Moonwitch by Nicole Jordan Read Free Book Online Page A

claimed her attention. She watched as he picked up a brandy decanter from a side table and poured a large measure into a snifter. He seemed not to mind that he was almost naked in the presence of a lady who was also less than fully dressed, but Selena was very much aware of it. Indeed, his towering, muscular grace was rather intimidating, and when he advanced on her, holding the glass, she found it hard not to shrink from him.
    He offered her the brandy, but she shook her head. “Thank you, no. I don’t indulge in spirits.”
    Kyle’s mouth quirked at the corner, deepening his right dimple. “Drink it. It’ll do you more good than the lime juice and water you ladies find so appealing.”
    When he stood there waiting, looking as if he wouldn’t countenance her refusal, she accepted the glass and took a small swallow, nearly choking as the fiery liquid burned her tongue and throat.
    “Now,” Kyle said casually, “why don’t you tell me what you were doing, charging into the sea like that? It didn’t seem to me that you were intent on a moonlight swim.”
    Selena searched his face, reading only concern in his hazel eyes. “Perhaps I wasn’t thinking very clearly, but I wasn’t trying to kill myself. I was merely upset.”
    “Want to talk about it? I’ve been told I’m a good listener.”
    Oddly, she thought he might be right. He looked as if he might sympathize with her. But it wasn’t something she could share with a stranger, even if she was in the habit of bearing tales.
    “Thank you, Captain,” Selena said, turning away to avoid his penetrating gaze, “but I am quite all right now. Truly. And I should return home. Someone may wonder where I’ve gone.”
    “God Almighty.” The oath was breathed slowly, in a low tone. A large hand clamped down on Selena’s arm and spun her around to face him.
    Kyle’s face was incredulous. “You were a virgin!”
    Selena winced at the fierce accusation in his tone and the pressure of his grip. She returned his gaze mutely, wondering how he had known.
    “There’s blood on your nightdress,” he ground out, answering her unspoken question. “Sweet heaven! That was why you were so—” He broke off then to eye her narrowly. “I think you’d better start explaining, Miss Markham.”
    Selena searched for a plausible reason. “Perhaps I cut myself, Captain—”
    “Like hell you did!”
    Selena swallowed hard. Kyle Ramsey might be an unrefined American; he might swagger and curse like a common sailor. But he was deceptively quick. She wouldn’t be able to fool him with some halfhearted lie. Yet she couldn’t tell him the truth. “Please,” she said, stalling for time, “you are hurting my arm.”
    Kyle gave vent to a muttered oath, but he released her to stalk over to the brandy decanter. He poured himself a very generous amount as he grappled with the dilemma Selena Markham had presented him. If she wasn’t so anxious to leave, he would have suspected a ploy to snare him as a husband. It wouldn’t be the first time a lovely young innocent had insinuated herself into a man’s bed with marriage as her object. But if rumor could be believed, Selena Markham was already betrothed.
    Kyle shot her an unfriendly glance. “Lady, I don’t know what your game is, but I don’t much like it.”
    “I…” Selena took a deep breath, and, for one of the few times in her life, told a deliberate lie. “I wanted to learn about love.”
    “So you gave yourself to a
stranger
?”
    Flushing at his disbelieving tone, she stared down at her bare feet.
    “You’re engaged to be married, aren’t you? Why didn’t you ask your betrothed to initiate you?”
    “I… my reasons are my own, Captain. I don’t think I am obliged to share them with you.”
    Kyle gave her a long, assessing look. How did she manage to look so cool and remote after losing her virtue to a man she had only met that afternoon? “What’s your betrothed’s name? Warner? I suppose now he’ll be