Forbidden Craving. Gena Showalter

protect you.”

      In that, she believed him. An odd but undeniable fact.

      She searched the rest of the room but found no other doorway. Disheartened—yes, that had to be it—she dug through the closet. A few feminine garments were mixed in with the array of masculine shirts and leathers. From past lovers?

      Probably. Not that she cared.

      Really!

      Almost defiantly, Shaye selected a black T-shirt and a pair of pants she had to roll at the ankles. More comfortable, she moved to the window and parted the violet curtains.

      Her eyes widened. Oh, wow. Thick, dew-kissed trees—some as bright as emeralds, others as white as snow—circled the landscape. Clear waterfalls spilled into pristine rivers while rainbow-colored birds soared overhead.

      Absolutely magnificent.

      In the heart of it all was a crowded city pulsing with life. Buildings of stone and wood created a maze of winding streets. Fading streaks of light emanated from the dome above, twilight giving way to night.

      The crystal dome also acted as the sun, she realized.

      She would have loved to visit the city, to stand in the midst of such spectacular beauty and bask.

      “This has to be close to heaven,” she breathed.

      “We call it the Outer City,” Valerian replied.

      “A boring name for a specular paradise.” Her gaze swept over the cliffs; she spotted bull-faced men with horns sprouting from their heads, beautiful women with horse bodies—centaurs?—and lions with wings.

      “There was no need to travel to my world, Valerian,” she said. “Your perfect mate was here all along.”

      “Only you would do, Moon.”

      Her stomach tightened. “Annnd that’s the end of our conversation.” Shaky legs returned her to the bed, where she eased onto the mattress.

      “I’d like to bargain with you,” Valerian said. “Let’s negotiate.”

      Her brand-new heart arrhythmia acted up again. “What are you offering, exactly?”

      “I’ll be silent for the rest of the night...if you give me a compliment. A real one.”

      Dangerous territory. She would have to consider all the wonderful things about him and most assuredly, she’d begin to melt. Diabolical man.

      If she were home, she would be alone right now. And lonely, her mind piped up.

      Lonely was safe. Lonely was familiar.

      A hot ache squeezed at her chest.

      “Why are you doing this to me, Valerian? You could have any of the other women. Someone who would eagerly come to you...who would do anything you asked of them.”

      “They aren’t you.”

      A simple sentence, yes, but it rocked her to the core. “What’s so special about me? I defy you to name one thing.”

      Silence stretched between them, and it both elated and defeated her.

      How stupid could I be? She’d actually craved praise from him. “You seriously need this much time to think about it?”

      “You asked for one thing. I’m having trouble deciding which one to mention.”

      Her anger deflated. This man...oh, this man.

      “How about I tell you three things?” he asked.

      “Sure,” she managed to croak.

      “Your scent is so incredibly sweet, I could pick you out of a crowd of thousands, even if I were blindfolded. You remind me of a rose—there are thorns, but beneath them, your soul is as soft as silk. You fascinate me. You are brave, but vulnerable. Kind but selective. Jaded yet hopeful.”

      She reeled. No one—not her mother, father, stepbrothers or stepsisters, or an endless string of nannies—had ever made her feel so important, so necessary, with only a few softly spoken words.

      She barely knew Valerian. In their short time together, she’d railed at him, desired him, cursed him and attacked him. Now she wanted to storm out of the bedroom and throw herself into his arms. To be the brave girl he considered her to be, to destroy every wall she’d ever built and melt every piece of ice surrounding her heart.

      This. This was the danger of the nymph, she realized. Not the beauty or the physical strength. Not even the pheromone Valerian had mentioned.

      This. The belief that you were special. That you would be different from every other woman seduced and discarded. That a happily-ever-after wasn’t just possible but imminent.

      How was she supposed to resist him?

       CHAPTER NINE

      VALERIAN SPENT THE entire night posted in front of Shaye’s door, hyperaware of every move and sound she made. Only a few minutes ago, she’d drifted to sleep with a heavy sigh. A quick peek inside the room had confirmed his suspicions, her lithe form sprawled across the bed, her hair spilling around her like a snowy curtain sprinkled with starlight.

      She was a winter goddess. A snow nymph. His greatest satisfaction and most decadent pleasure.

      Ripe for the taking...

      Her eyelashes were light, only a shade darker than her hair. Her lips, those soft, lush, all-your-dreams-come-true lips were parted, begging to be kissed.

      He wanted so badly to touch her.

      “I’ll have you yet,” he told her. “Say nothing if you agree with me.”

      Silence greeted him, and he grinned.

      “Dream of me, Moon. I’ll dream of you, I have no doubt.” If he slept at all.

      The pink tip of her tongue swept over her lips. A wave of desire swept through him as he imagined meeting her tongue with his own. The two twining, dueling, tasting.

      Devouring.

      His stomach clenched, and every muscle in his body turned to stone. He needed to leave...at the very least, to look away from her. Already he clung precariously to a sense of honor he wasn’t sure he possessed anymore. The longer he stood there, the worse it would be for him.

      How he longed for the night she would breathe her sighs in his ears, or across his chest—or lower still. And how dare Joachim attempt to lay claim to her!

      Valerian scowled. Shaye was meant for him, and only him, and those who thought otherwise deserved a painful death.

      He’d never wanted anything as much as he wanted her, and not being able to have her immediately was...hard. Very, very hard.

      I have to win her. I cannot let another have her.

      Perhaps his cousin would become so enamored of his current lover he would forgot all about Shaye. If not...well, Valerian would just have to think of something Joachim would find irresistible. Something he would place above the importance of a bedmate.

      Joachim was a good man—at times—and a strong warrior with a—slightly—loyal heart. What were the man’s weaknesses? Women? Beyond a doubt. Women were the weakness of all nymphs. Power? Definitely. Weapons? Most surely. Joachim collected them, taking them from every warrior he’d ever killed or bested and hanging them on his bedchamber wall.

      Valerian considered his own blade, resting against his back. The Skull. Large, sharp and lethal. One of the finest swords ever made. No, the finest ever made. Crafted by Hephaesteus himself, the blacksmith of the Greeks. The weapon had slayed many of his enemies, rending them with injuries that could not be mended. The sword was the only one of its kind, with a twisted frame and elongated skull tip that were envied by every soldier who spied