Stella stomped away from the fire on her way to the lake with the tears still streaming down her face. She reached the lake and started to pace back and forth.
"How dare he speak to me like that!" her mind screamed. "I am of age to make my own decisions! I'm an adult! I can pick whoever I want for my husband!" she added, kicking a rock across the water. "He couldn't even tell me what was wrong with him! He can't keep using ‘because I know what’s best for you’ as an excuse!" She stopped pacing and took a deep breath. "He doesn't know everything. How long will he continue to treat me like a child?" she wondered out loud with a heavy sigh. "You are absolutely right, my lovely. You are an adult, able to make your own decisions."
She turned to the mesmerizing, deep voice and smiled. The man leaned against a tree a short distance away and was intoxicating to behold. He wasn't overly large, but solid and strong. His long legs crossed at the ankles and the pose all but lifted the bulge in his snug-fitting pants so it pointed at her. His dark features and high cheekbones said he may have had gypsy blood running through his veins, but it was his eyes that gleamed like a starry night that pulled her to him.
"Jared, hello. How did—" "Oh, I know many things about you, Stella. Like how incredibly sexy you are and how much I want you." Suddenly she was unsure. "Oh. Well, my father says—" He moved so quickly she barely had time to blink before she found herself in his arms. Her heartbeat picked up immediately. She was engulfed by his aura of sensuality. Her knees almost buckled. Looking into his eyes, she saw so many things: strength, power, lust and something else… Suddenly she was frightened. Captured by him her body responded to his closeness, getting more excited by the moment, but still there was darkness in his eyes that sent a chill through her…and yet she still couldn't tear herself away.
"Yes, Stella, I see comprehension dawning deep within you. I told you I know many things about you and one of those things is," he leaned close to her ear and added, "You should have listened to your father."
Stella gasped as full comprehension grasped her mind and fear gripped her heart as Jared’s teeth moved pass her ear on its way to her neck.
