California Royale by Deborah Smith Read Free Book Online Page A

Someone told me about Anna Fitzsimmons.”
    “Uhmmm. I just helped her out of a tough spot. I would have helped anyone on the staff that way.”
    “You sent her to a drug rehab program at the estate’s expense.”
    Shea had her head turned to one side. She raised itand looked at him warily over her shoulder. “I did. Sir Nigel let me use the budget any way I wanted. When I told him about Anna, he wasn’t upset by my decision. Are you?”
    “No.”
    “Oh.” Feeling embarrassed by the accusing tone she’d used, Shea frowned as she lowered her head back to the pillow.
    “Sssh,
querida
. I’m not a monster. I admire the way you run this place. I admire your compassion for people.” His thumbs drew lines of delectable fire down the center of her spine. “No matter what I think about this resort, I like you.”
    “I like you, too,” she mumbled, giving in to a mixture of relaxation and desire that made it difficult to think straight. “Dammit.”
    “Now that’s what I want to hear. Don’t be polite to me. Let yourself go. Who knows what kind of wonderful wildness you’re hiding?” He laughed so softly that the sound was barely more than a rumble in his chest. “So you didn’t grow up rich and fancy. I’m glad. Means we have more in common.”
    He leaned forward and kissed the back of her neck. The breath caught in Shea’s throat and she bit her lower lip to keep from crying out with pleasure. His mouth was damp and hot; he trapped her skin between his teeth and nibbled, then moved to a different spot and did the same to it.
    “I could eat you up,” he whispered, his breath tickling her. “I knew that the minute we met. And I think you’d like for me to try.”
    Shea realized abruptly that she was trembling and that her whole body felt flushed and limp. “What I’d like,” she whispered back, “and what would be right, are two different things. You and I are at odds over the estate. And you’re my employer.”
    He trailed slow kisses down her spine and spoke in between them. “What happens … to Estate Mendocino … has nothing to do … with what fate has planned for you and … me.”
    Shea rolled over onto her back, intending to say that he was wrong, that the estate was her pride and joy—no, more than that, it was her sanctuary, the embodiment of the daydreams that had seen her through so many rough years as a youngster. But she gazed up at him and forgot every word. She had seen passion in men’s eyes before but never anything as compelling and tender as the look in his. Shea dimly heard herself make a small, encouraging sound.
    He shivered visibly and slipped his arms under her. Cradling her, he never stopped looking into her eyes, and the look tore her reserve apart. Shea cupped her hands around his face and pulled him to her. This time need mingled with sweetness, and his mouth was open and intimate when she lifted hers to it. Their tongues touched and explored. His arms tightened around her, and her fingers sank deeply into his thick black hair.
    “We’re not going to make love,” he whispered. “Not tonight, anyway.”
    Breathing hard, Shea murmured in a puzzled tone, “You are the most confusing man.”
    He dropped kisses across her face and down one side of her neck. “I just want you to stop wondering how far you can let yourself go. I just want you to relax and enjoy being touched by me. Lord, Shea, I love kissing you and touching you. That’s harmless enough, isn’t it,
querida
?”
    “Harmless,” she murmured as his mouth seared a trail of kisses across her throat. Oh, this sweet, stubborn man made her want to cry for all the pleasure she’d never known until this moment. Was all the joyin the world, all the joy she’d waited for, embodied in Duke Araiza? He made it so easy to be wild, and he understood her need for caution even better than she understood it herself.
    He slipped his hands up her back and hooked his fingers into the bodice of her strapless