Assassin's Heart by Monica Burns Read Free Book Online

stubborn as Lysander. I’m betting the minute the two of you have it out with each other you’re going to be in bed together faster than someone can say f otte .” Speechless, Phaedra watched Cleo smile with satisfaction. “Interesting. Phaedra DeLuca doesn’t have a comeback for a change.

    “I don’t have a comeback because you sound like a lunatic.”

    “Not really. In case you haven’t noticed, whenever the man thinks no one’s watching him, he can’t take his eyes off of you.” Cleo arched her eyebrows and popped another grape into her mouth.

    Phaedra froze at the other woman’s statement, her heart skipping a beat. Was it possible Cleo was right? But if he cared, why didn’t he do something about it? Why would he have shut her out the way he had? It didn’t make sense.

    “Have you thought about seducing the man?” Cleo’s voice filtered through her thoughts.

    “W hat? ” She gaped at her friend’s mischievous expression. Appalled at the direction of the conversation, she shook her head vehemently. ” No. Absolutely not.”

    “Not willing to risk failure, eh?”

    Riled by the comment, she clamped her jaw shut before she said something else she’d regret. The notion of seducing Lysander was far too tempting a thought—not to mention a hopeless one. The fact was she wasn’t willing to risk failure. Failure would mean an even greater heartache than she was experiencing now. She shook her head.

    “I’m not going to let you provoke me into doing something stupid. So drop the subject.”

    Clearly disappointed, Cleo grimaced as the small desk clock chimed the hour, and she immediately sprang to her feet. “Cr ap , I’ve got to run. Ciao , bambola.”

    With that final parting shot, her friend was gone, leaving her in a state of confusion. Left alone, Phaedra stared at her surroundings with a sense of fear. Could she do what Cassiopeia had done in her dreams? What would happen if she tried to seduce Lysander as Cleo had suggested. Did she have the courage to even try? She blew out an angry sigh of disgust.

    She was crazy. No, Cleo was crazy. Falling into bed with Lysander was something she did only in her dreams now. Dreams where he was Maximus and he loved her. But that’s all they were, just dreams.

Chapter 4

    ROME, SEAT OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE
    310 A.D.

    HE watched her. From the open doorway of the small spa, he studied the voluptuous curves of her body as she stepped out of the marble bath. A slave tried to cloak her in a pristine white cloth, but with an elegant wave of her hand, she took the towel and sent the servant away. Tendrils of hair the color of a midnight sky escaped the makeshift knot on the top of her head to caress the nape of her neck.

    Outside, the final heat of the day had eased, leaving Rome cool. But in here, his body burned hotter than Apollo’s chariot blazing its way into the west. Marble cooled his shoulder as he leaned against the hard column of the bath’s entrance. The stone’s chilly smoothness did nothing to quench the fire in his blood or stop his cock from growing hard at the sight of her.

    Arms folded across his chest, he drank in the beauty of her full curves. The olive bronze of her skin shimmered beneath the layer of water skimming down her back before it danced off her softly rounded buttocks. The lushness of her body shot a familiar ache through him. Cassiopeia, daughter of Gaius Quinctilia Atellus, Roman senator, was his.

    There had always been women in his life, but the idea of leaving a wife behind if he died in battle wasn’t a worry he’d been willing to accept. Of course, that was before she chose him. What had made her choose him over all others? He was a soldier. A plebeian by birth. Far removed from the patrician clan she belonged to. It was doubtful he would ever know the reason why. He could only thank the gods that she had chosen him.

    His gaze greedily swept over her, his body reacting as it always did whenever he was near her. He