She came to him as she always did, her exotic kohl-lined eyes dark as midnight, her full lips stained blood red as she taunted him. âYou know what I want.â
Lord Alec Wright trembled with both fear and pleasure, well aware of his visitorâs desire. He tried to speak, but she covered his mouth with her cool, smooth hand, silencing him. The sweet, spicy perfume of myrrh, which had been rubbed into her skin when sheâd been entombed centuries earlier, nearly overwhelmed him.
âNo more empty promises,â she said, a sad smile slipping onto her lips, her eyes fathomless. She ran her free hand across the smooth lines of Alecâs chest, rousing the desire she used as punishment for his crimes.
Alec steeled himself against her touch, fighting the arousal she stirred so easily with her luscious beauty. Death had forever sealed her exquisiteness, and, with his selfishness, he had condemned them to be bound together until he fulfilled her one and only wish.
She snaked her hand downward until she reached the head of his erection. Encircling his engorged length with her palm, she stroked up and down, dragging a moan from him.
âSuch strength.â She bent her head to kiss the side of his face, still covering his mouth with one hand while tempting him with the other. Her power kept him pinned to the mattress as she wrought her torture.
Alec murmured a protest and fought against the desire threatening to consume him, but she only laughed and tenderly bit the side of his neck before working her way down his body. Soon her lips were poised just above the head of his cock. The bittersweet smile turned wicked as she licked the tip of his foreskin and dragged a moan of pleasure from him. âYou cannot resist, even though you know what will follow.â
No, he couldnât resist her. He had never been able to resist the allure of his darkest needs. As the âspare heir,â heâd found his parents had cared little for what he did. No matter what, their attention had always been on his older brother. Alecâs failure to earn their approval had led him to try ever more outrageous activities to snare their notice, even if his behavior resulted in disapproval. That self-destructive bent was what had brought him to this: a life of pleasure-pain spent searching for a way to satisfy a mummyâs desire.
She took him into her mouth then and moved on him, working him with her tongue and lips. Her full, generous breasts rubbed along his thighs, creating even greater need.
He wanted to touch and taste, to feel their lushness in his mouth, but he was caught in the web of her power and could not move, could not truly enjoy her. Because the passion with which she dominated him was her punishment for his misdeeds.
She aroused him even more, drawing out his need until he was shaking beneath her.
With a satisfied laugh, she left him poised on the edge and faced him, determination in eyes black as midnight.
âYou know what I want.â
She finally released him from her dominion so that he could whisper a sibilant, âYes.â
Before his eyes, her skin lost its creamy olive hue and became pale as alabaster. A heartbeat later her striking features eroded as her skin became dust as dry as the Sahara. An unseen wind rose up, blowing away her features until she was a faceless entity above him.
She opened what was left of her mouth and keened with centuries-old pain. The sound ricocheted inside his skull, bringing distress so powerful that it pulled him from the nightmare.
Alec bolted up in bed, breathing heavily. His body was hard and aching from the desire she had awakenedâa brutal desire he was cursed to endure, alone, until he fulfilled her one and only yearning: to reunite with her child.
In his head came her keening cry once more, reminding him of the loss she had suffered not once, but twice. First when her toddler had died of a fever, and then again when Alec had taken the childâs preserved body from beside the womanâs mummified remains.
Gritting his teeth against the agony of her wail, Alec rose from the bed and shuffled over to a table, his erection almost painful. He drew in a shaky breath, willing his desire to subside as her presence faded, leaving him with some semblance of peace.