Through the Looking Glass Read Free Page B

just wasn’t ready for that, so she put on the dress. It fit as if it had been made for her, yet another suspicious coincidence in a string of iffy circumstances. Even the embroidered satin shoes they gave her fit.
    Rabbit’s eyes glowed when he saw her. Slowly, he clapped. "Well done, Madam Rose. His highness is definitely giving you a bonus for this one."
    Madam Rose managed to preen and look humble at the same time. "Thank you, your--er, Rabbit."
    "Can I have my clothes back now?" Ali asked tightly, convinced by now that she was in the middle of a very bad dream. She wasn’t a fool--she saw where this was going, and it was more than time to throw on the brakes.
    Rose and Rabbit cast her a glance, one disbelieving, one amused, but neither produced her clothes.
    Hatter poked his head in the door. "Hey," he drawled, looking her up and down. One hard look from Rabbit wiped the leer from his face. "Uh, the carriage awaits. Bud’s ready to go."
    The carriage turned out to be a white car straight out of League of Dangerous Men. Bud, attired in a Hawaiian print suit and chaffer hat, held the door open. Ali took one look at it and balked. "Uh, no. Actually, I have a pressing engagement elsewhere, so I’m going to have to skip your little get together…."
    Rabbit flashed his killer grin and wrapped his hand around her waist, steering her toward the car. "You don’t like my transportation? I’m hurt, baby. Really hurt."
    Her stupid little slippers couldn’t get any traction, and it wasn’t for lack of trying. With Rabbit sweeping her on and the ditsy flower girls waving them off, Ali soon found herself deposited on the white leather seat. "Should’ve kicked him," she muttered, sweeping her skirt out of the way so he wouldn’t sit on it.
    "I wouldn’t," Rabbit advised as his henchman shut the door. His eyes swept over her again with pride and pleasure. "I’m almost sorry you’re wearing that dress--it’ll show if I muss you up."
    She glared at him. "You’re taking me to marry some dumb prince, aren’t you? Admit it! You tricked me. You’ve planned this the whole time!"
    He leaned back, half turned on the seat, his arm stretched along the back. "I made you run away? I don’t remember that part."
    Had it been physically possible in a seated position, she would have stamped her foot. "You kissed me!"
    "You liked it."
    "But you planned to marry me off to someone else!"
    He looked at her carefully. "Did you hit your head somewhere along the way?"
    She looked out the window and grit her teeth. Fine. So he was the kind who would take what he could get. It didn’t matter to him who she was or what she wanted, just as long as he could get a little free entertainment. In the advent she actually set eyes on this mysterious prince, she planned to give him an earful. Maybe he’d chop Rabbit’s head off for her.
    "Are you pouting?"
    "I’m brooding."
    "It looks like pouting from here."
    She said something very rude, not bothering to look at him. When she could no longer stand his silence, she risked a glance at him, then wished she’d kept her mouth shut. His cool, aristocratic expression made her shiver.
    "You’re in sore need of some discipline, sweetheart. Maybe I can remind you of a few things." Before she could panic and pound on the black glass privacy screen, he reached over and scooped her up, depositing her rear firmly on his lap. Grasping her chin in one businesslike hand, he bent his head and demanded a kiss with such finesse that she gasped. Leisurely, his tongue swept inside and mastered her with such sweet savagery that she moaned.
    "Firebrand," he whispered against her wet lips, deepening the kiss.
    She jerked away, gasping, "You’re giving me to someone else who will want to do this." The knowledge burned.
    "Nobody else can do this," he said confidently, taking her mouth again with such mastery that she cried out as hot pleasure lit white sparks behind her eyes. When he let her breathe this time, she was no