Pendelton Manor by B. J. Wane Read Free Book Online

shine, immersing herself in physical work as she tried to keep her mind off the master of this floor and how she was drawn to him despite his surly nature.
    Only Nora could make him feel guilty for not personally making sure Sophie was welcome to join them in the evenings, Adrian thought irritably as he took the elevator up to his suite where he knew she was. Her chastisement last night had irked him, but since she was right he had refrained from telling her to butt out, even though he really wanted to. Since Sophie hadn’t come down in time this morning for him to issue that invitation, he surmised she was avoiding them even though she didn’t know they had been aware of her presence yesterday. A presence that had seemed to add to his pleasure, he thought with a wry twist of humor. He wondered how long it was going to take for someone to persuade her to join them sometime.
    The thought of Sophie naked, writhing in orgasm as he sank his cock inside her, had his pulse picking up speed, his long denied senses imagining how her pussy would feel around his cock, how her white skin would look with a pink tint brought on by his hand or one of his paddles. Forcefully, he turned his thoughts to the reason he hadn’t indulged in intercourse since Nicole’s death. It was his fault they had argued that night, his fault his temper had gotten the better of him when she refused to name her lover, his fault that he had said the one thing he knew would cause her to panic and his fault he hadn’t chased after her when she fled the house that night in tears. Maybe if he had, she would still be alive. Most assuredly they’d be divorced, but at least she wouldn’t have ended up broken on the jagged rocks, the cold rain washing away her blood as her life slowly drained out of her.
    His cousins, James, Nora and Rachel had stood by him in the cold gray dawn the next morning as paramedics brought up her lifeless body, the girls faces ravaged with tears, James trying stoically to hold his back and his cousins looking on with bleak sorrow. Watching them, he had wondered which one she had been sleeping with, which one had met her that night, which one had been responsible for her going over that cliff. If there was one thing he knew for certain, Nicole’s fall was not accidental. She knew this coast too well, had grown up running up and down the cliffs, had been a frequent, welcome guest on the estate for fifteen years and could traverse the property at night without error. He had vowed then and there not to rest until he knew who was responsible, even if it meant turning on the people he cared most about, the people he grew up with and called family.
    The first thing he saw when the elevator door opened was Sophie standing on the fireplace ledge, her buttocks showcased temptingly in tight jeans as she stretched up and ran a dust rag around the frame of Nicole’s portrait. Her wavy, caramel hair was pulled up into a swinging ponytail and her body was swaying slightly to whatever tune she had playing in her earplugs from her iPod. His mouth split into a rare indulgent smile as he watched her, listened to her sing out of tune as he again wondered why this one woman tempted him to stray from his focused course of drawing out Nicole’s killer.
    Sophie hopped off the fireplace ledge, took a step back to check her handiwork and bumped into a hard, masculine frame. With a sense of déjà vu, she turned to look up into her employer’s handsome face, only this time those obsidian eyes were merely cool instead of cold. Removing her earplugs, she turned off her iPod and smiled tentatively.
    “I’m sorry; I didn’t know you were needing in here this morning. I’ll get out of your way and finish later.”
    “Quit apologizing every time you run into me, Sophie. It’s irritating and unnecessary. It’s after twelve, so technically it’s not still morning. I stopped in to talk to you a minute, so you don’t need to run off.”
    “Oh, okay.” Sophie