Read Until Forever for Free Online

because if a storm was coming she’d have to close them. The windows had no eaves to keep the rain out, not with the mammoth attic above this floor, which had ceilings high enough for it to be converted into an entire third floor if she had the inclination or the wherewithal to do it.
    But her eyes didn’t quite reach the windows, and a small shriek of fright accompanied the sight of a man standing in the corner of her room. And not just any man. It was him , the one who called himself Thorn Blooddrinker—Barry Horton’s idea of a joke. Impossible! She blinked, but he was still there. And her beleaguered, tired mind just wouldn’t accept it.
    Barry wouldn’t carry a joke this far, to include paying for this man to come all the way to England. Would he? On the other hand, if the man had been scheduled to come there anyway, for some other reason, then Barry would jump at the chance to continue his little joke, since it had worked so well the first time he’d arranged it.
    It was definitely the same man who had shown up in her classroom that night. His face, his body too, for that matter, were unforgettable, and just as fascinating as she’d found them before. She was attracted to him on a purely physical level, and not at all happy with that realization.
    It wasn’t something that happened to her often. The few times she’d been drawn to a man because of his looks, nothing had come of it, because the attraction wasn’t mutual. And there had always been that tiny bit of curiosity in wondering what it would be like, having the chemistry just right. But not with this man.
    He was dressed a little differently than before. Not in a normal fashion, however. He was still in costume, but—tattered was how she would describe his new apparel.
    The pants and boots were the same as before, or very similar, but he was wearing a long-sleeved tunic now in a somewhat white color, loosely belted about the waist and completely ripped down the front. It took her a moment more to realize that the dark spots she was seeing on the cloth could be blood, and another moment for her to register that there was blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.
    He’d been fighting, and the moment she drew that conclusion, another leaped into her mind. “Oh, God, you didn’t hurt David when you broke in here, did you?”
    “David? It was my brother, Thor, I was beating. ’Tis rare he will fight me anymore. Send me back now , woman. I wish to finish—”
    She had failed to note that the anger was there again in his expression. She couldn’t mistake it in his voice, however, because his unusual accent was more pronounced with it. Joke or no, it was disconcerting to have a manof his size in her bedroom, and sounding so vastly annoyed—with her. She would, in fact, have been truly frightened, if she weren’t so angry herself.
    So she cut him off with “Put a lid on it, mister. I don’t care how long it took you to rehearse those lines, you’re not playing to an appreciative audience. This foolishness has gone too far. I’ll have you and Barry both brought up on charges if you persist—”
    He did some interrupting himself. “You summoned me, lady. I do not come willingly to your command.”
    Her eyes narrowed on him. “So you’re not going to drop it? Do you really think I find this amusing? Barry has misinformed you if he told you I would.”
    His expression suddenly changed to one of curiosity. “You have berries that speak here?”
    That caught her off-guard. “What?”
    “I am partial to blue.”
    “Blue—?”
    A sound of pure frustration escaped her when she realized he was talking about blueberries. But before she could verbalize it, he said, “On second thought, lady, if you have summoned me for a bedding, my brother can wait.”
    He was staring at the towel around her as he said that, and the few inches of her upper thighs that were visible to him from where she stood on the other side of the bed. Her face flooded with