Bianca D'Arc by King of Clubs Read Free Book Online Page B

What the fallout would be from her narrow escape,
she had no idea.
    “Do you think all the conspirators are after
me or just Beezus?” she asked in a small voice before Chip could
say anything.
    He looked at her over the rim of his coffee
cup. “What did you sense?”
    “Beezus was broadcasting some very, uh,
lascivious thoughts about what he was going to do with me once he
had me. Other than that, I didn’t pick up much.”
    “Try to put the disturbing thoughts aside and
sort out the rest.”
    “That’s hard to do.” She bit her lip and
cringed when she opened herself up to the memory of that short
burst of filth-ridden thought directed at her.
    Chip put his cup down on the table in front
of the couch, then reached for hers and placed it there as well. He
took her into his arms again and she went willingly. In the short
space of an hour, his arms had become a sanctuary for her.
    “It’s okay, sweetheart.” He stroked her hair
with such gentle hands. He made her feel safe in a way no man ever
had. “Beezus won’t get you. Not ever. I’ll kill him before he ever
lays a finger on you. That’s a promise.”
    She believed him. Even if his promise wasn’t
practical, it was touching. He couldn’t protect her from
everything, but she knew in her heart, he’d give it his best try.
And Charlemagne’s best was really something. With his strength and
his words giving her courage, she was able to calm herself enough
to separate out the different thoughts and feelings that had been
in Beezus’s blast of hatred and lust.
    “He was glad Bjornson had finally given him
the go ahead to trap me. I think…” She hesitated, trying to tease
out the nuances of thought. “I think maybe one of their group saw
me watching the exchange outside the bar and they decided to take
no chances. Beezus doesn’t think I’m a threat, but he jumped at any
excuse to get his grimy paws on me.”
    “Never gonna happen. Not as long as I’m
around,” Chip promised in a low, intimate voice.
    She looked into his eyes and time stopped.
For a moment, she forgot to breathe. She saw… the future, the past,
the moment… all wrapped up in his gaze. His head moved closer and
then his lips were on hers and time began again in a whirlwind of
sound, color and feeling.
    The feel of his lips on hers, his tongue
seeking entrance to her mouth, which she granted after only a
moment’s hesitation. Her head was spinning, her senses engulfed by
him. He surrounded her with his power, his aura of calm and the
intent she read now in his every move. To have her. To claim her.
To make her his own.
    Lila took only a split second to negotiate
her inner surrender. Reason wondered what would come tomorrow, but
her heart said who cares? Her heart and her soul needed this
moment. Needed this man. Needed his body inside hers, his soul
engulfing hers, protecting her, making them both stronger in the
end. She would lean on his strength, take it into herself, girding
her for the troubles ahead that they would face together.
    It was her gift to know that Chip was serious
when he said he’d kill for her. He’d also die for her, but he was
very hard to kill. If the split second of vision she’d been granted
held true, danger might be closer than either one of them was ready
to contemplate.
    But the future would come. That was a fact
she’d had to learn to accept. Sometimes there was little she could
do to change it—even with all her knowledge and foresight.
Sometimes she just had to let the currents of time sweep her along,
batting her from side to side in its endless march onward.
    This was one of those times, but these next
few hours also promised to be one of the most pleasurable
interludes of her life. She didn’t have to be clairvoyant to know
that. Chip’s kiss and the way her senses came alive under his touch
told her all she needed to know about his skills as a lover and her
response to him. This was going to be fun.
    Harnessing the inner fire that had