Night of Fire Read Free Page A

sophisticated and wealthy businessman could barely catch his
breath and had broken out in sweat. How could they when many of his fellow
celebrants were under the same spell?
    A kink in his neck forced him to look down. The crowd had
shifted, blocking his view of the performers. He started to look for a way to
get closer and then…
    She was all in white, a single, nearly transparent layer of
lace that shimmered over her ripe body. The gown, if it could be called that,
was caught by a thin gold belt made from what looked like rope. Unless he was
wrong, there was a knife or dagger attached to the belt.
    She stood apart from the others, a small island of stillness
in a surging tide of humanity. Her hair was black and long and loose, trailing
down her back. She was barefoot. Young.
    She smiled at him.
    Holy shit. If I’m going to die tonight, what a way to go.
    It didn’t seem possible, and yet she made her way to him
without having to dodge bodies. It was almost as if she were a creek flowing
effortlessly around all obstacles.
    When she stood a couple of feet from him, he took a deep
breath, hoping to calm himself. She had large green eyes and smelled of
lavender, and no two ways about it, that near cheesecloth she was wearing
didn’t hide a thing. Her breasts weren’t particularly large but high and full
and firm and luscious. She didn’t have much of a muff, what there was of it
appeared as dark as her hair. Just like that, his cock stood at attention.
    She looked down at him as if appraising his equipment. “It
is ready?” she asked in a smooth, lilting tone.
    He’d seen some easy lays in his life, but this was
ridiculous. “You don’t mince words, do you?”
    “Mince words? I do not understand.”
    Now that he’d gotten over his initial surprise at being
approached by a goddess, he took note of her formal-sounding speech. Besides,
much as he wanted to, there was no ignoring the dagger. Whatever he did, he
wasn’t going to piss the lady off.
    “Maybe we’d better back up here a bit,” he said. “If this is
a come-on, I’m interested, but I believe in laying things out on the table with
an armed woman.”
    “Back up? What table?”
    What was she, slow-witted? Drunk or on something? Ripe as
she might be for the plucking, he’d never taken advantage of a woman. Despite
the argument he was getting from his cock, he wasn’t going to change now.
    “Did you think I was someone else?” He had to nearly yell in
order to make himself heard.
    “No, I know who you are.”
    Yeah, right. The only person he knew in Edinburgh was
Paul. “Do you?”
    A large woman jostled the black-haired beauty, causing her
to stumble. “You are Taurus,” she said as she righted herself.
    “Taurus? From the zodiac? You’ve got to be kid—what makes
you think that?”
    “The Lady told me.”
    What lady? As Alice would say, things were getting curiouser
and curiouser. However, unlike Alice, he wasn’t particularly interested in an
explanation. Despite his all-but-legendary success with women, the truth was
that his world didn’t revolve around the opposite sex. Like he’d told a few of
his envious male acquaintances—except for Paul who’d grown up in foster homes
himself, he didn’t really have what he could call friends—once you’ve humped a
hundred women, it gets to be pretty much the same thing. Those acquaintances
hadn’t agreed with him, but that’s how he felt.
    Until tonight.
    “I appreciate the compliment but—”
    She leaned forward and cocked her head. “I cannot hear you.”
    That he could remedy. Doing what he’d wanted to since he’d
first spotted her, he draped his arm over her slender shoulder and drew her to
his side. He’d expected her to be more substantial. Instead, she felt almost
childlike. Shit! How old was she?
    “I said—” He spoke into her ear, fought the desire to take
her hair between his teeth and nibble it, to trail his hand down to her breast
and tease her nub into hardness.