Sensual Danger (Venice Vampyr #4)

Oriana’s voice trembled almost unnoticeably when she continued, “Signore, surely a gentleman like you wouldn’t force himself on a woman who doesn’t welcome his attentions.”


As she backed farther into the room, he followed suit. His eyes fell onto the large four-poster bed that fairly invited him to throw her onto it and make her his.

He leaned closer, making his chest connect with her bosom. At the contact, his body heated, but the sensation lasted for too brief a time, because his reluctant wife sidestepped him, intent on escaping his attentions.

Slowly, he moved his head from side to side, giving her a chiding look. “Did I mention that a wife has duties too?”

With defiance glaring from her beautiful blue eyes, she took a deep breath. “No gentleman would force a woman, even if she was his wife. Is that what you want, signore? To bed a wife who is disgusted by a man’s—” She hesitated, her gaze drifting away in embarrassment.

“ . . . prick?” With satisfaction, he heard her release an outraged huff. He’d used the vulgar word on purpose, wanting to coax a reaction from her. “There’s nothing disgusting about it—not if he uses his manhood well. And let me assure you, I know how to please a woman with it.”

“Hah!” she cried out, then lashed an angry glare at him. “From what I’ve heard, there is no pleasure to be had by a woman. It is merely meant to satisfy a man.”

He chuckled. “From what you’ve heard? Pray, my sweet wife, what is your source for this untruth?”

“Are you calling me a liar?” She threw her head back, a curl escaping her beautiful coiffure in the process.

Nico gave a cursory bow, smiling to himself for the brief moment, while his face was turned away from her. He hadn’t expected to spar with his bride during their wedding night, at least not verbally. “Far from it. I only question the validity of your sources. Once a piece of information changes hands too many times, it is often distorted.”

“My information comes from a woman who has experienced this first hand!”

“A married woman?” he asked politely.

“Yes! And from the complaints I’ve been made to listen to during her visits, I daresay the poor woman is suffering dreadfully, having to endure her husband mounting her for his vile pleasure, leaving her in pain and shame on a nightly basis.” She lashed an accusatory glare at him. “I don’t care to share the same fate!”

Relieved that Oriana’s objection to the marriage bed lay only in misinformation and was something he would be able to remove quickly and swiftly, he smiled.

“I apologize, my dear Oriana. Of course, I would never subject you to shame and pain. No husband ever should. I fully understand your concerns now, and let me assure you that I have no intention of doing what your friend’s husband is subjecting her to.”

He heard her sigh in relief, and noticed how her shoulders relaxed. “Thank you, signore. I’m pleased to know that you understand. I’m sure with this obstacle out of the way, our marriage will be an agreeable one.”

Nico shook his head lightly, realizing that she had clearly misunderstood his words. “Agreeable? It will be more than that. And the obstacle that you speak of has not been removed. It has merely been pushed to the side for tonight.” With two long strides, he crossed the distance that separated them. “Because I promise you, when I take you to bed, you won’t feel shame or pain, you’ll feel pleasure and desire. And you won’t refuse my advances, because you’ll be begging me to drive into your sweet body and make you mine in every sense of the word.”

Oriana’s face turned ashen. “Oh God!”

Taking her hand, Nico brought it to his lips and placed a soft kiss on her knuckles. “For tonight I’ll let you rest, but tomorrow, I’ll show you how a husband treats his wife properly. And I promise you, when your married friend visits again, you won’t have any complaints to share with her. Whether you’ll want to confide in her how your husband makes you scream with pleasure, is for you to decide. Maybe, if she’s a good friend, you would want to give her details she may pass on to her husband, so she too may experience pleasure instead of shame.”

Then he bowed and left her chamber, pulling the door shut behind him. Leaving her tonight was the hardest thing he’d ever had to do, but he knew it was necessary, because his wife had to be seduced—thoroughly. And in her current frightened state, she wouldn’t respond to him. He had to catch her off guard.





5


Oriana tossed and turned half the night. Her husband’s words had shaken her. He wasn’t at all what she expected a husband to be like. First of all, he seemed utterly unconventional, repeatedly calling her by her given name and asking her to do the same. She’d refused and stoically continued to call him signore, even though she’d wanted to try out his name on her tongue.