Falling For His Proper Mistress by Tessa Radley Read Free Book Online

in Jeff’s face for his perfidy until he’d realized how bad his friend had it. Jeff had told him about how Avery had teased and tempted him for weeks, until he’d been unable to resist her summons.
    What would he have done if Avery had opened the door in nothing more than the bustier and G-string Jeff had told him she’d worn to welcome him?
    Guy could understand Jeff’s desperation. Would he have reacted any differently to her seduction? Hell, if he climbed into that spa beside her, he’d touch her and it would be over in moments.
    Dragging in a breath he wrestled for control. Instead of allowing himself to be drawn into her trap, he dropped to his knees beside the sunken tub and started to knead her shoulders. This time it would be on his terms.
    Avery started, she moaned.
    â€œGood?”
    â€œMmm.”
    â€œRelax, let the warm water ease all the cricks.”
    â€œI already had a massage—that helped,” she murmured so softly he had to bend forward to catch the words. “But how can I resist?”
    Guy could see the edge of her pouting mouth. Her hair fell in soft tendrils about her face, and her features had relaxed.
    He growled, a rough, throaty sound. “I better tell my sister to start a service offering neck rubs in the tub.”
    â€œMelissa is your sister? You mentioned brothers yesterday. I didn’t even know you had a sister.”
    â€œYou never asked,” he pointed out.
    â€œI suppose.”
    â€œWe had better things to talk about.”
    It was true, he realized as he massaged her flesh. Their focus had been on the white-hot passion that had exploded between them, consuming them in an affair that had erupted before they could draw breath—let alone get to know each other.
    But her silence made him feel a pang of guilt. Maybe they should’ve talked more…
    â€œI’ve got another sister, too,” he offered. “Erica. She’s my half sister actually.” He still wasn’t sure how he felt about Erica. Until now he’d maintained a friendly, but definitely cool, distance. “We only discovered her existence after my father died.”
    â€œI heard about your father. I’m sorry.”
    His father had died less than a week after she’d slept with Jeff and walked out on him. It had been the worst week of his life. But Avery didn’t need to know that.
    â€œWe weren’t close.” Guy dismissed her sympathy.
    â€œIt must’ve still been hard to discover he had another child.”
    â€œIt was.” Guy forced himself not to be abrupt. “The knowledge that my father had an affair so soon after mom’s death was—” He broke off, reluctant to supply the words that might reveal any lingering vulnerability.
    After a moment’s pause, Avery said carefully, “It must have been hard for Erica, too.”
    Her voice held no judgment, she simply stated a fact. He wished he could see her expression. “It couldn’t have been too bad for her. She inherited an equal share in Dad’s estate. She’s a wealthy woman now.”
    â€œMoney isn’t everything.”
    Avery of all people expected him to swallow that?
    Guy found a knot and rubbed it, and Avery winced. He slowed his movements, his fingers lingering on flesh that had taken a golden glow under the candlelight.
    â€œErica found love, too.” A note of cynicism entered his voice. “She’s engaged to Christian Hanford now. The family lawyer,” he tacked on, in case he wasn’t making sense. Stroking her skin had that effect on him. Touching her made him forget everything else existed.
    She was undoubtedly a sorceress. A magic woman who held him trapped in her secret sensuality.
    â€œWhere are you staying?” Guy changed the subject. He didn’t want to talk about Erica, about the uncomfortable emotions his father’s affair aroused and the sense of helpless loss that his