Burning Bridges by Nadege Richards Read Free Book Online

his arms before, the inky tribal tattoos and the way they stood out on his Amaretto-colored skin, but not like this. His taut muscles flexed as he worked and beads of sweat dripped from him in the heat. He ’ s strong , I concluded. He carried a large sack of soil and over his shoulder and brought it to a shed . Again, his muscles worked as he moved.
    Very strong.
    I swallowed the saliva in my mouth and groaned. Echo, what are you thinking? I thought loudly to myself. I mentally shook myself off, but sighed when the feelings still remained. This is dangerous.
    “ Darling, are you all right in there? How ’ s the dress coming along? ” Mother called.
    I glanced over at the mirror hanging on the opposite wall and frowned. If having half the dress on and the other on the floor counted as ‘ coming along ’ , then yeah, I ’ d say I was doing just fine. “ I ’ m good, Mother. I ’ ll be out in a minute. ” As I said it, my eyes went back to the window.
    I had to talk to him.
    In spite of all the alarms that had gone off in my mind between the time it took me to unlock the latch of the window and swing a foot out, I dropped myself into the bushes below and quietly made my way over to him.
    The plan was to talk to him, try to reason with him about the night before, but as I stopped a good feet behind him, words evaded me. What was I going to s ay? Sorry for bumping into you ? The thing was, I didn ’ t know what I did to be sorry about.
    Suddenly he stood straight and jammed his shovel into the soil . Without turning to face me, he said, “ What do you want? ”
    I sighed, cover blown and fully exposed. “ How did you know it was me? ”
    “ You mean besides the fact that I could feel your eyes burning a hole to the back of my head from that window? Hm, no, I really don ’ t know what gave you away. ” He began digging again, carrying on with his duties as if I wasn ’ t standing there.
    “ Excuse me, but I just wanted to talk to you. ”
    He turned around and his violet eyes pinned me with a stare. “ So talk. ”
    “ I—I just want… ” I stammered. “ I just wanted to apologize for whatever I did to upset you that night. ”
    He cocked his head at me. “ That was three nights ago. ”
    “ I know, but— ”
    “ But nothing, ” he interrupted, wiping the sweat from his brow. “ You ’ re forgiven. I suggest you head back to your tea party before the Queen throws a royal fit. ”
    The words fe ll from his lips with every intention to hurt me. There was a second when I thought about going back inside, but he ’ d made a challenge out of this and I wasn ’ t prepared to back down quite yet.
    “ What is the matter with you? ” I asked him. “ You—you look angry all the time and you have this weird air about you. I don ’ t see how I ’ m the cause , but you sure aren ’ t giving me any reason not to assume. ”
    “ Is that so? ” he asked rhetorically . He laughed, but I didn ’ t find anything about this funny.
    “ Yes, I think so. If I did anything wrong just— ”
    The amused smile fell from his godly face. Anger became evident where indifference had once vacated and he dropped the shovel to reach for me. His hands came out, but they merely grazed my skin. He thought twice before laying a hand on me. Instead, he brought his face as close to mine as he possibly could without physical contact.
    “ You should go, ” he whispered, his warm breath tickling my nose. From his proximity I could smell the virile scent of clovers and leather on his skin. As overwhelming as it was, the temptation to get even closer pushed me a step forward . “ You don ’ t want to be seen with me. ”
    “ I have every right to be here, you cannot make me go, ” I whispered, my lips unwillingly trembling as I spoke. My eyes dropped to his biceps and a shiver broke through me at the sight of his markings. “ You ’ re a Hunter… ”
    I opened my mouth to continue on just as Mother ’ s voice called from