Venice Vampyr - The Beginning

Dante glared at her. “It has everything to do with me. There’s no need to lie to me. In fact, it would be better for all involved if you told me the truth. You’re obviously not a widow. I guess we’ve already established that.”


Viola didn’t like his commanding tone and decided not to make this easy for him. Maybe he thought he could command other women around, but not her. “I could very well have been married and still be a virgin if—”

He suddenly was at the bed and cupped her chin with his thumb and forefinger. “Lying doesn’t become you. So stop, or I’ll have to do this to shut you up.” He pressed a kiss on her lips, a kiss so brief she could barely enjoy the sensation.

“I didn’t give you leave to kiss me!” she protested and pushed him away, dropping the bed sheet in the process.

“You gave me leave to do a lot more than that.” He grinned and lowered his gaze to her breasts.

With a jerky movement, she covered herself with the sheet. “Go, sit on that chair over there.” She wanted him as far away as possible. When he was so close with his male scent wrapping around her, she couldn’t think clearly. Why else would she want to pull him into bed with her and ask him to kiss her again the way he’d done before he’d used his enormous manhood on her?

The look he gave her could only be described as brooding. “If you wish.” Dante let himself fall into the armchair and stared at her.

“Now, if you tell me where my garments and my bag and pistol are, I’ll be getting ready to leave.”

“You will do no such thing.”

Viola narrowed her eyes. “Are you keeping me captive?”

“It’s for your own safety. As for your pistol: you must be crazy to think I’d simply hand a deadly weapon back to you after you tried to kill yourself with it. No, you, young lady, are staying here until I can make sure you won’t try it again.”

She inhaled sharply. “This is not up to you. My life is mine, and I’ll do with it as I please.”

“Not if I can help it,” Dante snapped and rose. He looked like a caged tiger as he approached the bed again. Instinctively, she scrambled toward the other side of the bed.

“You can’t do that.”

“I can do a lot more than that. For starters, I’m going to show you that sex can be just as pleasurable for a woman as it is for a man. And once you realize that, you won’t have any reason left to take your own life.”

Viola simply stared at him. He couldn’t be serious. The man had an entirely overblown sense of self-centeredness which wouldn’t allow his addled brain to understand that he wasn’t the reason for her desire to leave this world. And of course, she wouldn’t tell him the truth. It was none of his darn business. Besides, she wanted nobody’s pity. As for him proving to her that sex was pleasurable for women ... “How will you do that?”

Sometimes she wished her brain was faster than her tongue, because clearly she’d spoken too soon again. Judging by his smug grin, he was enjoying the situation.

“Very slowly and very thoroughly.” The look he raked over her made her shiver. God help her if he meant it.

“You can’t—”

“—do that?” he finished her sentence and jumped onto the bed on all fours. “I wouldn’t be so sure if I were you.”

A second later, Dante was straddling her hips and pressing her back into the pillows, his face only inches from her. Viola’s body heated, and her pulse raced. Knowing how she had reacted to his kisses and his touch before made it impossible for her to push him away. She felt paralyzed.

His knuckles stroked softly over her cheek. “As we both know, I’m stronger than you. So, save your breath for when you find yourself panting for release. But now, I’ll have the servants prepare a bath for you. And once you’re done, I’ll expect you downstairs for a meal.”

Her fighting instinct hadn’t left her yet. If he thought she was easily intimidated, he didn’t yet know how stubborn she was. “I will do no such thing.”

“Fine, then I’ll bathe you myself.”

Shock coursed through her. “You wouldn’t—”

His grin stopped her. He would.

“Fine.”

“Now, that’s a good girl,” he praised, or was he mocking her?

When he jumped off the bed, she should have been relieved, but her body instantly missed his warmth.

He walked to the door. “And if you take too long with your bath because you’re trying to avoid me, I will pull you out of the tub myself and dry you off.”

When he let the door snap in behind him, Viola threw a pillow at it. “You are not as irresistible as you think!” she mumbled under her breath and could have sworn she heard him chuckle as he walked down the stairs. Yet, there was no way he could have heard her through the closed door.





Chapter Eight




“Are you crazy?” Raphael ground out.

Dante shrugged and kicked his foot against the grill of the fireplace, making the fire hiss in response. “What would you have me do? Let her loose, and have her try it again? I won’t do that.”