Mark of the Wolf; Hell's Breed by Madelaine Montague Read Free Book Online Page A

she’d had to take off from work
to come, as badly as she’d hated using vacation time for court. She
needed to watch her expenses. She was supposed to be compensated
for her time, but she doubted it would be much and there was no
telling when she’d get it if ever.
    On the other hand, she’d had to use
her vacation time to come, and she wouldn’t be getting another one
for a whole year. She might as well wring what little enjoyment she
could out of the trip.
    That still left her with the decision
of whether to go out or stay in, but she finally decided she was
just too hungry to hunt a restaurant and then wait on ordering
food. She picked up the phone and dialed room service.
    Since they told her it would be forty
five minutes for the delivery, she decided to take a bath rather
than stare at the TV and try not to think about her
stomach.
    The nice thing about taking a shower
at a hotel was that she could use all the hot water she wanted. She
took a leisurely shower, washed her hair and shaved everything—a
long, drawn out process at any time even though she had short
legs.
    Actually, she only managed to get one
leg shaved before some bastard decided to beat on her door. She
yelled from the shower that she was busy, but either they didn’t
hear her or they had no damned consideration! The imperious,
demanding knock sounded again.
    It sounded like a cop
summons.
    A little unnerved by the thought,
Laurie got out of the shower, threw the thick robe on that the
hotel provided and hurried to the door, leaving trails of soapy
water behind her. Leaving the security latch on, she opened the
door and peered out. Lucien stood on the other side. Well, she
assumed it was Lucien. It could’ve been Damien.
    “ What did I tell you about
opening the door without checking?” Lucien growled, instantly
identifying himself by his demeanor.
    “ Is it me?” Laurie
snapped. “Or are you always this damned cheerful? I was in the
middle of a bath. Is this important, because if it isn’t I still
have one leg to shave!”
    His gaze dropped and then his
jaw—which was when Laurie discovered she hadn’t actually closed the
robe that well. The belt was tied alright, but the two front halves
gaped, exposing pretty much everything from the neck down. She
slammed the door in his face.
    Torn between the hysterical urge to
giggle like a maniac at the look on his face and the desire to weep
with embarrassment, Laurie headed back to the shower on autopilot.
After standing under the spray for a few minutes, she finally
remembered she’d gone back to finish what she started. She was
halfway through shaving the same leg for the second time when
someone beat on the door again. Sticking her head out of the
shower, she snarled, “I’m in the fucking shower! Don’t get your
panties in a wad!”
    Shutting the shower off, she grabbed a
towel to dry off as quickly as she could, put the robe on again in
spite of the fact that it was now wet and cold, closed and tied it
very carefully, and then went to the door. That time when she
opened the door to peer out she discovered someone had brought the
food she’d ordered. Apparently after her greeting they decided to
just leave it outside the door. Shrugging, trying to ignore the
heat creeping into her face, she closed the door long enough to
take off the security lock, opened it again and grabbed the cart,
dragging it inside the room with her. When she’d locked the door
again, she went to her suitcase to find clothing. Opting to just
get ready for bed, she pulled out panties and one of her favorite
sleeping shirts—a sloppy big, thread bare affair that had started
out as uncomfortable but was now, after a zillion washes, like
being wrapped in cloud nine.
    When she’d flipped through the channels until
she found a forensic show, she settled down to watch it while she
ate. The image of Lucien at her door kept playing in her head,
though, making it nearly impossible to figure out ‘who done it’
when she