All I Want Read Free Page B

trounced her at chess. She taught him his sums and read to him from books nicked from her father’s library.  
    Until he disappeared without a word.
    She needed to know why.
    But now that she was here, standing atop the stoop she’d only visited once before in her life—right after his disappearance—she couldn’t quite bring herself to lift the brass knocker. Last time, her call had gone unanswered because he’d joined the army without so much as a fare-thee-well. And this time… What if he stood on the other side of the plain wooden door, and still didn’t care enough to answer her knock? How would she go on?
    She lowered her hand.  
    The door flew open.
    “What the devil are you doing here?” Owen. Furious and handsome beyond words.
    Her body tingled all the way to her fingertips. He was not what one might call pleased to see her, but at least he wouldn’t be leaving without saying goodbye. “Good afternoon to you, too.”
    She elbowed past him. Or tried to. He was a fortress, tall and unmovable. He filled the doorway. His strong arms locked around her torso, preventing her from entering.
    Or leaving.
    She closed her eyes and breathed in deeply. When Owen was a boy, he’d been too poor to smell like anything other than soap and sunshine, but now the clean red wool of his military jacket bore the faint scent of cologne. Something rich and spicy.
    A long moment later, he still hadn’t moved. Nor did she wish to. She was pinned too well to wrap her arms about him as she wished. Instead, she laid her cheek against his chest and listened for the beat of his heart. But the thick wool blocked the sound. Even trapped in his arms, she still could not reach him.
    He released her abruptly.
    “I suppose you’ve come to have a look at the goods. And why not? It’s yours.” He didn’t bother to hide the bitterness from his voice.  
    She hitched up her chin. She hadn’t forced him to wager his childhood home on the turn of a card. Her shoulders sagged. Nor had he forced her to take a stance against him. She bit her lip. She’d only wished to prevent her cousin from having something else to lord over Owen, but all she’d managed to accomplish was to drive a wedge further between them.
    “A tour, madam? Your mansion awaits.” He brandished his arm as if he were escorting her into a royal palace. Both his tone and his grandiose movements dripped with sarcasm.
    His anger was well-placed. Nor could she blame him for being displeased with her unexpected appearance. But she had no choice. This was the last time she would ever see him. If she did not take his arm now, the opportunity to touch him, to stand by his side, would not present itself again.
    She curved her fingers against the crook of his elbow before she could change her mind.  
    He tensed, his entire body still as stone.
    She stared straight ahead without blinking. If his expression betrayed displeasure at her touch, she had no wish to see it. “Ready.”
    Without another word, he led her down the hall. He seemed to be avoiding her gaze as assiduously as she avoided his. The muscles of his arm had not relaxed. But although he controlled his steps with the precision of a soldier, his stride was nonetheless graceful.  
    He was comfortable with his body in a way he’d never been as a boy, she realized with a jolt of awareness. Back then, he had been awkward and carefree. Now, he moved with the confidence of a tiger. Lean and strong and devastating. Her heartbeat thundered. No wonder ladies everywhere swooned in his presence. The aura of controlled danger was irresistible. This was a man who knew what he wanted and took as he pleased. It would be heady indeed to be the object of such single-focused passion.
    It would be her darkest desire come true.
    She tugged his arm closer. “Let’s make a new wager.”
    He stopped walking. “A new wager for what?”
    “This. Everything.” She rolled back her shoulders. “All or nothing.”
    His eyebrows arched.