Read One Reckless Night for Free Online Page B

unfathomable excitement.
      You could wish on the moon, she thought hazily, remembering the old childish superstition. And if you turned a piece of silver over in your hand and bowed three times your wish would come true. But she had nothing to wish for.
      And she knew, even as the thought took shape in her mind, that she was lying to herself.
      She recognized with sudden, shocking clarity exactly what she would wish for-if only she dared...
      She thought, I want this night never to end. I want to go on being Susie. I want...
      And she stopped there, her mind closing against the unspoken, unutterable plea. All the breath seemed to leave her body in one gigantic, soundless gasp. She could feel the coins clenched in her hand, biting into her flesh.
      The temptation to turn them over, to obey the ritual and accept whatever fate decreed would follow, was almost overwhelming.
      Almost-but not quite. From some corner of her mind a remnant of sanity intervened to save her, reminding her precisely who she was and what, in fact, he was.
      A total stranger, she thought stonily, gulping the sweetness and the pain of the night back into her starved lungs. A stranger, moreover, light years removed from her in background and aspiration. Someone she wouldn't have given a second glance to in her busy London existence. Someone she'd been unwise to allow anywhere near her. Someone already well aware of the effect he had on women, as his redheaded admirer could probably attest.
      She gave the moon one last look. You pathetic fool, she told herself savagely, and she turned to go back into the hall.
      Only to yelp in fright as she cannoned into a tall figure standing behind her.
      He steadied her without particular gentleness. 'This is getting to be a habit. What the hell are you doing out here?'
      'Moongazing,' she said. Her voice sounded odd, as though it didn't belong to her. 'I-I needed some fresh air.'
      'Trudy's punch tends to have that effect,' he said grimly. 'Bill told me you'd been back for seconds.' He took the empty glass from her hand and shook his head. 'This stuff should carry a government health warning. Not to mention all the other things you drank during dinner.'
      Zanna stiffened. 'I hope you're not implying...'
      'I'm stating a fact.' His arm was like a band of steel round her waist as he guided her back into the hall. 'From now on it's orange juice for you, Susie, if you want to be fit to drive in the morning.'
      She hung back, glaring at him. 'Maybe I should just go back to the Black Bull and sleep it off.'
      He snorted impatiently. 'You're really keen to be on your own again, aren't you?'
      No, she thought. Suddenly I'm not any more, and it scares me. I want to feel safe again-self-sufficient and safe-like I did yesterday, and all the days before that.
      Aloud, she said stiltedly, 'Look, I'm sure you had plans for tonight-people you wanted to meet here.' She could see the redheaded girl watching them avidly from the other side of the room. 'I must be spoiling things for you. If you'll just introduce me to this caretaker friend of yours, I can leave you to enjoy your evening.'
      He looked at her for a moment, his brows drawn together in a frown, then he sighed abruptly. 'Don't run out on me, Susie. At least, not yet.'
      The music had started again, another slow, beguiling waltz, and before she could think of a viable excuse Jake had swung her effortlessly into his arms and back onto the floor.
      'Relax,' he said laconically into her ear as she stiffened. 'Stop fighting me-and the world.'
      His arms tightened, drawing her close against him. She felt the warmth of him penetrating through the layers of clothing to her own skin and beyond. Felt the frozen, frightened core hidden deep within her begin, unbelievably, to dissolve away, leaving something unknown, new and vulnerable in its place.
      She knew that she should not-could not allow this to happen. That suddenly the danger she'd