Read The Pleasure King's Bride for Free Online Page B

conveniently forgetting she even existed.
    The means to an end...that was all his child had meant to her husband...all his wife had meant to him, too.
    Special and loved... the words kept drumming through her mind, evoking a fierce surge of need to have Jared make her feel special, make her feel loved.
    He instantly turned his gaze to her, as though he was instinctively attuned to her feelings and he’d caught this one right at its crest. Whatever he saw in her eyes, his suddenly blazed with a heat that scorched any denial of what flowed between them.
    Her breasts started to prickle with excitement, and a sweet, melting sensation spread towards her thighs. Despite the danger signals her body was sending, she could not wrench her gaze from the hot promise of satisfaction in his. She wanted him to prove that promise, to deliver all she craved from him, making reality of the persistent fantasy that he could and would be the one to make her feel what Laurens had never made her feel, not even on their honeymoon. Yes...
    Jared didn’t say the word out loud but she felt him saying it, heard it throbbing in her mind, running through her bloodstream, zinging along every nerve in her body, building a wild exultant demand that went beyond sanity or common sense.
    From behind her came a sudden swirl of wind, ruffling her hair, feathering her skin, and a clap of thunder directly above them made her heart leap, yet still that look from Jared held her, burning with an elemental force that defied other elements.
    Vikki Chan reappeared. Alicia kept the old woman busy with conversation. The table was cleared. Alicia had sticky hands and she was invited to the kitchen to clean them properly. Advice was tossed back as they departed.
    “Better close the shutters on the south side, Jared.
    The rain will come in with that wind.”
     It all washed over Christabel.
    Jared stood up, so tall and handsome and quintessentially male, he was like a magnet, drawing on all her female instincts, forcing the recognition that some things couldn’t be stopped. They were as inevitable as the rain, falling now in heavy drops on the tin roof.
    The wind caught the loose sides of his white shirt, billowing them out. His tanned skin gleamed under the lantern light.
    “The shutters,” he murmured, but he didn’t move and she knew that he, too, was caught in this thrall of compelling attraction, not wanting to break it.
    “I’ll help you.” The words spilled from her lips, unbidden, and her legs pushed up from the chair so that she was standing, matching up to him.
    “Come with me,” he said.
    And she did, her heart pumping wildly as they moved into action together, sharing the task, keenly aware of the mutual feelings driving them.
    The shutters were held open by metal rods. These had to be unhooked, lowered, and bolts shot home to secure closure. The wind blew fat splattering raindrops at them as they worked down the southern veranda in tandem—six shutters in all—with Jared, faster than she was, helping her with the last one.
    He was so close, close enough for her to smell him, touch him, and she couldn’t bring herself to step away. Her breathing was fast, shallow, out of control. Jared pulled the shutter down and they were enveloped in darkness, a warm, steamy, intimate darkness—the wind and rain shut out, beating at the house but unable to reach them.
    She heard the metallic scrape of the last bolt being pushed into place. Everything was fastened down now, safe, except for all the feelings she’d tried to suppress running rampant, urging that the darkness be used to find out what she wanted to know, ached to know.
    She heard Jared’s breath whoosh out and knew it carried unbearable, pent-up tension. Then he was turning to face her and every nerve in her body was taut with anticipation, waiting for the first touch, the first proof that it was right for this to happen. It had to be right. It had to be worth breaking all the rules she’d set. It