Dangerous Diana (Brambridge Novel 3) Read Free Page A

you.”
    “On to me? But my name is not Diana!”
    “Of course it isn’t. Why would any queen of the underworld give out her real name? Although Diana is an exceptionally apt name for you, Diana the huntress, just like a viper!”
    “Viper? What are you talking about? I’m not like a snake. Wait a minute—I’m the Viper? But you are the Viper!”
    Hades laughed, setting his whisky glass down on the table with a sharp click. He snorted and laughed again. These were the kind of jokes he liked. When the villain pretended to be something other than what they were, when in reality they were trapped. It was good to have so a worthy opponent.
    Carter staggered back in with the coffee and biscuits, followed by the audible sounds of Arturo’s pattering paws. Hades clicked his fingers; however, instead of going first to Hades, the comical dog clipped straight up to the Viper and laid his head on her knee.
    The Viper blinked and, in an uncertain fashion, brought her face down close to the dog. Arturo yipped and licked her on the nose. Sneezing, she fumbled stiffly at her skirts and with a surprised look, wiped her face on her cloak.
    Blasted dog . Hades huffed and swept up a coffee cup. “He likes biscuits.” He shook his head. What was he saying?He slammed the cup back down on a delicate saucer on the coffee tray. “I will keep you here until you tell me where you keep the documents. Don’t think I won’t harm you if you try to escape.”
    The Viper squinted at him a little above Arturo’s head and in a very small voice said, “Earl Harding? Is that you?”
     

CHAPTER 2
     
    Miss Melissa Sumner took a shallow deep breath in as she narrowed her gaze and squinted again at the powerful form of the earl.He levelled a gaze at her that spoke of irritation and disdain. Oh dear, not again . She smiled weakly and tried not to move as the library chair dug into the back of her trussed legs.
    “Where are the documents?” he demanded again, sitting forward in his seat, a lock of brown hair falling down across his forehead. Melissa blinked as the memory of dancing with him swept over her. He had been as irate then as he was now.
    A warm head pressed gently against her thigh. The funny looking spaniel that had entered the room after the earl laid his ears against her knee and proceeded to nuzzle her calves.
    “Arturo, come here!” The earl frowned and clicked his fingers. “She doesn’t have any biscuits.” He clicked his fingers again.
    But Arturo didn’t stop. He turned his head to his master and with a small woof laid his head on Melissa’s knee. Slowly lifting her bound hands, Melissa rested her shaking fingers on the little dog’s head and pushed them into his silky fur. The dog rumbled at the back of its throat as if in comfort.
    “Arturo, that is the Viper! She has killed many men… do stop… cuddling her.”
    The dog looked back at its master and woofed again.
    “Yes she is. Just look at her. The beautiful temptress. You know she tried to trap me before, tried out her feminine wiles and novelty by pretending to be mute, but still giving me her name… I nearly fell for her dangerous game… Diana .” The fire in the earl’s voice was palpable, a rage simmering just below a full storm.
    Feminine wiles? “I am not Diana, as I have told you before.” Fumbling with her bound hands, Melissa slipped her brass spectacles back on and hunted for a part of her lenses to look at him through, but the knock the butler had given her when hefting her through the front door had very much shattered the already partially broken glass. “I only said Diana, because you were wearing a red carnation at the time and it was the only thing I could see. Dianthus Carrolus if you must know. I happen to like flowers.”
    “Devil take it then, why did you pretend to be mute?”
    Melissa shook her head blindly and stopped stroking Arturo’s ears. “Isn’t it obvious now? Didn’t the lack of glasses give it away?” An unfamiliar