SurrendersMischief by Alvania Scarborough Read Free Book Online

a long heartbeat before answering. “It is against
custom for punishment to be observed by outsiders.” He paused again. “They will
hear you.”
    A glint of light from around his neck caught and held her
gaze. Suspended on a leather thong, the carved fireice gemstone—his badge of
rank—caught the diluted light of the moon and gleamed like the eyes of a panthra cat. She shivered, that small wink of light nestled in the hollow of his throat
somehow ominous.
    “Like Zethra they will,” Riana shot back, hoping it wasn’t
an idle boast. Nexarian punishment was all-too effective, she’d learned.
    “Fight me and I will take your punishment into the daylight
hours.”
    Pure panic unfurled and rose in her throat. His tone brooked
no argument. Her plans to use Darias’ absence after punishment flew to the four
winds. She had to escape now. “Shield down.” Nothing happened. Riana backed up
one step then another. “Shield down.” She hated the slight note of hysteria
creeping into her voice.
    “It is keyed to me alone. Try to go through it and it will
render you unconscious. Lights on.” Inside the dome formed by the shield,
darkness gave way to a diffuse glow.
    Darias removed his heavy black cloak and slung the garment
over a bush.
    Riana backed up a pace but was only too aware she had no
place to run.
    He turned to her with a look of determination. “Remove your
clothes.”

Chapter Five
     
    She stood there, panic in her ice-green eyes. Her hands
clenched and unclenched by her sides as if she wasn’t quite sure whether to
flee or lash out in a futile attempt to stop him.
    Good. Finally she understood the enormity of her error.
Mayhap, his life could get back to normal.
    Her gently rounded chin came up and determination filled her
eyes, replacing the fear.
    Admiration for her strength of will caught Darias by
surprise.
    He didn’t want to admire her willfulness. She disrupted the
lives of his men with her offworlder ways.
    She disrupted his life.
    All he could think about when he was around her was the
softness of her skin, her quick mind, the way she always smelled faintly of
flowers. He could not control his reaction to her. When he was away from her,
all he could think of was burying his face in her hair while he buried his cock
in her warm body.
    The woman was dangerous. She had to learn to accept the ways
of Nexar. She had to learn to accept her place in his life. It was regretful
that meant subduing her fiery spirit, but temper it he would…for her own sake.
    “Remove your clothes.”
    Her fingers went to the clasp of the brassiere nestled
between her breasts.
    An image of those long, slender fingers wrapping around his
cock stilled the breath in his chest. He banished the thought with enormous
effort.
    “I didn’t take you for a coward or a weakling, Darias, but I
guess I was wrong on both counts.” Slowly, as if she were undressing for a
long-awaited lover instead of for a master intent on punishing her, she pushed
first one strap and then the other one off her shoulders. The provocative
garment slid down her arms and onto the ground.
    “You fear what your warriors will think of you if you allow
a woman the freedom to express her opinion. You’re afraid they will believe you
weak. Worse, you believe it makes you weak. How is it that such strong
warriors…” Her fingers moved to her blouse and, one by one, she slipped each
tiny button free. “Such obviously superior warriors as the men of Nexar have
reason to fear the influence of such an obviously inferior species as woman?”
    Darias caught tantalizing glimpses of her breasts from her
open blouse. His mouth went dry and he had to pry his gaze from the pale flesh.
    “The men of Nexar treat women as if they possess no
feelings, no thoughts other than those of their masters.”
    For a moment, the blouse caught on her elbows then it hit
the ground, a soft, silken puddle on top of the brassiere. His breath lodged in
his chest as the muted light of