Lady of Seduction Read Free Page B

Grant dropped a necklace onto her blanket-covered lap. It was the locket she always
     wore, a gold oval etched with a shamrock and set with tiny emeralds and seed pearls. Inside was a portrait of her namesake,
     Anna’s new baby Caroline, called Lina.
    “Your child would have missed you,” Grant said quietly.
    Caroline opened the locket to stare down at Lina’s painted blue eyes and soft golden curls. The tight gold lid had protected
     the image. “I only have stepchildren, who are all grown and married now. Lina is my niece, Anna and Conlan’s baby.”
    Grant’s shoulders stiffened at the mention of their names. Anna, whom he had once hoped to marry.
    “Did you not know about their children?” Caroline asked him gently. “They have two now, Daniel and Lina.”
    “We are very isolated here. I know nothing of anyone now, and that is the way I prefer it.”
    His tone was cold, abrupt, yet some imp living deep inside Caroline made her argue. That imp always did get her into trouble.
     “But don’t you even want to know…”
    Suddenly his hands were hard on her shoulders, pressing her back down onto the bed. He
was
strong now, his body all lean muscle and heated power. His face was hidden in deepest shadow, but his eyes burned into her.
    “I want to know nothing,” he said fiercely. “I came here so I could be alone and forget. Why have you come here, Caroline?
     Why do you torment me?”
    She couldn’t breathe. Her heart pounded, louder than the stormy thunder outside. His nearness sizzled throughher, and all she knew was
him.
The hard heat of him, the clean, smoky-brandy smell of him. It felt more intimate than any of those hurried encounters with
     her husband in the darkness of their marriage bed.
    He seemed to feel something of that heat, too. His hands turned gentle on her shoulders, sliding down her arms to take her
     hands. His fingers, rough and callused now but still long and elegant, twisted with hers. He held her against the bed as he
     slowly lowered his forehead to rest against her shoulder.
    His hair was soft on her throat, his breath cool against her bare skin. She kissed his temple and felt the vital pounding
     of his life’s blood against her lips.
    “Why, Caroline?” he whispered, his voice filled with rough torment. “Why are you here?”
    “Because I had to see you again,” she said simply. “I just had to. That’s all.”



Chapter Four
    G rant stared down at her in silence for a long, tense moment. Caroline suddenly felt nervous. What had she really gotten herself
     into, coming here to Muirin Inish? She was so far from everyone she knew, anyone who could help her, and any number of dangers
     could lurk here.
    She had to remember why it was so necessary to come here. Why she couldn’t stay away.
    “I think you should get some sleep now,” he said. His voice was gentle, which only made her feel more nervous.
    His hands slid away from her, and he started to turn away, but Caroline reached out and grabbed his hand. She didn’t know
     why she kept him there. She had so much to think about, plans to make now that she was trapped here on the island. And she
     definitely couldn’t think with him standing so close, clouding her senses, making everything so topsy-turvy.
    “Grant, wait,” Caroline said. “I didn’t mean to trespass on your hospitality. I was only going to come here, ask you what
     I needed to ask, and leave on the next tide. I never meant…”
    A crooked smile touched his sensual lips, and for an instant, he seemed like the old Grant Dunmore. Handsome, charming—careless.
     But then it vanished, and he was that hard, wild stranger again.
    “You didn’t mean to use your Blacknall witch-woman powers to summon the storm?” he said. “I’m surprised to hear that.”
    He glanced down at her hand on his, and she suddenly realized that she still held it tightly. Flustered, she let go, and he
     stepped back from the bed. He crossed his arms over his chest, still