Read Dark Blue: Study in Seduction, Book 1 for Free Online Page B

hardly be likely to admit to it, would I? Especially as I’m now your tutor, and, despite the fact we’re virtually the same age, I’m responsible for your pastoral care as well as your education.”
    She tried to sift out the implication of his words. Was he saying he was there, yet he’d never confess to it? That he regretted meeting her…touching her…making her come? No matter how cool and unruffled he seemed, how hard he tried to blank her, she knew . She clenched her fingers to stop them from trembling. He was a man who wanted to be defied and challenged, and she could not stop herself from rising to it, no matter what the consequences.
    “Alex, come on. Why don’t you put me out of my misery and say it. We both know Elena was hosting the party, though I have no idea what your connection with her is.”
    He stepped forward, closing the space between them to a foot, his voice silky. “Put you out of your misery? Hmm, that’s a curious choice of words. Let me give you this tip. If I was at this kind of party— if —I think I’d be very careful to keep my attendance a secret, particularly if I’d been told by the hosts never to mention it. Rules may be boring; however, they’re usually in place for a very good reason, and you appear to have broken at least one of them.”
    Broken his rules.
    Those were the precise words he’d used while they waited for the cabs, and he’d left her in no doubt of what the consequences of her defiance would be if he ever got her alone. Now he’d thrown her a lifeline, and it was driving her insane with frustration.
    And perhaps that was exactly what Alex Lemaitre wanted.
    “I…I see,” she said quietly, submissively even, playing his game, hoping it was a game, not a genuine rejection. “Then I must have been mistaken, and I can only apologise for embarrassing you, Professor Lemaitre.”
    He glanced at his watch and smiled pleasantly. “Oh, you haven’t embarrassed me, believe me. Far from it. Now, I’ll see you for your Jane Austen tute at four o’clock as planned. Please try very hard not to be late. I’m a reasonable sort of person, despite what you may have heard, but I do have a thing about punctuality.”

Chapter Four
    Emma pointed at Carla’s plate during college dinner a few days later. “You’ve not eaten much. Is the turkey curry not to your liking, madam?”
    Carla poked at the yellow mush, trying to find anything that resembled poultry.
    Emma grimaced. “I thought it was a good idea to have the veggie option, and this crap claims to be tofu-and-spinach casserole. Still, the menu says we have summer pudding for afters. Oh, here it comes.”
    Emma rubbed her hands with glee as the hall porters slapped bowls of dessert in front of them. Just a few metres away, Alex sat at high table with the other fellows. Carla and Emma had arrived at hall early and bagged a bench closest to the dons so Emma could check out the cut of his trousers to test her theory. Carla thought he looked so hot in his jeans and academic gown, he could ignite the dry sticks in the fireplace next to him, all on his own.
    She also hated him so much she could scream.
    “I’m a reasonable person,” he’d claimed in the cloisters.
    Reasonable ? After the way he’d treated her in their group tute that afternoon? Oh yes, Alex was as reasonable as Attila the Hun. Despite slaving over her Rochester essay for days, Alex had quietly and ruthlessly skewered it. His words still stung her now, sharper than any chastisement could ever be: “ Aren’t we rather ignoring the elephant in the room? The political and satirical poems of Rochester’s work are important, of course, but to relegate the sexual content of his work to two paragraphs is somewhat evading the issue, don’t you agree?”
    The worst part was his implication that she was too embarrassed to deal with the swiving and fucking. It had been excruciating, and she’d hesitated whether to agree with him or not. She’d fought back