The Temptress Read Free Page A

her father. “Good night, Ty,” she whispered and fell asleep again.
    When she woke again, it was full daylight and at first she thought she must be dreaming, for around her was a place of fantasy. Tall, tall trees towered overhead, blocking the sun, everything covered with gray-green moss or ferns, everything so soft. It was as if she were at the end of the earth.
    Near her, Mr. Prescott slept soundly. It felt to Chris that she was the only person alive on earth.
    Slowly, she got up, stood and stretched. The eerie forest seemed to be utterly and totally silent. In front of her was what passed for a path, little more than a rut in the greenery. They’d come in from the right so now she took the left path.
    She was no more than a few feet from the camp but, as soon as she turned a bend, she felt alone. She may as well have been a hundred miles away from another human. She kept walking, no more than a few yards on the springy forest floor, and she thought she heard water ahead of her.
    Another few yards and she could see a rushing stream below and to her right, with big boulders in the water covered with patches of black moss. Suddenly, the only thought that Chris had was of the bath she’d missed two days ago. She thought with regret of the tub full of hot water that she’d had to leave behind. Why couldn’t the men have stayed inside the closet until she’d finished bathing? Of course they might have if she hadn’t opened the door to the wardrobe. Stayed in there and watched her, she thought with a grimace as she ran down to the water.
    Now, all she could think of was getting clean again and she had her clothes off in a second and was wading into the water. It was icy and took her breath away but she wanted to be clean more than she wanted to be warm. She washed while standing behind a cluster of boulders so that if either of the men came from the camp, they wouldn’t be able to see her, and she was close to the edge of the forest so she could make a run for it if necessary.
    She was just finishing her bath and regretting her impulsiveness because she didn’t have a towel with her when she thought she heard a man whistling and looked up to see Mr. Prescott coming down the trail. Quickly, she ran from the water, grabbed her clothes and ran into the forest—only to run smack into the hard chest of Tynan.
    For a moment they were both too astonished to speak. The lush, abundant greenery of the forest deadened all sound and two people could walk into each other without seeing or hearing anything beforehand.
    Tynan’s hands caught and held her, his fingers moving down her back as he stepped away from her just a bit so he could look at her naked body.
    â€œMiss Mathison, I’d recognize you anywhere,” he said with a smile.
    Chris, with a cry, pushed away from him and ran a couple of feet to get behind a tree, where she began to dress with shaking hands.
    â€œThe water’s really too cold to be taking a bath, Miss Mathison,” he said and there was laughter in his voice. “Not that I haven’t enjoyed all your baths, but next time, I think you should ask me first. I wouldn’t want you to catch cold.”
    Chris could think of nothing to say as she dressed. All day yesterday, during that long ride, she’d fantasized about this mysterious man and had begun to believe what she’d asked Asher about, that he was probably deformed or disfigured in some way and that’s why he didn’t want anyone to see him. But even in the few seconds that she’d had to look at him, she’d known he was the most beautiful man she’d ever seen. He was very masculine, with generous features, perfectly formed lips, eyes of a brilliant blue, a big, square jaw, and black hair that curled about the collar of a shirt that repeated the color of his eyes.
    When she was dressed, Chris stepped from behind the tree. He was sitting on the ground, his back to