The Proud and the Prejudiced (22 page)

“What do you want?” she asked. “I don’t know what
you want from me.”

Mason gripped her upper arms, forcing her eyes to
meet his. He knew he’d made a mistake the moment her warmth bled through the
silk of her robe and into his palms, sending a ripple of sensation up his arms
and down his body. "Why did you lie about knowing Judith?" he asked,
his voice low and gravelly but not in the terse tone he used to intimidate a
witness. No, she might not recognize it, but he could hear his lust cradling
each syllable.

She squeezed her eyes tight as if to prevent her
tears’ escape, but instead it forced them down her cheeks. “I wasn’t lying. I
don’t know her. I don’t remember her. I don’t remember anything.”

He lifted one hand from her arm and brushed the
tears from her cheek with his thumb before running it across her bottom lip.
Her eyes remained closed, and his chest rose and fell in rhythm with hers. He
leaned in close enough to inhale her breath.

“Don’t,” she said without force.

He shuffled his feet forward the few inches
required for his body to brush against her breasts. “How can you not remember?”

“Th-the accident.”

He brought his mouth down, barely touching hers,
his tongue tasting the salt of tears on her lips—those lips he had wanted to
kiss from the first moment they’d met

“Please,” she said on a puff of air and tried to
pull away from him, but he tightened his hold on her arm.

“Please what?”

“Please…don’t kiss me.”

“I think you want me to kiss you.” When she said
nothing in protest, he pressed his lips to hers and gently pulled first her
top, then her bottom lip into his mouth. He held her chin between his thumb and
fist to lift her face.

Tears still streamed down her cheeks, but she
opened her eyes and shook her head. “I…I can’t do this.”

Mason trailed his finger down her throat to the
opening of her robe, stopping just over her heart, and she trembled with a
hitch in her breath.

“What do you mean you didn’t remember her because
of the accident?”

“I have…gaps, memory loss.” Her tears had begun to
wane.

“I’m going to kiss you again.”

“No,” she whispered when his mouth hovered mere
millimeters over hers. He dropped his hand from her arm to the small of her
back and pulled her against him, and she gasped at the unmistakable evidence of
his arousal. “I’m not ready for this.”

“Because of your injury?”

“Because of the infidelity. My husband. He hurt
me.” Her words pinched his heart and he nodded. “I can’t be with a man—any man.
I can’t trust anyone. I don’t even trust myself to have the sense or judgment
to know who can be trusted. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to trust anyone
again.”

Mason laid a soft kiss on her mouth, tugging her
bottom lip gently between his teeth. He lifted his face just enough to look at
her. In time, he could teach her to trust again, at least to trust him, but it
would take patience—and perseverance. He thought she might be worth the effort.

“If you want me to stop,” he told her, “if you
really mean it, say ‘apple.’”

Alicia furrowed her brow and blinked before
meeting his stare directly. “But I told you to stop.”

“Yes, but you didn’t mean it.” The color rushing
into her cheeks proved him right. “I will only stop if you say ‘apple.’
Understand?”

She responded with a single, slow nod, never taking
her eyes off him. When he covered her mouth with his, he ran his tongue along
the seam of her lips, and she opened for him. He wrapped both arms around her
then, holding her tight, and she placed her hands on his shoulders. As his
tongue swirled inside her mouth, she leaned against him and released a low,
moaning sigh. He allowed the kiss to continue and to deepen, in part because he
wanted to prevent her from using the safety word, but primarily because he
didn’t want to relinquish her delicious mouth. Although he would never call
himself a connoisseur, he could detect the subtle notes of cherry, chocolate,
and plum from the wine on her tongue.

Available now in print, audiobook, and all eBook formats.

(Contains
light bondage and elements of Dominance and submission.)

Coming soon!

In this thrilling, suspenseful, page-turning
romance, DEA agent David Alvarez invested four years in deep undercover
infiltrating the ruthless Sonora Drug Cartel only to have his primary target
gunned down by a rival gang. Now his only hope in salvaging the operation and
bringing the largest drug trafficker in the world to justice lies with the
man’s beautiful, young widow Catherine, whom he cannot bring himself to trust.

Catherine would do anything to break free from the
clutches of the cartel, but despite her desperate efforts, she can never escape
the mistakes of her past that continue to haunt her.

Even though he cannot deny their mystical, mutual
attraction, David must carry out his orders—from both the DEA and the
Cartel—catching Catherine in a spider web of duplicity and deceit. How far will
David go to bring down the cartel? If he succeeds in winning the widow’s trust,
would he be willing to risk her life…or his heart?              

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Colette Saucier has been writing poems, short
stories, and novellas since grade school. Her interest in literature led her to
marry her college English professor, but eventually a love of history
encouraged her to trade up to a British historian. Technical writing has
dominated Colette’s career for the past twenty years, but finding little room
for creativity in that genre, she dedicated 15 months traveling to Europe and
Britain, researching Regency England and vampire lore and literature, to complete
her first full-length novel
Pulse and Prejudice
. (Austenprose Readers'
Choice, Top 5 Books of 2012).

Pulse and Prejudice
was the 1st Place
Winner in its category in the 2013 Chatelaine Awards Romantic Fiction Contest
and is listed in Chanticleer's
2013 Best Book Listing
. It has been
meticulously researched for historical accuracy and remains faithful to
nineteenth century literary conventions and Jane Austen's narrative to create a
compelling, thrilling paranormal adaptation of
Pride and Prejudice
.

Colette was selected a "2013 Amazon
Breakthrough Novel Award" Semi-finalist and named "Debut Author of
the Year" by Austenprose for
All My Tomorrows
—now expanded and
republished as
The Proud and the Prejudiced
—which was also chosen
Austenesque Reviews "Favorite Modern Adaptation" for 2013.

Colette's latest release, the romantic thriller
Alicia's
Possession
, was the publisher's #1 Bestselling Romantic Suspense for 4
straight weeks following its debut in June of 2013 and then again in January,
2014, after being voted a "Top Ten Romance Novel of 2013″ (P&E
Reader's Poll).

Colette's next release is the romantic suspense
thriller
Viuda.

Colette is currently researching and writing a
sequel to
Pulse and Prejudice
entitled
Dearest Bloodiest Elizabeth
,
which follows the newlywed Vampire Darcy and his bride Elizabeth from the
salons of Britain to Antebellum New Orleans.

She lives in South Louisiana with her historian
husband and their two dogs.                   

www.colettesaucier.com

www.facebook.com/ColetteSaucierAuthor

colettesaucier.blogspot.com

www.SouthernGirlPress.com