Secrets of Seduction Read Free Page B

chair, he folded his arms over his chest. “Very well. You have five minutes.”

Waiting for her
response, Hawk watched Lady Skye, unwillingly entranced. Even wet and bedraggled, she was lovely. Her face was fine-boned and classical; her hair a shade of champagne silk; her wide eyes the vivid blue of a cloudless summer’s day, a reflection of her uncommon name.
    Contrarily, she didn’t reply to his decree at once, merely leaned closer to the hearth to dry her damp tresses. The firelight behind her rimmed her ivory profile and shimmered through the curtain of her hair as she used her fingers like a comb.
    Her movements were unconsciously sensual and made Hawk swear an oath under his breath. Granted, he’d gone too long without female companionship to satisfy his carnal needs, but why this particular female roused such a powerful ache in him, he couldn’t say.
    The impact had begun the moment he opened his front door to her. Lady Skye caught him completely off guard, a feat even his worst foes rarely managed. Andwhen she’d fallen into his arms, his baser instincts had taken control, instantly hardening his loins.
    It was his body’s unwanted reaction, in addition to learning her identity, that had made his tone gruffer than normal.
    She was still affecting him painfully now. If he were to conjure up a sexual fantasy, Lady Skye Wilde would fit the role exquisitely: lithe figure, ripe breasts, feminine grace, enticing warmth. Not overly tall, she looked somewhat delicate, like fine crystal, but he suspected her fragility was an illusion.
    She was definitely a novelty, though, intruding into his bleak, nearly deserted house at this late hour and insisting he give her a hearing. Bold, yet charming as the devil … or a siren. For a brief moment he’d even wondered if she was part of an enemy scheme. In his profession, it wasn’t unusual to employ beautiful sirens to gain vital secrets.
    Yet he did recall encountering Lady Skye a decade before. The enchanting girl was clearly a grown woman now, with her damp gown molding her elegant curves. She smelled of fresh rain and roses, a scent that wreaked havoc on his senses. And that smile of hers … That smile could slay dragons—or render a man witless.
    Doubtless he was suffering the effects of too much brandy, but this was still the most aroused he’d been in years.
    Hawk stirred uncomfortably in his desk chair, knowing he damn well needed to hold his lust in check. For one thing, Lady Skye was Isabella’s niece by marriage. For another, she was an unaccompanied female in his household. No honorable man would take advantageof her vulnerability, even if she
had
willfully orchestrated this compromising situation herself.
    He had best be rid of her, just as soon as he heard the cursory details of her proposition—which admittedly had surprised him as much as her unexpected arrival.
    Hawk shook his head to reduce the alcoholic haze and repeated his warning of a time limit, prodding her to get on with her explanation.
    “I am not certain five minutes will be enough,” she replied easily. “It is a long story.”
    “Then you had best begin.”
    She did not seem at all intimidated by his abrupt manner. Indeed, just the opposite; her blue gaze seemed understanding and sympathetic as she launched into her tale.
    “You may know that Isabella’s late third husband, Lord Henry Wilde, was the younger brother of my uncle Lord Cornelius.”
    Hawk nodded, aware that the vivacious, half-Spanish widow had wed three times, the last to a British nobleman’s son. Bella was now in her midforties, but her beauty and charm were still turning male heads. “Go on.”
    “Well, Lord Cornelius is only a distant relation to my branch of the Wilde family, but my brother Quinn and I think of him as our true uncle. He took over our legal guardianship when I was ten, along with that of my three Wilde cousins after all our parents perished when their ship sank at sea.”
    Somewhat