Read Temptation & Twilight for Free Online

If the occupants of that room were gawking at her, that was their problem, not hers.
    Just as she opened her mouth to give him a scathing set-down, he leaned forward, and she felt a faint wave of heat against her cheek.
    “How can you go about like this, knowing everyone is watching?” he growled. He was closer now, his breath fanning her mouth. She could smell the Scotch, almost taste the sweet spice on her tongue. “I canna bear to see it.”
    When she would not answer, he pressed closer, the heat of his body greedily absorbed by her traitorous one.
    His mouth was even closer now, next to her ear, his voice almost a caress. “You show too much, Lady Elizabeth, reveal what is meant to be kept hidden, to be indulged and shared only with one that may appreciate the gift.”
    “As I am completely blind, my lord, I have no idea what you are talking about. Just what am I showing?”
    “I refer to the garment you have chosen to arrive in.”
    “What could be the matter? It is an evening gown, sir.
    Or have I had the misfortune to leave the house without my dress? Is that it? Am I naked?”
    “You might as well be for what little it covers up.” His voice had changed. It still held anger, though she could not fathom why, but there was something else there, and she reached up, smoothed her hand along her throat, to discover for herself what atrocity Alynwick saw displayed before him.
    “That gown,” he rumbled in a dark, seductive voice,
    “is an invitation to sample what you so willingly display.” She stiffened at his absurd statement. “I have no notion what you insinuate is being displayed.” BOUND GALLEY EDITION March 23, 2012
    9780373776627_CS5_txt.indd 36
    12-01-31 4:03 PM

    CHARLOTTE FEATHERSTONE
    37
    There was a smile mixed with the edge in his voice.
    “Lass, you ken damn well what I mean.” His body shifted, and hers jumped as if being lanced with a lightning bolt as she felt the smooth texture of his nails grazing the mounds of her décolletage. Oh, God, he’s running the back of his hand along me.
    “Such a sight, lass, makes a man dangerous,” he murmured, though Elizabeth could hardly hear him for the roar of blood in her ears, and the outrage that made rational thought impossible. “Such a display is just what a man needs before he dies.”
    His lips followed the path of his fingers. Those seductive lips of his, which could pleasure and tease, or thin with cruelty, were grazing her chin, working down the column of her throat as he gently inserted his fingers into the cleft between her breasts. “Oh, aye, to die in arms such as this, and to be buried in such soft, lush flesh, is what every man should wish for.”
    “You are drunk, sir,” she cried, her fingers fisting in the folds of her silk gown.
    “Not too drunk, luv,” he drawled before flicking the tip of his tongue in the hollow of her throat. “No’ so far in my cups not to be able to pleasure ye the way yer asking for by wearing this gown and revealing all this creamy flesh.”
    “It was not for your benefit, I assure you,” she retorted, but he only chuckled as he lowered his head and allowed the silken ends of his unbound hair to cascade over her bare shoulder.
    “Nevertheless, lass, I’ll take what I can get.” Determination paid off, for she waited, breathless, as Alynwick slowly dragged his mouth across the expanse of her bosom. When she could see him in her mind, she BOUND GALLEY EDITION March 23, 2012
    9780373776627_CS5_txt.indd 37
    12-01-31 4:03 PM

    38
    TEMPTATION & TWILIGHT
    raised her hand and struck him hard against his cheek, the sound a loud crack in the quiet.
    “I am asking for nothing. You, on the other hand, are asking for another sharp slap.” He laughed, reached for her wrists and raised them high above her head, holding her captive. She was stunned by his reaction, shocked that he had not been at least startled by the sound slap she had given him.
    “Do it again, Beth,” he rasped, and the name on his