A Tiger's Bride (A Lion's Pride Book 4) Read Online Free PDF Page B

gelatin mouthful, she felt herself wobbling on her feet.
    Damn, she’d drunk way more than she was used to. Time to say goodnight and find her bed. She waved goodbye to the women she’d talked to and weaved her way to the house. As she tottered, and prepared to say hello to the ground—face first—an arm caught her. Snaring her around the waist, Dmitri reeled her upright and held her there.
    A good thing he held them steady because the world around them spun. Dammit, that was taking the whole world-revolves-around-me axiom a little too far.
    “Careful, little kitten. The ground is a hard place to land.”
    “So is your chest,” she sassed back then giggled.
    “So you noticed.”
    Since she leaned against said chest, she felt him puff it out. The alcohol making her bold, she placed her hand over his heart while her head cradled just under his chin. “I noticed a lot of things about you. But the one thing I can’t figure out is if you’re telling the truth.” She, on the other hand, was apparently drunk enough to not hide her curiosity.
    “The truth about what, little kitten?”
    “How do I know you want me for me?”
    “Is not the fact that we’re still here talking and not on a plane for Russia with a priest indication that I am willing to woo you?”
    She blinked. It took a moment to process his words. “You’re wooing?”
    “Well, yes. That is generally the step one takes to convince a woman to marry him.”
    “You want to marry me?”
    “But of course. You are mine.”
    “And you can decide this in just one night?” It sounded kind of familiar. Hadn’t he proposed after one date to her sister? Ugh. Déjà vu. “I gotta go.”
    She broke free of his loose embrace and spun on a bare heel, tottered, and almost fell.
    Once again, he was there to catch her.
    “I see you are overwhelmed, little kitten.”
    “No. I’m annoyed at myself for thinking you liked me. And even more annoyed that my dad was right. I’m nothing to you but a breeding machine. Good night, Dmitri. Have a safe trip back to Russia. Alone.”
    A little of the fog cleared in her head as she strode away from him. If you could call one stride leaving.
    Except he wasn’t ready to let her go.
    He placed himself in front of her, cupped her cheeks, and forced her to face him. “I will prove you mean more,” were the words he whispered just before he slanted his mouth over hers.
    Sizzling electricity arced between them, the touch of his lips on her a shock, a good one.
    Forget pushing him away, forget everything but the feel of him nipping and tugging at her lower lip. Basking in the seductive pleasure of his tongue, she clung to him as he quested within the warm recess of her mouth.
    A strange languor invaded her limbs. She went limp in his arms. But still he kissed her, hunger in his bold strokes, heat in his cupping hands.
    No bones to hold her up.
    Literally.
    More than just passion made her legs buckle and her eyes shut, the lassitude in her body a result of her drunken state and not his touch. Or was there more to it?
    Am I drugged?
    Did he do it?
    Good grief, was she about to become a tiger’s bride?
    A spurt of elation and fear then…
    Darkness fell like a curtain over her mind.

Chapter Five
    Dmitri had made women swoon in the past.
    For example, Petra, who belonged to his grandmother’s crib club, had hit the rug upon seeing him in all his glory. And he meant naked glory. Not intentionally, though. He’d gone for a run through the woods and returned to find the house servants had cleared his scattered clothes.
    Apparently, gray hair and a few wrinkles didn’t mean the old ladies didn’t admire a man in his prime. But he could have done without the pinches by those who remained alert.
    Dmitri had also made people faint with a simple, pointed glare. Those low on the totem of power never could handle his majestic stare of displeasure.
    But Teena… Teena swooned from his kiss.
    And she snored.
    He didn’t know whether to