idea how the devil we’re going to stroll back to my flat, particularly when he’s so focused on unbuttoning my shirt.
A moment later, Hurstgrove guides us toward a very posh black SUV.
Relieved, I climb into the back seat. Caden follows with a growl, crawling over me as his glowing blue eyes tell me without a word that he wants me in every way possible. That should not arouse me as much as it does.