Collared for a Night (Crimson Romance) (11 page)

Warring was ridiculous, other than a form of self-torture, when here she was in Shawn’s company and in a setting unlike any place she had ever visited or imagined. Climbing the steps, she inhaled and gave into the yearning to
let go and let Shawn
take care of her needs. Right then he took her hands, pulling her closer to him. She gazed up into his golden eyes that grew darker, boring into her. “Diana, before the end of the week, the only promise I intend on keeping is mounting you and claiming you fully. Unless, of course, you tell me no.”

The words he said liquefied her bones, for she was certain he told the truth. She swallowed and they commenced walking, moving toward the entrance.

“Well, we’ll just see about that. Won’t we?” Cocky is what she strove for, blatantly ignoring her heart pounding harder and harder with each step closer to the door.

He reached across to her, hoisting her up within his arms. “Really, I can do that. With pleasure.”

Chapter 7

The
snick
of the doorknob connecting the lock in the jamb rebounded off the foyer walls, floor and ceiling. Shawn set her down beyond the front door.

Gripping her face within his hands, he murmured, “Kiss me.”

Between the hammering in her ears and his feral glimmering eyes, Diana trembled, standing on tiptoe and pressing her mouth against his, opening to him.

He pushed her against the wall, grinding himself into her body, moaning, “Mine.” His kiss consumed her fear, casting it aside and leaving in its place another vast expanse of desire, layered and demanding. And just as fast, he reeled in his passion, leaving her shaken.

“Another lesson?” she asked, seeking to steady herself by leaning her shoulder into the wall.

“Yes and no. I want you, but first we should eat. Can you make the rest of the journey at your own speed or should I hoist you over my shoulder?”

“I’m not that undone by the events tonight. No matter how hard you’ve tried. And yes, you are amazing, don’t get me wrong, Mr. Barclay.”

“You’re welcome, kitten. Make yourself at home. Mrs. Wells, my housekeeper, is asleep, but anything you desire or need she’ll make arrangements to provide when you meet tomorrow.”

She allowed a tight smile to form on her lips.
More training
. She’d asked, and he was delivering. No way would she give him the opportunity to see her unravel further, otherwise he might think her a mouse instead of a leopardess. Earlier he’d told her how, while in Tibet, he’d learned how to give in to pain and suffering, absorb these qualities into his body by relaxing. He’d said that to fight pain accomplished the exact opposite of relief.

Diana softened her gaze, letting her fingers trace the rich textures of his home. Wedgewood blue saturated the foyer walls, bordered by gilded molding and painted wainscoting. “I bet you’re responsible for the design of your home. Both inside and out.”

“I had plenty of help. But the overall scheme is mine. Just remember, all roads lead back to the main drawing room.”

“I won’t even ask,” she murmured, imagining a multitude of nooks and crannies just from what she saw in the front hall. He led her forward into a room and immediately she took in the many doorways from which one could exit the room. “On second thought, do you get lost much?”

Coming forward into the room, she sucked in her breath as the walls opened into a receiving area with soaring ceilings. Her eyes didn’t remain still; her gaze jumped from architectural detail to detail. Each item within his home had required exceptional taste in the ability to envision the overall effect. A chess game in architecture and interior design. She wondered what this room would be like during the day. She envisioned the space with the sun spilling inside from tall windows, and the various glass insets within the walls. She held onto his arm, gasping. “The cupola … where did you manage to acquire the fused stained glass?”

“Hand-made in Arizona.”

“Amazing,” she whispered. Just as his club had gleaming floors, the alabaster flooring of his home was played out in a varied pattern where the floor was set in ever expanding and seamless alabaster. The furniture was low, modern, and off-white. Yet nothing was strictly angular, but more organic in curve and shape. The room held several warm hues of white, never rising to beige or grey, yet the undertones were more than inviting.

She moved alongside Shawn as lighting preceded them into each area. “Interesting. The way the lighting comes on automatically.”

“Programmed sensors; absolutely love them. I never turn on — or off — a light switch. Energy efficient to some degree, except neither you nor I require much illumination, do we?”

“So far, no.” She stopped walking. Before her was a large oil painting on the wall. The portrait had to be at least four or five feet tall, depicting Shawn and a young woman, eerily positioned with eyes so golden and bright they seemed to stare down at her and follow her movements. She walked forward for a closer view. “Shawn, this painting is so lifelike of you.”

Diana returned her gaze, up at the woman with raven-colored hair. Who was she? Her coloring was darker than Shawn’s, but there was no mistaking the leopardess features steely under the woman’s beauty. The artist had captured the essence of their shifting nature. A cold tingling passed over Diana’s skin; more like a slow chill that lingered in the crevices of her body.

“And you wonder who she is, don’t you?” He inhaled, his face tightly drawn with his features hardening as each moment went by. “Shannon.”

She couldn’t help but flinch. The raspy tone of his voice made her gasp. Was this the reason he’d kept apart from women?

“My sister. What a handful back then,” he said, gazing away from her as soon as their eyes met. “Are you hungry? You should be, after the energy we expended downtown. First, let’s eat and then to bed.” His voice sent a heat wave across her skin and spiked her hunger for him. The thought of food, not so much.

“She’s very beautiful. Are you close?”

A muscle twitched at the corner of his jaw; his eyes once again took on a pained expression. “We were. Once. This isn’t a story told in a few sentences. Later. Not now.”

“Of course.” She’d entertained enough edgy clients to know when to shift gears. This seemed like his Achilles heel. She had no right to poke around in his wound. “Your home is beyond belief. Do you return here each evening?”

He smiled at her, the warmth returning to his eyes. “As often as I can, but that’s not enough.”

It must have taken at least an hour by car to reach his home. From what she gathered, he worked non-stop as owner and head partner in Matrix Design, and she was still rattled by her surprise at finding he owned part of the Den.

She didn’t want to think what that meant since he’d served as her stud, and his leopard sexuality would demand he act, not sit on the sidelines. She’d already known before tonight that he owned several restaurants, businesses related to retail design, a public relations firm, and many real estate holdings in Colorado, California, and Arizona. It was all too complicated, coupled with his responsibilities to the justice council. She cast a fleeting glance back up at his sister’s portrait, taking in the young woman’s proud, haughty stare that more than likely had taken generations of alpha leopard mating to perfect.

“I wish I had a reason to force my hand but time waits for no man — or leopard. Sleeping at my apartment is easier. But enough about me. Come here, Diana.” He held out his hand to her and she crossed the floor. He wrapped her shoulder under his arm, pinning her close with his hand hooked around her waist. With his other hand he lifted her chin, his thumb tracing her jaw while gazing into her eyes. Her skin flashed heat under his amber perusal. Up close in this lighting, his eyes weren’t simply golden. Ice blue splinters in a sunburst pattern were distributed through his irises.

“Let me have you any way I desire during your stay with me.” His sensuous tone aroused her as though warm oil was being drizzled over her naked flesh. “Give in to me without reservation, holding nothing back. Without hesitation. I’ll protect you, and you’ll be with me during this cycle. And the next, and the next. You are the woman I’d treasure. The leopardess I’d come to at night. As often as I could. Anything you desire will be yours.”

But he hadn’t said the words she wanted to hear:
I’d come back here to see you every night, or you’d come into town to be with me.
He wanted to put her up, a cosseted erotic novelty, a stop along his varied route. She wondered uneasily, how many points did his route have? “Shawn, it’s impossible to answer you if you keep posing questions with your cock rubbing up against me.”

“What is it that you desire? I thought it was to learn how to deal with your nature. I’ll give you that and more. Much more.”

“You’re using my state against me. You can’t keep changing the game plan.”

“Why not stay here beyond this cycle? Don’t you already work flextime? I’ll build you a studio right here, anything you desire. I want you safe. Protected. Not gallivanting around Denver. You know as well as I do, running wild has to stop. Things will have to change.” His voice ramped up; a controlled roar if ever she’d heard one.

“Wait … are you saying I’d not work at Matrix anymore?”

“No. Just that we’ll extend Matrix to a satellite office here. I’ve always wanted the freedom to work from home a few days.”

She hadn’t been off the mark.
A few days
. He’d be free and she’d be … what? Captive on a mountain with a stern-looking driver. “I appreciate the offer and your wish to look out for me. You must give me time to think. Let me get past this heat to answer you with my head, not simply through a haze of lust. Perhaps by then you might want to rethink your feelings.”

“You won’t deny me tonight. This is mine,” he snarled, his mouth taking possession of her lips. His tongue moved apart her mouth, seeking her out.

She moaned under his assault, snaking her arms around his neck. His breath and words dispelled her resistance and coaxed her into agreeing to each and every one of his suggestions. Had he not been holding her, her knee joints would have unhinged and she’d have plopped to the floor at his feet. And that’s what she feared. Him towering over her, wielding all the power, and she would be nothing but a glorified employee —
with benefits
— unable to resist him.

All he’d have to do was roar a command and her leopardess self would come bounding.

He bit down on her bottom lip. “I’ll do anything to get you to agree. I want you. I act from what I feel. You in my household waiting for me
is what I desire
. You’ll be safe and we can make love all the time.”

Waiting
. Is that what he really desired? She’d pegged him correctly.

Diana slowly looked around. The irony of Shawn having delivered her from a locked metal collar bolted to the wall of a stud room to standing in his home, another form of imprisonment — albeit, a gilded comfy cage — struck her. It was difficult to determine the reality of anything that happened during the evening for her or him. Only distance and the ability to ponder objectively might enable her to make a sound decision, but linear thinking wasn’t available right then and there.

“I don’t know if that would be the best choice for me.” She drew in a serrated breath. There could be many people tucked away inside this home for all she knew about him. The home wasn’t simply large, it was sprawling.

They moved through another room with more sofas and tables, then down a hall past a dining room with a table that easily seated twenty people. He was so seamless at Matrix. Not once did he flaunt his lifestyle or his level of wealth.

Her heart thudded. Holy Mary, Shawn would hear her heartbeat with his leopard perception. Predator to prey. She listened to the silence of their passage; she could hear his pulse race but with a familiar tempo that her leopardess perception recognized as encouraging. He was attracted to her. That was truth. For all her trepidation, she must now question her own wishes, and how to structure and build her life now that her walls had been breached by him. Shawn had given her a gift by turning her darkness inside out.

Yet with his gift, he’d made her aware of a fragility that had never existed. With Cole she had never felt this powerlessness.

Shawn made her want things she’d learned as a girl to put aside and forget. Her family would have looked at him with greedy eyes. Her heart saw a man who held her fixed in his gaze for the moment. The future was as uncertain as ever, yet she wasn’t alone any more. To never have known this type of shifter existed would have saved her from heartbreak. Now, that was too late.

A flock of fleeting thoughts teased her, then darted away.
His strange, inordinate interest in her.
If she refused him, he might fire her, leaving her without a reference and alone. Or worse, take him up on his offer and she’d be tainted professionally for sleeping her way to the top. Both choices had bad endings. Doubt stabbed her own heart double-time.

“Don’t look so worried. Nothing need be decided upon this second. I want you, Diana. I’m prepared to do whatever it takes to convince you this could work out splendidly.”

“And you don’t fear the issues? What if this is all hormones? Nothing but a sex-crazed phase?”

Go back to her old life. Emotional hues of despair, sorrow, had changed to bright-warm-clear skies of not being alone. Say no and go back to a dismal existence.
Diana shook her head. The soft echoes of the home and her thoughts converged.

She was haunted by confusion and realized that it might take an exorcism of emotions to clear away the detritus of her spirit. Her best game plan involved passive resistance in the form of completely noncommittal responses. She tried to change the subject in lieu of giving in to the man who asked too much. He opened doors into far too many areas within her, and now this request shook her to the bone. Following him, she was nearly lost, unable to find either the way in or the way out.

“Because it’s not.”