The Harem- The Burning Beauty

Chapter Nineteen-The Portrait Maker

 “I did nothing wrong Julius; honestly! I only wished to help them.” Amelia had been trying for too long to convince Julius that she had had the best intentions when it had come to Habashi and Hana. Furthermore she had done nothing provocative at all. For once she had been well behaved and quite helpful. It was moments like this that made her remember why she was such a bitch and why she preferred it over being ‘nice’. The word made the back of her tongue itch just thinking about saying it.

   Julius had been silent in his anger as he strode slowly down the halls. He hadn’t speared her so much as a side ways glance and his hands were clasped firmly behind his back. The silent treatment, was it? She didn’t take well to being ignored and she refused to be even so now. Amelia swept her foot in his path and Julius collided with it. She stepped to the side as he went down face first. Under different circumstances she would have split her sides with laughter at his clumsiness but she was too pissed to summon a snicker much less a smile. He shot her a menacing look and she glared back him. That look may have worked affectively on Cassandra and the rest of the castle but she wasn’t fazed at all by it. To think, all the wrong he had done her and she had quickly forgiven him after hearing his case, and now he refused to even pay attention to her? That was not acceptable and she was not going to stand for it.

“Have I earned your attention now?” Amelia asked quietly, her body quaking with her contained anger.

Julius got to his feet slowly, brushed at his hands and his knees, adjusted a wayward lock of hair that fell upon his face and suddenly gripped her hands. She gasped as he yanked her to him and lifted her off her feet. Her arms were trapped against his chest as he carried her to an alcove that was hidden behind a wall. They brushed by potted plants and running vines while all along she protested.

“Put me down Julius!” she growled, yet still no response.

Amelia felt her back against a wall and his body was pressed hard against hers, keeping her fixed. Despite her anger, there was something absolutely seductive about being handled this way by Julius. The shadowed alcove with its soft whispers of wind and the ever present glow of moon light peeking through an open window, created an atmosphere between them that made their anger fizzle away to something more desirable; lust. Amelia stared up into golden eyes that dare her to say something or to move. His arms caged her at both sides and her vision was full with him and him only. Was she being seduced? She the seductress? Indeed she was from the heat that was making her skin flush and the way her breath came in short gusts; Julius was seducing her. She watched him incline his head as he lowered his gaze to her lips and willed a whimper from her body. My this was intoxicating! She had never truly been on the receiving end of temptation and to think he was hardly touching her and only staring at her. Was this her Julius? Heavens he smelled of sweet vanilla and honey and his eyes pierced her just the same as her love’s but this was something new.

“You…” one word and her body shuddered in response. He saw it and a crooked grin lifted the sides of his mouth.

“Amelia…” the sound of her name and her eyes were closed with a moan pushing its way out of her.

“You have been naughty again…” She bit her bottom lip and her eyes fluttered open as she rubbed her thighs together. Yes, this was seduction of high quality only her kind knew how to do. How was it that her master…