Today’s Teaser Tuesday is from The Inherited Bride by Maisey Yates – she guested here a few months ago, and, exciting news, she’s now a USA Today Best Selling Author! The Inherited Bride will be available in stores in May… but you can get it from the Harlequin site now. Because Harlequin is awesome like that.
She couldn’t stand next to him anymore, not feeling like she was ready to crawl out of her own skin, not feeling like every nerve ending was on fire, like the light touch of the breeze was going to tip her over the edge into the dark depths of arousal. Discomfiting to a woman who had scarcely experienced arousal in her life, at least not in such a personal sense.
She walked ahead of him, her steps quick and staccato, her heels clacking loudly on the pavement. He was infuriating. And, yes, it would really be pointless for him to feel the same way because neither of them could act on it, but it would have gone a long way in satisfying her if she knew that he was at least half as uncomfortable as she was.
He kept pace behind her, obviously unconcerned with her pique, which just made her feel more irritated. No wonder women in romantic movies acted so strange sometimes. Men were infuriating, no two ways about it.
“Isabella.” His deep voice startled her and she wobbled on her high heel, her ankle rolling as she wobbled to the side.
A strong hand clamped tightly around her arm and kept her from crashing to the cement. She found herself drawn tightly against his firm, muscled chest, his heart pounding heavily beneath her cheek.
“Be careful,” he bit out, still holding her.
“It’s the shoes,” she said, unable to catch her breath, her hands shaking from the adrenaline surge of her near fall, and from his hold on her arm.
“And the fact that you were stomping off like an indignant teenager.”
She drew herself back so that she could look at him, conscious that the action pushed her breasts against him. “I was not acting like an indignant teenager.’
“Yes, you were.”
“I was not!” She looked at his face, at his maddeningly flat, controlled expression. “Does anything ever get to you?”
“No.”
“Well, it does to me. It seems like I feel everything and you feel nothing.” She had only intended to reference the way she felt about shopping and blue doors, but she knew that it hadn’t sounded that way. Knew that it had meant much more than that. She wanted to call the words back as soon as she’d spoken them. She’d all but broadcasted her attraction to him, and he was just staring at her, controlled as always.
“You don’t think I feel anything, Isabella?” he said, his voice soft, as tightly reined as the rest of him. He drew his finger over the line of her jaw, his dark eyes intent on hers, and then she felt it, the first crack in his façade. A slight tremor in his hand, unveiled heat in his eyes. Her heart rate ratcheted up several beats per minute. “I feel. Things I have no business feeling. I want things that are not mine to covet.”
He moved slightly, drawing her back away from the glaring streetlight and turning her, pressing her against the side of one of the buildings, the chill from the brick seeping through her sweater. But Adham was still holding her, and his heat was more than enough to keep her warm, to make her feel like she might be incinerated where she stood, reduced to a pile of ash at his feet.
“What do you think I felt watching you flaunt all of that sexy lingerie? Watching you tease me.” She opened her mouth to protest his words. “Yes, Isabella, you were teasing me.”
“Yes,” she said, her throat almost too tight to allow the word passage.
“And tonight? Sitting with you in the dark? You think I felt nothing? With your soft body so close to mine, your sweet scent enticing me?” His tone was rough now, his hold on her tightening. And her body was responding.
“You…you’re always controlled.”
“Not always.” He pressed into her, the hardness of his erection evident against her thigh. “Not always.”
And then he was kissing her. His mouth rough at first, demanding as it had been the first time they’d kissed. She whimpered, wiggled so that she could put her arms around his neck and hold him closer, angling her head so that she could part her lips and kiss him back.
So have you read a book by Maisey before? Did this teaser hook you? I told her she was evil for leaving us hanging like that!