A Duke's Wicked Kiss (Entangled Select) Read Online Free PDF Page B

her?”
    “I was out…ah…out for a stroll one evening outside a small village when I heard a chirping. Since a bird wouldn’t likely call attention to itself in the dead of night, I investigated. Thought it might be a cub crying out for its mother, because that’s the sound they make. Shahira’s mother lay dead beside her, stripped of her coat by poachers. I took the cub home with me.”
    “How brave of you.”
    He gave a shrug. “She would’ve died had I left her.” He wasn’t about to tell Suri he’d found the cub not three days after his wife and child had died—that he used to weep in its fur over his loss—that Shahira was what he’d clung to for months to keep from going mad. While others thought this dynamic beast, forever at his side, was a show of power and individuality, the cat was like a child to him. He didn’t know what he’d do without her. In fact, he might need her more than she needed him.
    Suri wiggled in her seat. “Do you think I might feed her, then?”
    A shockwave rippled through him. He could avert his regard of her no longer. Straightening in his chair, he glanced at her full plate and then to her. Her eyes were luminous and showed no hint of trepidation.
    “It would behoove you to be a bit fearful of this cat,” he said.
    “Why?”
    His right eyebrow shot up. “Madam, she can eviscerate a goat with one swipe of a paw, so imagine what she is capable of doing to you or me. Thus, I respect her, and what her natural instincts are, at all times. It would be foolish of me not to.”
    Suri’s gaze grew bold, swept his countenance with a shimmer that turned her eyes a deeper shade of emerald. “Wouldn’t we all be fools to underestimate what anything, or anyone, is capable of, Lord Ravenswood?”
    He sure as hell wasn’t about to step knee-deep into that muddy conversation. He nodded toward the untouched slice of fish on her plate. “Go ahead, then. Or would you prefer I cut a piece for you?”
    She grinned. “You cut. I’ll deliver.”
    Those within hearing distance fell silent. Even Mrs. Abernathy grew speechless.
    Picking up a slice of fish with his fingers, he handed it to Suri. “Hold it just so, and allow me to give the commands, since I’m uncertain if she will follow yours.”
    Their bare hands collided, jolting him. Now he was certain that despite the investigating he had left to do, he’d excuse himself early and avoid any further contact with her.
    “Easy, girl,” he said as Shahira ceased purring and raised her exquisite head to Suri’s fingers. Jesus, what if she snapped at the fish? She could take Suri’s fingers off. He lowered his voice to the slow murmur Shahira was used to hearing. “Wait. That’s it…that’s it…now take it.”
    Shahira flashed long white incisors that could rip the arm off a man in a trice. Gently, the cat took the meat from Suri’s fingers. Then she blinked those large golden eyes and began to churr.
    John chuckled. I’ll be damned.
    Suri laughed and clapped her hands together. “She likes me.” She leaned toward Shahira and before John could stop her, ran her hand down the cat’s head, stroking behind her ears.
    John stilled.
    Shahira started purring.
    Good Lord, woman, do you know what could have happened? He sat back in his chair and watched her pet Shahira, aware that all eyes were on them.
    “Well,” Lady Marguerite huffed, color returning to her cheeks. “Suri, if you’ll follow me and Lord Ravenswood will follow Mr. Chatham’s lead, we ladies shall withdraw while the men smoke, and then the dancing shall begin.”
    John grinned to himself. At least no one ever expected him to dance whilst holding a cheetah on a leash.
    …
    Suri whirled around the dance floor in Ravi-ji’s arms. Ravenswood was gone. Another twirl and she scanned the room. He’d been there one moment, holding up the doorframe with his arms crossed, head tipped back, and watching everyone in the ballroom through those heavy lids veiling his