Read Only With Your Love for Free Online Page B

couldn’t wait for her until morning.”
    André clutched his throat harder, twitched once, twice, then closed his eyes. Slowly the pudgy hands relaxed.
    Griffin sheathed the knife back in his boot and turned to the bed, ignoring André Legare’s dead body. He stripped off his jerkin and began to unbutton the black shirt, while his searing blue eyes swept over the woman’s still form. Dark bruises marred her skin. She needed fattening—she was slender enough that the points of her hipbones were sharply prominent.
    But something about her awakened a primal urge that nearly undid him. Griffin was troubled enough by the momentary loss of self-control to waste precious seconds looking at her. Her breasts were small but perfectly curved, adorned by tiny pink nipples. He wanted to put his mouth on them. Slowly his gaze moved down her flat abdomen to the triangle of delicate golden curls. It would be so easy to climb on top of her, relievethe aching pressure that was rapidly building between his legs. He dropped his shirt on the bed and put his sleeveless jerkin back on. She watched with a vacant stare while he untied the leather straps around her wrists. Her skin felt downy and cool underneath his fingers.
    “What is your name?” he asked in French, pulling her to a sitting position. She was pliant and motionless. He repeated the question more harshly, wondering if her mind had snapped.
    “Celia,” she whispered.
    He was relieved by the fact that she was able to answer him. “We don’t have much time, Celia.” Deftly he stripped off the remains of her gown and pushed her arms through the sleeves of the discarded black shirt. She didn’t move as he fastened it over her naked body. “You do everything I tell you. Understand?”
    She looked at him with that blank stare. Cursing, he searched the room, found a half-empty bottle of rum, and brought it back to her. As he raised it to her lips, she recovered enough to protest and push it away. Griffin cupped his hand around the back of her head and brought the bottle close again. “Drink it, damn you, or I’ll pinch your nose shut and pour it down your throat.”
    Trembling, she took a swallow of the sharp liquid and gasped as it burned through her innards. “Oh—”
    “Again.”
    Obeying the stern voice and the uncompromising hands, she let him tip the bottle into her mouth once more. Another two gulps, and she felt as if she had been set on fire, inside and out. Color rushed over her white skin. She looked intoGriffin’s bearded face, and then down at herself, as if just realizing what had happened.
    “Better,” he said quietly, seeing that the blank look had gone from her face. He set aside the bottle and helped her off the bed. As soon as her feet touched the floor, she tried to twist away from him. He pulled her against his body and pushed her head back, glaring into her terrified eyes. “Listen to me, you little fool. I’m your only chance in hell of getting off this island. And after what I’ve just done for you, there’ll be a price on my head that even my own men will find tempting. You’ll go where I tell you, and do exactly as I say, or I’ll wring your neck.”
    There was no hint of softness in the sinewy body pressed against hers. He could kill her with a mere twist of his wrists. Shaking uncontrollably, she glanced at the floor, at the crumpled, bloodied mass that had once been André Legare. “Yes,” Griffin said softly. “You understand what I’m capable of.”
    “Do not hurt me,” she choked. “I’ll do whatever you say.”
    “Good.” He let go of her and pulled off the cord that held back his long black hair. Celia did not move. Gathering the folds of the gaping shirt together, he tied the cord around her waist. The garment hung on her slight frame like a tent, reaching to her knees.
    “Wh-why did you come for me?” she asked.
    “Because I fought for you and won. And no one takes what is mine.”
    “What do you want of me?”
    He