“Oh? No fight left?” Matthew murmured dryly, watching Scarlett’s defiance ebb away with faint amusement in his dark, fathomless eyes.

It drove her into further red-faced indignation. But no sooner had her humiliation surfaced than Matthew seized her chin between thumb and forefinger, his voice coated in provocative grit. “Do you need a reason to stop biting?”

And like a tempest rupturing her control, his mouth descended upon hers with calculated dominance. ...