In the Heat of the Bite by Lydia Dare Read Free Book Online

ye’re all right.” She stopped walking and looked directly up at him. His once-brown eyes no longer shined back at her. They were black.
    “I’m as right as I can be. This does take some getting used to. But I’m managing.” He smiled softly at her. Alec was still the same. He was still the jovial, considerate, compassionate man she’d grown up with.
    “Who did this ta ye?” she whispered.
    “Speak of the devil,” Alec murmured just as Lord Blodswell stepped into her path. He bowed to Rhiannon and smiled. “
Mrs.
Sinclair,” he began, a teasing smile on his face. “You look so lovely this evening.”
    Startled, Rhiannon sucked in a breath. Blast him for being so handsome that he stole her breath, and blast herself for letting him do so; because she knew instantly he’d done it. Blodswell had turned Alec into what he was.
    “How could ye?” she gasped and covered her mouth.
    Someone shrieked as the punch bowl across the room shattered. Lightning had a way of doing that. The Duchess of Hythe screamed aloud as an icicle Rhi had accidentally allowed to form dropped from the chandelier into her cleavage, where it landed directly between the old woman’s breasts.
    “Rhiannon,” Alec warned, “you need to get hold of yourself.” He took her shoulders in his hands and turned her toward him. He said quietly, “He
saved
my life. He didn’t kill me.”
    But Blodswell
had
killed him, no matter what Alec said. He wasn’t a human any longer. He was something else, something sinister and dangerous.
    “I doona believe ye,” she said as she shrugged out of his hold and backed away. Thunder boomed outside as she swallowed a sob. She stared into Lord Blodswell’s black-as-night eyes and felt the anger as it rose to a crescendo. A footman, standing sentry at the veranda doors, jumped as a tile beneath his feet broke.
    “Rhiannon,” Cait called from a few feet away. Both she and Eynsford moved quickly across the floor toward her.
    But before her friend could reach her, Rhi turned on Lord Blodswell. “How could ye do such a thing? What kind of a man are ye?” A drenching rain began to pour outside the open doors leading to the balcony. It came down in sheets and out of nowhere.
    “I’d like to explain,” Lord Blodswell began, with a most irritating, placating look upon his face.
    The slap rang out almost as loudly as the thunder outdoors did. Blodswell took the palm of her hand across his cheek and did nothing more than grit his teeth for a moment with his eyes closed before he finally looked down at her again.
    “Do you feel better?” he asked as he tested his jaw with his fingertips.
    “Hardly,” she hissed as the whole room fell silent.

Four
     
    Matthew wasn’t quite sure what to say, and he was immeasurably grateful when Lady Eynsford slid her hand into Miss Sinclair’s and gently tugged her toward an exit.
    “
Havers!
” the marchioness exclaimed. “It appears as though ye’ve torn a flounce. Follow me, dear.” Then the two ladies escaped into the corridor.
    Matthew had no idea what he was supposed to do in their wake. All of the Pickerings’ guests gaped in awe, while Alec MacQuarrie frowned at him.
    “Pleased with yourself?” the annoyed Scot asked so softly that no one else could hear.
    Matthew would have glared at MacQuarrie with a stare that had felled lesser men, but everyone’s eyes were still on him. What he wouldn’t give for the bloody orchestra to start playing again; but the musicians seemed as enthralled as all the guests with his predicament. Somewhere in the distance he heard the ticking of a clock and knew that his time was running extremely short. And so was Miss Sinclair’s. A generation from now, no one would remember this little incident. He’d waited out worse, but she didn’t have the same luxury.
    “Apologies,” he said to Eynsford who stood just a few feet away, though everyone overheard him as he knew they would. “It’s been so long since I’ve been in