Enticement by Madelynn Ellis Read Free Book Online Page B

both ice cream and olives, and not all of them involved adding an inch to your waistline, which he figured was what she was concerned over. Honestly, women. You couldn’t get through to them, but at least you could eat ’em. Of course, he hadn’t actually seen Evie’s stomach, just her back and her wonderfully voluptuous arse, but that didn’t stop him envisioning running his tongue over the soft surface as a pleasurable experience. Hell, maybe she had a piercing through her navel he could tease. Not that he had serious designs on her or anything, only little ones… Small, somewhat complicated ones that he couldn’t really put into words.
    It had been stupid of him to imagine Ross would still be unattached after all this time. The thing was, he hadn’t really been thinking all that straight when he’d agreed to come home. If he had, he’d never have stepped onto the plane. Sure, Flora’s legacy was a nice bonus, but he’d never been all that enthralled by money. It had its uses, and he did like to look good, but he didn’t long for riches in the way some did.
    “I’ll pay for all this,” he said and was pleased to find she didn’t argue.
    Although Evie’s presence in Ross’s life had been a surprise, he had to admit she’d been a pleasant one. In truth, he’d have been sorry if he’d come back and found Ross alone. His friend was too nice a guy to deserve that sort of loneliness.
    “I’m all done, apart from some wine, if you are?” Evie said.
    “Not quite. I still need shaving foam and stuff. I’ll catch you up.”
    Nose down, he strode away, his mind flicking over all the events they already shared and before long he was fantasizing about licking the ice cream from her skin again. A little farther down the same aisle he stopped for a few other little essentials. Leastways, he suspected they’d be essential if his sixth sense was anything to go on.
    “Planning on getting lucky?” Evie asked when she caught him waving a bumper pack of condoms.
    “Yeah. Maybe I am.” Kit glanced from the packaging to her and held her gaze just a fraction longer than was entirely polite. She coloured immediately, a fact she rather endearingly then tried to hide behind her hair. “Let’s go,” he said and chucked the package into the trolley.
     
    Rose Cottage stood on the very edge of the village, set apart from the other nearby properties by several acres of heath land and a severely overgrown hedge. Once inside its wrought iron gateway, they found the lawn of what had clearly once been a colourful showpiece garden now pitted with molehills, and the flowering borders reduced to a collection of weeds. A huge pile of refuse sacks stood to the left of the front door, filled with decaying vegetation and bits of old carpet the local cats had peed on.
    “Apparently they sent a clearing firm in after she died,” Kit remarked as he stared absently at the scarred façade of the former manor house. A moment later that half-whimsical expression had turned to horror as he found the remains of a rat tucked amongst the rubbish. “I guess it was pretty bad if this is what they left behind.”
    Hesitantly, Evie patted his shoulder. If it had been Ross, she’d have taken his hand in order to offer that extra bit of reassurance, but just touching Kit’s shoulder seemed decidedly risqué. He turned towards her. “I’m all right. It’s just a shock seeing what’s happened to the old place.” His gaze fastened upon the right wing of the rambling building, where the loft space lay exposed to the elements. Even from this distance the roof beams were clearly rotten and speckled with mould. “That used to be my room.”
    “You lived here? I take it there was a roof back then.”
    “Over the summers. My folks travelled a lot whereas I preferred to stay put. Ostensibly, Aunt Flora looked after me, but it was a bit of a two-way thing. She was barking mad. The product of a different era, I suppose.”
    “Lots of memories for