The Hostage Bride Read Free Page B

locking,’ he supplied helpfully.
    With a gesture he indicated a button on the door at his side.
    â€˜You can’t get out until I let you out.’
    It was foolish she knew but just for a second she ignored him. She had to. She couldn’t just give in without a fight.
    But no matter how hard she tugged and twisted, the door handle remained stubbornly unmoveable and at last she had to abandon the futile struggle and sit back again.
    â€˜You might as well give up and make it easy on yourself.’
    Disturbingly, his voice sounded almost gentle, and he had actually managed to inject into it a faint note of concern—one that she had no doubt at all was in no way sincere.
    â€˜We have a long journey ahead of us and you’ll only cause yourself more distress if you keep this up.’
    â€˜A long journey? Where are we going?’
    But her attempt to sound artless and innocent didn’t slip past his defences as she had hoped. Instead it earned her another of those slanting glances, half sardonically amused, half reproachful of the fact that she might think he would believe her.
    â€˜You’ll find out when we get there,’ he tossed over his shoulder. ‘So why don’t you sit back and enjoy the ride?’
    â€˜Enjoying myself is the furthest thing from my mind!’
    â€˜Well, yes…’
    He moved his broad shoulders in a shrug that revealed his total indifference to her retort.
    â€˜But you’ll be a lot more comfortable—and safer—if you sit back, fasten your seatbelt and try to relax.’
    He was negotiating a roundabout as he spoke and, reading the road signs, Felicity saw that they were heading for the motorway that led away from her hometown and directly to London.
    â€˜You’re taking a risk, aren’t you?’ she said sharply. ‘I can read—and I can see where we’re heading.’
    Another indifferent shrug was his only response. Was he really so confident that he didn’t care if she guessed at the route he was taking?
    â€˜Doesn’t that worry you?’
    â€˜Should it?’ he drawled and, as if to emphasise how little he cared, he finally pulled off the peaked chauffeur’s cap and tossed it onto the seat beside him, raking one tanned hand through the sleek darkness of the hair he had revealed. Then glancing up into the mirror again, he grinned widely and wickedly just once, straight into her watchful grey eyes.
    Felicity’s heart kicked wildly, banging hard against her ribs and she bit down sharply on her lower lip, trying to hold back the cry of shock that almost escaped her.
    It wasn’t right. It wasn’t fair ! A man like this Rico—a man who had abducted her for who knew what reasons, who had invaded her life and turned it upside down—should at least look on the outside in some way that revealed the darkness of his inner heart. But in his case it was quite the opposite.
    She could only see just one small part of his face reflected in the mirror but even like that, foreshortened and distorted, he had the sort of potent good looks that hit home like a punch right in her stomach.
    The smooth olive skin, dark eyes and shining jet black silk of his hair all combined with strongly carved cheekbones, impossibly lush curling eyelashes and that sweetly sensual mouth to create the most forceful blueprint of purely masculine beauty she had ever seen.
    She couldn’t drag her eyes away but stared, transfixed,until Rico glanced in her direction once more and caught her stunned gaze. Ashamed at being caught watching him, she looked away sharply, staring down at her hands in pained embarrassment.
    â€˜You really should fasten that seatbelt.’ This time his tone made it plain that she’d do better to obey. ‘We’ll be hitting the motorway traffic soon and, while you might be prepared to put your life on the line by flouting the law, I would prefer that you were sensible.’
    I would