The Marriage Ultimatum (City of Dreams Series) by Charlotte O'Shay Read Free Book Online Page B

had gotten used to having her brother on the brain twenty-four/seven. But the events of the last couple of days had been crazy enough to turn her brain to mush. She pulled out her cell and hit the speed dial.
    Then she settled on the low bench in front of the bed with its view out the window, down the steep back slope of Vlad’s property. The untamed acres of wavy sea grasses and the stubby pines that angled down to the roiling waters of the storm-swollen bay gyrated in the gale force winds, but she barely saw them. She was fully engrossed listening to Alex, with his limited vocabulary, making a huge effort to describe the rain that didn’t go away, the red rain boots he wore, and Mrs. Egan’s potato soup.
    The hairs on the back of her neck prickled as she said her goodbyes and Sabrina turned to see Vlad, leaning against the doorjamb, arms across his broad chest, eyes full of disdain.
    “I’ve never been apart from him.”
    “Not even for a night?” His voice was as caustic as acid.
    “No.” She planted her hands on her hips.
    “There’s no one to impress here, Sabrina, except me and I’m unaffected.”
    “Why would I even want to impress you?”
    Her lashes swept down to hide the hurt his words caused. Trying her best to hold it together after hearing Alex’s voice and just wanting to hug him, she wondered what had happened to the heart of the man who stood in front of her. He was as gorgeous as a marble god and just as warm.
    He turned away only to turn back and ask, “Did you let them know the power’s out?”
    An embarrassed flush crept up her neck as she shook her head. She was so overwhelmed by the force of his personality that she was leaking brain cells by the second. No, she hadn’t said a word about the power outage and damn shouldn’t that have been the first thing she said? It was so unlike her to be so flaky, but then nothing about this situation was normal.
    Vlad took her phone and called Mrs. Egan back telling her they had no electricity and letting her know not to worry if they were unreachable for a time. He charmed the older lady, giving her a telephone number at VGI she could call for anything she needed. Then he rang off and pocketed Sabrina’s cell phone.
    “Hey, what are you doing? That’s my phone.”
    “What I should have done earlier. Giving you zero opportunity to contact whoever you are in league with in your attempt to discredit me.”
    “That would be no one. Besides, the battery is almost gone anyway, and I didn’t bring a charger.”
    She was exasperated and fed up with herself for not remembering such a basic tool of civilization. Not that a charger would do any good in a power outage. But still.
    “I’m keeping it for now. I told you, you dragged me into this and now we play by my rules.”
    His voice was hard, his posture rigid. She shook her head at the thought that he could possibly think she had the time or the wit to plot against him. But he obviously thought someone had. Who would? And why?
    She looked up into his shuttered face, at the bleakness obvious in his eyes. Then her stomach rumbled and she wanted to sink through the floor with embarrassment. She couldn’t remember eating breakfast.
    “Please tell me your rules include dinner.”
    The words had the desired effect and Vlad laughed. She liked hearing the sound of it. It warmed her in quite a different way from the sensual heat that sent her body into high alert in his proximity.
    “Most definitely. I would say whatever’s in the fridge needs to be consumed before it spoils.”
    “Hah. Such a gracious invitation. I accept,” she said. Without another word, she brushed past him down the stairs then fled into his kitchen to see what was there.
    ****
    It was the strangest thing. Feeling sort of comfortable with him. As if they often sat on a rug eating cold food in front of the blaze emanating from a massive stone fireplace.
    Once Sabrina reached Mrs. Egan and spoke to Alex, she’d relaxed. Vlad was