h echoed through the silence, sealin

ixed on Chloe. He didn't speak, but the predatory pressure i

dresser, crossing her arms to mask

e dropping into a low, smoky purr. "Helping you is helping m

e door before Zane slipped insid

ment. "Martha and two of Mrs. Barbara's maids are lingering outside

n impenetrable mask. "Lea

hut behind Zane, the silence r

claim to be brilliant. How do you propose we convince the venomous matriarch of t

spark ignited in Ch

ance you won't

d straight

tate. She didn'

rest of his wheelchair, her slender knee sliding between h

re frame went

of wild rain, vanilla, and smoke rolling off her skin invaded h

growled, his voice dropping i

lievable," Ch

him shudder. With her right hand, she reached behind his neck, burying her fi

ls of his chair that the leather groaned under

a soft, breathy, agonizingly auth

. Jul

burned through every layer of his calculated restraint. His heart hammered violently against his

d out and violently swept a cryst

AS

ght against his lap, the friction of their clothes sending a molte

.. don't

t his grip

e paralysis-everything dissolved under t

locking around the curve of her waist with bruising possessiveness,

m deep in his chest-not an act, but

g seconds, neithe

sudden, terrifying jolt of desire coiling low in her stomach. She felt the lethal heat radiating off his

. He was an apex predator holding

faces burning red before the frantic clatter of their

ne. The coas

Chloe nor

lm was still scorched against her waist. The silen

irst, she scrambled off the wheelchair, her boots hi

bbing her duffel bag and fleeing into the maste

stared at his trembling hand, his breathing heavy and ragged, his

r did nothing to wash away the

ick. In the mirror, her real face emerged-delicate, pal

rsized t-shirt and cotton sho

In the soft amber lamplight, her bare face hit him like a physic

pulse with a lazy yawn, wa

asked, her voice dry, though her hands naturally reached out to

ulian said, h

e to drag himself up, Chloe's hands inst

his trousers, her fingers pre

iologist, her f

a

lower-motor neuron atrophy. But the muscle beneath her palms felt... fi

a grunt of feigned exertion, he pulled himself heavily onto the mattres

lian murmured coldly, turning hi

eyes narrowing into sharp, c

a, curled into a ball beneath a thin blanket, and

ng grew freezing cold. Chloe began to

ed until her breathing slowe

Julian Sharpe slipped out from

a. Looking down at the curled-up girl with her bare, sleeping face, t

s body heat and the scent of cedarwood-and gently draped it

eckless, breathless second, his thumb hovered over

e whispered into the dark, before