What an Earl Wants by Kasey Michaels Read Free Book Online

I’m amenable either way,
actually, although I would prefer you don’t prolong the pretense until it
becomes tiresome. In other words, I’ll play, but I will not lower myself to
halfheartedly chasing you around the furniture. It might upset the dogs.”
    Oh, God. He was big. He was so big. Handsome into the bargain,
yes, but mostly, he was so big. She couldn’t outrun him. His servants would be
of no help to her. He was right. She’d come here of her own free will. She ran a
gaming house. She was no lady, disowned by her own father. She was nothing,
nobody, not anymore. No one would care....
    “You wouldn’t dare,” she said even as she backed up a step,
shot her gaze toward the doors. The closed doors.
    “I wouldn’t? Very well, I did agree to play. I’ll oblige you,
if that’s how you like it. Let’s see, how shall I say this? I suppose I’ll
simply say the expected.”
    He took another sanity-destroying step toward her. “Ah, Mrs.
Linden, as you very well know, there is little I wouldn’t dare. And, out of your
own mouth, little you wouldn’t offer. I’ve considered that offer rather
pleasantly overnight, deciding a month of your services to be sufficient to my
needs, six weeks at the outside, before you bore me. But in the cold light of
day I realized I would be remiss if I were to agree to such a bargain without
first tasting the wares. For all I know, you might not be very good at
pleasuring a man of my peculiar tastes.”
    She grabbed at the fragile straw that he was only trying to
frighten her, pay her some of her own back for the pistol, if nothing else. The
odds weren’t in her favor, but she had no options, none. She’d have to stand her
ground. Bluff, knowing she held the inferior
hand.
    He took another step toward her and reached out, trailing his
index finger from the base of her neck to the modest bodice of her gown, hooking
that finger inside the fabric and tugging on it. “Is that red hair a promise, or
a tease? Is your willing body lying beneath mine a proposition worth my
consideration? Tell me, Jessica. Are you any good?
Convince me.”
    “I’ve only to scream for help.” Her voice shook with the fear
she was trying so hard to conceal.
    “Be my guest. But remember, my staff is loyal to me. And, being
a Redgrave staff, they are doubtless used to all sorts of noises, including
feminine shrieks.”
    Then she was nudged from the side, nearly losing her balance
before looking down to see Cleo had roused herself from her nap and somehow
insinuated her body between them. The bitch had the rabbit between her jaws and
was nudging at Jessica as if asking her to come away and play with her.
    Or was the dog attempting to save her? It was a highly unlikely
yet lovely thought.
    “Does she attack on command?” Jessica said, putting her hand
atop Gideon’s and pointedly removing it from her bodice. “If she were to feel I
were under some sort of duress, you understand?”
    Gideon looked down at the hopeful dog and smiled, shook his
head. All the dark menace was gone, replaced by that insufferable smile. “A good
question. You’re a cool one, aren’t you, Jessica? Although Cleo here apparently
sniffs something amiss. Fear, perhaps? That would be disturbing and quite puts a
crimp in my assumptions, doesn’t it? No matter what, it would appear you’ve been
granted a reprieve. You wanted to see your brother. I’ll have Thorndyke fetch
him.”
    “What?” All that talk, those threats and then...nothing? Damn him.
    She watched in astonished relief as he walked over to the bell
pull, blindly stepping back until the backs of her legs came in contact with the
edge of the sofa, at which point she sat down with a thump. Cleo deposited the
fairly damp rabbit in her lap and then lay down, her head on Jessica’s feet.
    Jessica bent down to rub behind the dog’s ears. “He may have
been all bluster and having some of his own back, you know. Males are like that,
always wanting the upper hand, or at