Love Beyond the Mask by Adelaide Sinclair

Chapter 406

Her drunken state was dangerously inviting, and he found himself losing control.

The moment he tasted her, he quickly lost all reason, desire burning fiercely within him.

He had long forgotten whether this was right or wrong.

He pinned her slender legs with his own, biting at her neck as intense emotions poured from his eyes. In a pained and soft voice, he asked her, "If this is all just a dream, Whitney... can I do this?" Whitney mumbled incoherently, confused by the question. Her mind was foggy with alcohol, and her body's instinctual responses left her feeling dizzy with desire.

"Not even in a dream! Ludwik, I despise you so much, it makes my teeth clench. I will never..."

Forgive him?

He didn't want to hear any more of her hurtful words, even her drunken truths were filled with hatred for him. It seemed he really had no chance!

His hand hesitated over her heart, unsure whether to proceed.

Yet, the fire within him pulsed and soared, her allure burning him up inside. Despite knowing he shouldn't...

He gave in, tearing at her clothes. Whitney cried out as he could no longer maintain his gentlemanly facade before her.

"This will be the last time, even in a dream. Don't scream."

He gently covered her mouth, his kisses trailing down as he looked into her troubled, hazy eyes. "I'll be gentle. You won't remember when you wake up. You'll only remember your hatred for me." Tears moistened the corners of his eyes as he lifted the delicate form of Whitney into his arms...

After two hours of turmoil, Ludwik carried the woman out of the bathtub and gently placed her in the bedroom, next to Danny.

He lingered over her flushed appearance before stepping out the door.

"I'm sorry." Ludwik's deep voice fragmented in the air, his handsome face expressionless. "I have to leave." The night returned to silence.

---

Whitney woke from a fragmented dream feeling disoriented. Her head ached, and her body felt unusually sore.

The man in her dream had pinned her against the wall with such intensity that breathing and resisting seemed all too real.

filled with pain as he held her hand, not

threw back the

clothes were

head out from

baffled and asked, "Honey, what are

over. He's leaving Banyan City. He left me here with you to help you get through these

was stunned. Leaving Banyan

the main point was, had Ludwik really come

dream real or just a

burning, Whitney got up, feeling genuinely

as she stripped, and checked her body in the mirror, but found no signs of

was always so forceful, and every time they were together, she'd be left

of the night were fragmented, and she couldn't be sure

she'd let anything happen between them, especially since they hated

and he took advantage, even for a

she couldn't just

all just a dream of his, and letting him know would only

Whitney decided to push those thoughts aside and quickly

teeth, foam all over his mouth as he asked, "Mommy, I

my business."

mourned for his

planning to have Yael take him to the hospital

He really wants to meet his grandchild. He's nearby in this apartment complex. Maybe you should talk

Whitney had Yael take

softly, "There's no need, Keegan. Since I've decided not to go back to the

Banyan City was mysterious. There's a lot that doesn't

"

mom. After those calls, she was so angry she had a heart attack. It wasn't the Bartels on the phone. The Tennysons and Bartels are enemies, mostly because of your grandfather. The person who could make your mom that angry, well, it

someone else might have been involved in her mother's death, possibly within the Sheldon family. Her first thought

uncover the truth about what happened back then, you might have to reconsider returning to

because of Hudson's recent words. If Whitney was in danger from anyone in

was lost in thought, not quite grasping Torin's

Bartels family was to blame. She had, in her own ways, made