Claiming the Vampire by Chloe Hart Read Free Book Online

God. You don’t know anything about men, do you?”
    When she pushed against his chest he let her go. “What do you mean?” she asked, her voice trembling.
    “You’re a virgin, aren’t you? Was that one of the conditions of your sale to the Dark Fae? That you be a virgin bride? Christ. Why don’t they just throw you into a fucking volcano and be done with it?”
    He dragged a hand through his hair. “Why are you doing this? Why did you agree to an engagement with a man you’d never met? Did you even think of standing up for yourself? Saying no? This isn’t the Middle Ages, for God’s sake.”
    Jessica was trembling, her hands clenched into fists. “Don’t do that again. Don’t pretend you care. Especially when you don’t know a damn thing about me.” She took a quick breath. “Unlike you, I try to think more about other people than I do about myself. I believe in doing the greatest good for the greatest number of people. I believe in doing my duty. That’s why I agreed to this engagement. And I have every reason to believe that I’ll be happy in my new life.”
    “I see. Is that why you were ready to cut your own throat when I first saw you?”
    She flushed again. “That was a moment’s weakness that will never be repeated. I was afraid of the unknown, and I’m ashamed of that. But now…” she paused. “Now, Prince Kel is no longer an unknown. And now that I’ve met him, I’m…reassured.”
    “Are you.”
    It was none of his business. She was none of his business. The fact that they were standing here having this conversation was the purest insanity. His only priority right now was Mary. She was the only thing that mattered.
    But the idea of Jessica marrying that cold fish made his demon rage inside him.
    “Are you required to be a virgin on your wedding night?”
    “Of course not!” she snapped.
    “But you are a virgin, aren’t you?”
    She didn’t answer him directly. “Why are you so fixated on that?”
    “Because you deserve to have a decent first time, Jessica. Every woman does. Let me…” he swallowed. “Let me give you that.”
    She stared at him. “You can’t be serious. Are you suggesting that you be my first time?”
    “Yes.”
    “Right now?”
    “Yes.”
    “With all those guards…not to mention my mother and my fiancé…waiting back there for my return?”
    She was right. It was insane. But— “Yes.”
    She gestured around them. “Up against a tree? Or on the ground?”
    The thought of laying her down on a bed of pine needles had him harder than granite. “Anywhere.”
    She shook her head slowly. “Just so I have this straight. Less than a minute ago you were holding a knife to my throat, and a few minutes before that you jabbed a needle into my arm and said it was poison. And now you think…what? That I’m going to fall into your arms? I’ll say this for you, Hawk—you have a unique seduction routine. Does the whole threatening-a-woman’s-life thing get you a lot of dates, generally speaking?”
    In spite of himself, one corner of his mouth twisted up in a smile. “When you put it like that, it does sound a little unconventional. But, Jessica…” He stepped close and put his hands on her shoulders. Her skin was warm, and his palms tingled. “I’ll make it good for you, I swear. And I know you want me.”
    He could see the muscles of her throat move as she swallowed.
    “How do you know that?”
    He stroked his hands down her bare arms and back up to her shoulders. “The way you tremble when I touch you,” he said softly. “The way the blood rushes to your cheeks and your breath catches in your throat. The way your heart beats faster.”
    All those things were happening now, and hope rose inside him. “No one will ever know. It will be our secret. And after tonight you’ll never see me again.”
    “A one-night stand with the assassin who threatened my life? How romantic.”
    He could tell she was trying for sarcasm, but her voice shook a