Between a Vamp and a Hard Place by Jessica Sims Read Free Book Online Page B

were not the ones who brought the stake. They had not the strength.”
    So now all women were wimps as well as wenches?
    I must have had a sour look on my face, because Rand grinned at me. “Again, you mistake my words. Do you think it is a simple thing to hold down a man with unnatural strength and drive a blunted length of wood through his chest?”
    He had a point. “So you were set up? Is that what you are saying?”
    â€œPerhaps. I knew the women I tupped. They were good, sweet girls with not much between their ears. Certainly not enough to plot a warlord’s downfall. They must have been bribed to entice me into their bed.”
    My eyes widened. “I thought it was just a blonde with big thighs. Now it’s more than one? Exactly how many wenches were you bedding at once?”
    â€œLast night? Four.”
    I sputtered again. “Four?”
    â€œThey approached me and offered their services.” He gave me another one of those purely masculine grins. “Who am I to refuse the ministrations of four women at once?”
    â€œGee, and you didn’t stop to question this at all?”
    â€œI am a warlord with much wealth at hand, and I have been told I am not unpleasant to the eye. It was not the first time several women offered their services to me. Why should I think anything strange of it?”
    â€œWhy indeed,” I said dryly. “Next time you get offered a free gang bang, maybe you should think twice about why they’re willing.”
    â€œWise words,” he agreed. “And now, because I do not know who sought my death, I am alone and unarmed in this strange place and time.” For a moment, he looked so sad and lost that my heart gave another unhappy squeeze. “To think that mere hours ago, I was laughing with my soldiers and planning the next day’s ride. Now I am here in this strange place, my men are long gone, and I am awash with enemies all around.”
    â€œOh, come on,” I muttered. “Not everyone’s an enemy.”
    â€œDo you mean to tell me that you are not mine?” he said, a small, sad smile on his mouth. “That you would not press that stake back into my breast if you could?”
    He had a point. I didn’t trust myself to say no, so I said nothing at all.
    He nodded at my silence. “You cannot be happy at my appearance here. Indeed, I am not happy with it myself. Until I know more about this place and time, I am afraid you will have to lead me.”
    â€œWait, lead you where?” I had a sneaking suspicion I wouldn’t like the answer. “No one said anything about helping you.”
    Rand moved forward, leaning closer to me. I was trapped between him and the cabinet, and I scrunched my body backward as he leaned in. “Let us get to the truth of the matter, Lindsey. You are angry that I suckled at your neck.”
    Jeez, when he said it like that, it sounded positively dirty. I clamped my thighs together, hating that parts of me were reacting. I was still outraged, damn it. “Wouldn’t anyone be mad about that?”
    â€œActually, no,” he said in a low, soft voice. “I have naught for complaints in the past. Women have requested that I bite them during bedsport. I am told it is exceedingly pleasurable.”
    The way he said that made me want to squirm.
    He regarded me with blue-eyed intensity. “So, you tell me that if I asked permission to use your neck and suckle you, you would respond differently to me? That you would be sweet and willing in my arms instead of fighting something that is clearly pleasurable?”
    â€œYou’re so incredibly arrogant,” I whispered, shocked.
    â€œI am,” he agreed. “I am used to getting my way. I am a leader of men. I do not ask permission, ever. But if you say I must, I must.” He leaned in so close that I could smell his strange, spicy scent. It felt as if he was going to kiss me. Instead, though, he