Temptation: a billionaire erotic romance by Christine Elliott Read Free Book Online Page B

time she was done, her table top was covered in a mess of brown paper and cut string, with nothing to show for it.
    Serena groaned, throwing down the last bit of paper in annoyance.  It sent a gust of wind, and something crisp and white fluttered off the table to the floor.  Serena paused.  She hadn’t seen that when she was unwrapping the package.
    Serena pushed her chair out and reached down for it.  It was a small note, folded carefully and taped shut.  Serena peeled away the tape and unfolded it, smoothing it out across the table top.  Written in perfect fountain pen calligraphy in Val’s perfect handwriting were five words:
     
    You know you want to.
     
    For a moment, Serena was breathless.
    Those words.  Oh God, those words.  ‘You know you want to.’  Serena leaned against the wall, weak.  Her head slipped to the table, and she threw her arms over her to block out the light, totally worn out.  She remembered the first time she had seen the ad in the newspaper, the first time she had read those words and felt something move in her. 
    Did she want to?  She remembered the passionate night with Val, the way he had seduced and inflamed her.  And then she remembered the embarrassing morning after, running away like a scared child, ashamed of the way she had acted the night before.  So did she really?
    She felt the sane voice in her mined scream no. 
    But something dark inside her hissed yes .

*****

    “So you came back.”
    Serena’s breath caught as she turned around from her seat in the waiting room.  Ellen, the head maid, a motherly red-headed woman in a black dress, had directed her.  Don’t worry, I’ll fetch Mr. Marquette … he’s been waiting for you , she had said with a wink.  Serena hadn’t been sure she wanted her to, but at the same time, she knew she’d never really be able to get away.  Everything about Valentine Marquette consumed her. 
    Val walked into the room, pulling his sleeves up.  Serena stood immediately; it was almost an instinctual action now, like it had always been a part of her to be with Val.  She lowered her gaze as he approached her, ashamed of having run out in the morning without any warning.  She knew how childish it must have seemed.  She felt heat rise to her cheeks and lowered her head further, hoping her hair would cover it.
    “Come, Serena,” he said, motioning to her with a finger.  “Follow me.  I think we need to have a talk, don’t you?”
    Serena followed him with hurried steps as he walked down the hall, biting her lip.  Inside, she worried about the punishment she knew must be coming.  Yet on the other hand, it excited her.  The idea of Val punishing her again was something that inflamed her passion for him, as much as it embarrassed her.
    “I was very disappointed to see you gone when I came back home this morning,” Val said, turning down another hallway in the labyrinth of the mansion.  “I thought we had made an agreement that you were not to go anywhere without my permission.  It was in the contract.  And here I am, having Jacques chase after you like a lost puppy.”
    He made a tutting noise as they turned another hallway.  Serena remained silent as he reached the door at the end of the hallway and pulled out a small ring of keys.
    “We’re going to have a talk, Serena,” Val said, searching the ring for the key for the large gilded door.  “But first, I need to show you something.”  Serena nodded solemnly, and Val unlocked the door with a heavy click.
    “These are your quarters,” Val said, pushing open the door.  Serena followed him in, and her eyes grew large as she took in the sight of it. 
    The room was like Val’s, with a large four poster bed in the corner and a cozy fireplace in the corner.  Unlike Val’s, which was mostly devoted to books and alcohol, half of the room was devoted to BDSM.  A riding crop hung on the wall along with a number of other tools, all displayed above a table that held a