Three Rich Men: House of Midnight Fantasies / Forced to the Altar / The Millionaire's Pregnant Mistress

Only then did he meld his lips to hers, driving her wild with the sweep of his tongue before he released her.

Selene wanted him to take her to those places, wanted him to take her beyond the limit. And that want had her counting the minutes until she again entered Adrien’s dark, seductive world.

He didn’t show up for dinner. In fact, Selene hadn’t seen him since she’d come back to the house from her errand run. After she did a load of laundry and cleaned up the kitchen, she went to her bedroom in hopes of finding him waiting for her, only to find the place deserted.

She opted to take a quick bath and ready for bed before she decided what to do next. Dressed in a mid-thigh pink satin robe, her wet hair bound in a towel, she stepped into the hallway and encountered her least favorite demon. Even after a few days of enduring Giles, her heart leaped into her throat every time she laid eyes on his murderous guise. Tonight she was jumpy enough without having to deal with him. On that thought, she pulled the towel from her hair and tossed it at him, making a perfect three-point landing on his horns and effectively covering his snarl. Unfortunately, the poor terrified woman was still exposed and, unless Selene retrieved a blanket to use as a drape, she would have to ignore her.

She returned to her still-empty bedroom and ran a brush through her hair. On afterthought, she dabbed on a little lip gloss and applied a touch of mascara, just in case she might actually get lucky with Adrien. Now the time had come to execute plan A—make the short trip to his office in hopes she might find him there. She padded down the corridor on bare feet, trying desperately to ignore the rasps and groans of the floor, the darkness down below and the dim light in the hallway.

She stood outside his office for a time, and when a knock received no response, she listened carefully and heard nothing. She tested the handle only to find it locked. Disappointed over her lack of success, she headed back down the corridor and paused at the staircase’s landing to look down into the dark depths of the rotunda. She wondered if Adrien was prowling around like some restive creature of the night. Even if that was the case, she had no intention of going outside to find him.

When she reached her room, Selene sent a quick glance at the demon only to find the towel was gone. Either he’d managed to remove it himself—a thought she preferred not to entertain—or Adrien had been around at some point in time.

Maybe it was time for plan B—checking out Adrien’s inner sanctum. She stopped outside his bedroom and, after finding the door partially ajar, called his name. When she received no answer, she stepped inside. The room was much bigger than hers, much cooler thanks to an operable window air-conditioning unit, and definitely more opulent. That didn’t exactly surprise her. After all, he was the lord of the manor. A gilded bed, the headboard and footboard upholstered in heavy blue brocade with a matching spread, sat angled in the corner across the room near the doors leading out to the veranda. To the left of those doors, a long Victorian walnut chaise covered in gold damask and two blue-and-gold striped armchairs formed a sitting area lit by a lone brass floor lamp.

Selene noted a door not far from the right of the bed and presumed that was the master bath. It didn’t seem wise to try and find out if he might be in there. Of course, she didn’t actually have to go in. She could stand by a few minutes and listen to see if he was taking a shower. She crossed the room to investigate and discovered no light filtering through the door, no sound coming from inside, indicating he was somewhere else in the house. But where? She supposed he could have taken a drive, but she didn’t recall seeing any car other than Ella’s hatchback.

She started to leave but instead turned back to survey the room. She had two more options—wait for him here in hopes he’d eventually come to her, or wait in her own bedroom with the veranda doors opened wide in invitation as she had last night. Or she could explore a bit more, beginning with the locked chamber across the hall. But did she dare? If he happened to be in there and she knocked, he would either allow her in or tell her to go away. He might also be angry over the intrusion. If so, he would simply have to get over it.

Filled with determination, Selene took one last glance at the room then spun around—only to run into a solid wall of prime male.

With one hand against her pounding heart, Selene stepped back to find Adrien dressed in a T-shirt and jeans, his jaw clean shaven, his hair shower damp, his feet bare … and a towel dangling from one hand. Her discarded towel. “Did you lose something?” he asked.

She suddenly felt very silly. “I was wondering where that went.”

He slid a slow glance down her body. “I was hoping you were leaving a trail so I could find you.”

“Actually, I got tired of that monster leering at me. I took the towel from my hair and covered him up.”

“Too bad the towel wasn’t around your body.”

Selene felt as if she were totally naked now under his perusal as he took a step toward her. “Did you need something from me?” he asked.

He knew exactly what she needed, but Selene wasn’t about to bite. “I needed to tell you that the contractor will be here first thing Monday morning to assess the repairs.”

“It’s only Friday.”

“I was afraid I might forget to mention it.”

“You were afraid I might not pay you a visit tonight.”

She shrugged. “Since it’s late, maybe some other time.”

When she started past him, he grabbed her arm and pulled her around. “It’s not too late to give you what you need.”

“I don’t need anything from you.” Another tiny lie.

“Okay, what you want” He slid his hands inside the collar of her robe and rubbed her neck with his thumbs. “It’s already started, the addiction. Don’t bother to deny it.”

She wasn’t a card-carrying Adrien addict yet, but she could be. Which is what made this situation so hazardous. “Look, whether you want to continue this or not is immaterial to me.”

“It’s everything to you.” He clasped her waist and hauled her against him. “Now that you know what you’ve been missing, it’s difficult to do without it.”

“I can do without it, thank you very much.”

“Are you sure about that?”

She was only sure of one thing—he could do things to her that no man had ever done with only a look.

Without the least bit of warning, he pulled up the back of her robe and ran his hands over her bare bottom. “For someone who doesn’t want it, you’re certainly prepared to get it.”

She shivered slightly despite her efforts to stop it. “I didn’t have the opportunity to get dressed after my bath.”

“You didn’t have any intention of getting dressed after your bath.” He took his hands from her bottom and brought them to the robe’s sash, releasing it with only a minimal tug. After parting the fabric, he took a step back and a visual excursion down her body that was already flushed. “Now to decide exactly what I’m going to do to you, and where I’m going to do it.”

She closed her robe and redid the sash for the sheer pleasure of having him open it again. “I don’t remember giving you permission to do anything to me.”

He gestured to the door. “Go, then. I’m not going to force you into anything.”

Damn him. And damn herself for her inability to resist him. “Well, I suppose since I don’t have anything better to do, we could spend some time together.”

His smile was smug and tremendously sexy. “That’s what I thought.”

Clasping her hand, he led her to the chaise and sat her down. Then he took the chair across from her, tugged his T-shirt over his head and tossed it behind him. Selene held her breath when he toyed with his fly before lifting his hand and settling it on his thigh without lowering his zipper.

He was taunting her. And she wasn’t going to let him get away with it. “You can take off your pants, Adrien. It’s nothing I haven’t seen before.”

He stretched his long legs out before him and laced his hands atop his belly. “Don’t be so sure about that.”

A tiny shiver ran up and down her spine. “A bit egotistical, are we?”

“This isn’t about ego. It’s about your experience.” He leaned forward and nailed her with his deadly gaze, the medallion dangling from his neck serving as a reminder of his strength of will. “Have you ever really looked at a man before, Selene? Studied all the details of his body?”

She’d lost her virginity in the dark after a fraternity fling and had married a man who was a lights-out kind of guy. “I guess I would have to say no, not really.”

“Then you still have a lot to learn.”

“Let’s get to it then.” Obviously she was suffering from an overdose of enthusiasm.

“Not yet.” He slowly rose from the chair and stood before her. “We’re going to take this slowly.”

“I don’t want slowly.”

He pulled the sash, parted her robe again and slid it off her shoulders. “You’re going to get slowly whether you want it or not. Now recline on the chaise.”

Selene scooted up against the angled tufted back and stretched her crossed legs before her, propped her elbow on the rolled arm and draped her other arm across her middle. In a way, she felt like a queen waiting to be tended by a dark, dangerous knight. She found it odd that she didn’t feel uncomfortable over being totally nude in his presence, until he continued to stand there, sizing her up like a sculptor preparing to mold his next masterpiece.

In a fit of self-consciousness, she started to fold her arms across her breasts until Adrien said, “Don’t you dare cover yourself.”