T is for Temptation Read Free

to William the Conqueror.
    “I see,” he said, unimpressed. “I’ve heard some of the men at the Union Club talk about down the islands . What does the term mean? Trinidad is, after all, an island. Does it refer to the sister isle, Tobago ?”
    They passed the impressive national sports stadium; it put any regular US sports arena to shame. Trinidad, referred to as the Hong Kong of the Caribbean, invested its surplus oil revenues in structures designed to impress the rest of the world, and its national team had made it to the World Cup soccer finals, a feat both envied and celebrated by the rest of the islands making up the archipelago.
    The inside of the vehicle cooled, and Jake stabbed a button to set the current temperature. Inside a cool seventy degrees, the outside digital readout glowed ninety-two.
    “Not at all. Trinidad was once part of South America , actually part of Venezuela . Most experts think a plate shift caused it to break off from the continent. When that happened several small islands formed between the two countries, and that’s what we call Down the Islands,” she said, her fingers forming quotation marks around the phrase. “Um, some families have homes on the islands. Vacation homes.”
    A rosy hue warmed her skin, and she averted her eyes. Jake interpreted her silence to mean members of the old-moneyed upper class of Trinidad and Tobago owned these vacation homes. No plebes in this neighborhood.
    “It’s actually wonderful. I spent most of my childhood either on a boat or a horse. Being down the islands is like having your own tropical paradise. Dad and I used to go down every Saturday and fish, either trolling for deepwater big catch or banking for smaller snapper. Fishing is so relaxing.”
    Total shock had his foot tapping on the brake, and the car jerked in response. The last activity he ever imagined Tee enjoying and participating in was fishing. It didn’t go with his image of her, a vulnerable feminine puzzle, always dressed to perfection, managing to captivate and charm in a delicate way.
    “You fish?”
    “Yep,” she said, and genuine pleasure at his shock glistened from those wonderful eyes with their golden shimmer.
    His fingers tightened around the steering wheel, and he strained to contain the delight the sheer sight of her impishness wrought.
    “I much prefer deep water, though. I like a good fight.”
    He couldn’t prevent the words. “I know you’re an expert equestrian, but fishing?”
    “I can clean, gut, and scale a fish faster than anyone I know.”
    His eyes flew to her, and the picture her words painted surprised a chortle out of him.
    “Shocked you there, didn’t I?”
    A little devil lit her face, and she scrunched her nose.
    “Unlike the image my family likes to present of me, I’ve been riding since I was six and began taking care of my own horses by myself”—she emphasized the last two words—“since I was ten. I de-tick manes, ears, and parts of a stallion most people would rather not mention. I learned how to shoe a horse before I was a teenager. I am not a simpering female, even if I did go to damned finishing school.”
    She folded her arms under those luscious breasts and glowered at him.
    He held up a hand. “Hey, have I said a word?”
    “Oh, please. You should have seen the look on your face. Fishing and de-ticking were the last activities you ever thought me capable of.”
    “Tee, I like you exactly the way you are, de-ticking and all,” he said, smiling like an adolescent teenager thrilled to have his biggest crush opening up to him.
    Her reaction set his heart into a wild staccato and his prick into a happy stretching. She blushed, ducked her chin, and peeped up at him, those saucer big browns entrancing and wide with shy innocence.
    “Oh.” Color skittered across her skin, and she twiddled her thumbs, one circling the other.
    Silence fell.
    He shot her quick surreptitious cuts, wondering what troubled her, as the miles flew past and