The Man Within by Lora Leigh

didn’t know what to say, what to do. She felt fragmented, dazed by the events that were happening too fast to allow her to catch her breath, to make sense of what was happening.
    She breathed in roughly, pushing her fingers into the pockets of her robe, fighting the panic blooming inside her. Okay, she couldn’t kill him. She was sure the others in his family would consider that a no-no. No matter how damned bad she needed to shed his blood now. She was okay. It was just a house. She was going to have to leave it behind anyway. She should have expected this.
    The little pep talk wasn’t helping. She could feel something inside her chest thickening with pain at the thought of the home she had slowly been creating. With her own hands, blisters and blood she had made it worth living in, made it something worth having rather than the eyesore it had been when she was younger.
    “Roni, you have a home here now…” Taber’s voice only fed her fury. It was soft, remorseful. As though her pain was breaking something inside him. The loss of her home had been nothing compared to the agony she had faced when she had lost him before.
    “Do I?” She fought the surge of adrenaline that cried out for a fight as she turned back to him, watching him with brooding fury. “With you, I presume?”
    “With me.” His expression hardened as he said the words.
    “Poor Taber.” She sneered. “Stuck with me after all. Not exactly what you envisioned for a future mate, am I?”
    He watched her with a slight frown and no small amount of heat in his eyes.
    “I actually never imagined anyone else.” He finally shrugged, confusing her further. “Though I can tell you aren’t exactly pleased.” And why did it seem to bother him so much, that she wasn’t pleased?
    So where was the man who decided he needed more of a woman than she was? His attitude wasn’t making sense to her. Unless it was just the hormone or whatever the hell it was driving her insane. The thought that a drug, no matter how natural, was their only bond broke her heart.
    “Not exactly pleased would be a little mild for my reaction.” She made certain her smile was all teeth and no warmth. Her pussy was hot enough to make up for it, though she had no intention of letting him know that any time soon. The adrenaline thundering through her system seemed intent on building the arousal that much higher. “Where are my clothes?” She ignored the cramps building in her womb as she turned away from him.
    She didn’t even have a home now, and she couldn’t allow herself to believe that anything she could have with Taber would last longer than it took for her to become pregnant. Where would she be then? She had to leave, had to run, or she would never be free of him.
    Taber sighed heavily behind her. “I know you’re scared, Roni.”
    “I’m not scared.” She fought back a shudder of pure sensation as heat sizzled between her thighs. Then made sure the look she gave him glittered with her need for retribution. “I’m mad. So get the hell away from me before I take your head off like I should have done when you put this damned mark on me. Where the hell are my clothes?”
    She re-entered the bedroom, determined to ignore the man stalking behind her. She could feel him and he wasn’t even touching her.
    “Your clothes are being washed,” he told her, his voice too soft, too carefully controlled as he came up behind her. “Roni, you’re in pain. It doesn’t have to be this way.”
    Roni stopped at the bottom of the bed, gripping the footboard with desperate fingers as her stomach clenched almost violently. She closed her eyes, fighting the man, fighting the knowledge of what was happening to her with everything inside her. God, she was so weak, because she knew that despite the unnatural height of the arousal, she would have still found it hard to resist him, to maintain her fury. His voice was soft, regretful, reminding her of the years he had always been there