The Clever Fox: Part Two (The Pleasure Hound Series) Read Free

keep each.
    But that was impossible, her wild imagination at play. She tried to wrangle it in, yank the idea out before it could root. Her Mother had always warned her of the dangers of an active imagination. Methodical, peer-reviewed contemplations was the only lane to allow the mind to travel.
    Alyss ducked out of the door. She heard the door click closed behind her.
    “Lady Alyss?” His voice was soft, but it carried to her. “Let’s keep the fighting inside the chambers, shall we?”
    Alyss turned. He was right there in front of her.
    “My husband is off limits,” his soft voice was firm.
    “Your husband?”
    “Adom.”
    Alyss blinked. Adom? Her Adom? She didn’t even know that Adom was bonded.
    “Use whatever tactics you want against me,” he continued. “Bat your eyelashes, flip your hair, show off your breasts. But don’t use him.”
    “Tactics? You think I’m using Adom-“
    “Stay away from him or I’ll tell everyone you’ve been posing for his artwork.”
    The threat didn’t have the bite Alyss expected it to. She merely blinked. She saw the dawning on his face when he realized her lack of fear at the prospect. He changed his tactic.
    “I’ll tell them how you’ve been posing. That you were…roped into it.”
    Alyss ran her fingers protectively over her wrists. “What Adom does…”
    She couldn’t finish the sentence. She knew little about love, but from what she witnessed of her sister and her cousin, she knew when you loved someone you helped them achieve their dreams. Not dash them away.  
    “Why would you want him to stop?” she asked. “Why wouldn’t you want him to share his talent with the world? I’ve never seen a male who could do what he does.”
    Alyss would never have that opportunity to even try to achieve what Adom could do with a brush. Her artwork would never see the light of day. But Adom’s work, it had to. It was important. She didn’t know why, but she knew it was the truth. When people saw what he could do with color and lines…
    “He has a chance to change the world,” Alyss continued. “The way we all see the world, and you would stop him?”
    The male looked at her, dumbfounded. “Tomorrow you will go into a chamber and try to take away one of his basic rights; a basic right of all males to determine their own destiny. Yet you want to lecture me on my relationship?”
    They stood outside of the door of the Chamber of Health and Sciences. If someone heard their conversation she could be thrown out of the Sisterhood. Her spot as an apprentice, her future forfeited. That thought didn’t terrify her as much as the thought of not returning to Adom’s studio. The idea of not returning to Adom this afternoon was unbearable.
    “Stay away from my husband.” He walked away.  
    She didn’t know his name, so she couldn’t call out to him. She scurried after him and grabbed his arm. The corded muscles of the strong bicep pulsated under her fingers. He stopped, stiffened, at her touch.
    “I’ll make a deal with you.” She heard the desperation in her own voice, felt her body being shoved back into the cocoon, felt her fingers suffocating.
    He yanked his arm away from her.
    Alyss reached into her bag. She pulled out the printed report from her Mother. His eyes widened seeing the title of the document. She knew he didn’t have access to this information. “It’s yours…”
    He reached his hand towards it.
    She withdrew the document at the last second. “As long as you let me see Adom.”
    He put his hand away.
    She placed the document between them like an offering. “If this bill is as important to you as you say it is, then the information in this report will be of great value to you. The price is a few more hours with Adom. A few colors on a canvas.”
    He studied her. “Why? Why do you want to sit for my husband?”
    How could she explain how Adom’s art made her feel alive? How his ropes took all the pressure away? Alyss needed it, or she would