Face to Face (The Deverell Series Book 2) by Susan Ward Read Free Book Online Page B

warmth of his voice, was to melt against him. Her second was to hit him, and it was not until she felt a sudden pain in the curl of her fingers she realized which one she had acted upon. It was far from the first time she’d tried to hit him, but it was the first time he’d let her. She found the experience galling, since he only laughed and her hand smarted painfully.
    “Damn you. I hate it when you laugh at me when you make me angry.” She was on her feet, screaming the words so loudly that the sisters below could surely hear. The pug skittered across the room under the bed. Her eyes were murderous as she stared down at him. “Isn’t there another woman out there you can go torture with your nonsense. I am tired of your games.”
    Varian’s answering expression was roguishly unregretful. The smile hovered at the edges of his lips and was only slightly held at bay. His black orbs fixed on her like sparkling berries and, on top of everything else, the urge to laugh was fighting her temper.
    “You are deranged. Do you know that?” she announced.
    Merry was above him, hands on hips, a frustrated martyr in every way. God help him, he didn’t want to laugh. Varian couldn’t stop himself.
    His laughter made her crazy. She tried to hit him again and he managed to catch her arms. She began to fight harder. He tried to choke back his laughter.
    “Let me go,” she said through her struggles.
    Varian pulled her down to him. “Merry. Stop it. Stop fighting me. I adore you.”
    She jerked out of his arms then, her heart beat a frantic rhythm, her eyes round with frustration. “Adore me? You kidnapped me, you keep me your hostage, play your nonsensical games with me, and now you have the audacity to order me to stop fighting you. How dare you say with perfect seriousness that you adore me? I at last understand why I do not understand you. You are deranged.”
    There was a faintly apologetic pause. Then, he said, “I admit that ours has not been a conventional courtship.”
    The last thin thread of emotional steadiness fled Merry as she met his warmly animate gaze. Her blood flamed in answer, but logic steadied her with the warning not to trust him.
    “Court me, indeed. I don’t know what this new game of yours is, sir, but I will not play it.” Her fingers had curled back into fists.
    His response was not one she welcomed. She had amused him. She tried to hit him again and Varian rolled onto his side to avoid her tiny fist, then trapped both her wrists in a single hand. He studied her impassively. Finally he said, “You don’t have to hit me to protect your virtue, Little One. I can see this won’t be a simple adjustment. Though I never anticipated the adjustment to be so difficult for you. You have been pursuing me for months, my dear. This is your game we play.”
    Merry puffed up like an over-inflated balloon. “That is the most preposterous thing I have ever heard.”
    She jerked her arms free from his hold and sprang to her feet above him. Against her better judgment, she dared to look down on him.
    A smile warmed the black depths of his eyes, in a way she had never seen before. “Be fair, Little One,” he whispered affectionately. “We have to find some way to settle your fate. I have decided to be obliging to your wants.”
    She shook her head, with no reasonable thought on how to manage him. “You could oblige me back to Falmouth.”
    Varian’s smile this time was breathtaking, lush with emotion. He lifted a hand, his fingers moving in a gentle tease over the delicate curve of her bare calf. “Love, it is the only option you have left me with. Total surrender to Merry. Battle done. Now, give me your mouth, Little One, and let me adore you.”
    The feel of Varian’s fingertips on her leg was an unfortunate distraction. “I do not wish to be adored…” and before Merry could finish her words, he was kissing her again.
    ~~~
    Last night they slept together, her body curled into Varian on the floor. The