An Unlikely Alliance Read Online Free PDF

some courage, she walked by him to pick up the knife near
his hands. Part of her wanted to point it at him to see what he
would do; the other part told her it wasn't proper for a young lady
to point knives.
    "What … are you doing?" Royce asked,
perplexed.
    Evelyn had the knife aimed at him in an
unladylike manner, then laughed. "Hmm, I do wonder how good you are
at defending yourself. Would you fight back even though I'm a
lady?"
    Royce laughed, loud and beautiful. It made
his entire face more enchanting. His eyes crinkled at the corners,
and his dimples appeared more pronounced than before Evelyn nearly
dropped the knife and wanted to curse, because now it seemed like
it was he who had the upper hand. Laying his hand over hers, he
leaned in. "My dear, I would rather fight you than my choice of
anyone in the world."
    She licked her lips and whispered, "Why
me?"
    The room seemed to hum with passion as his
grip tightened across her hand. Trembling almost imperceptibly, she
met his gaze. His eyes were heightened with awareness.
    "Because," he whispered into her ear,
sending shivers down her spine, "it might be my only chance to
touch you or be near you. I'll take what I can get."
    She didn't want to move. If she moved, he
would move; yet she needed to get out of his deadly embrace. Why
was her body rebelling against her? As she prepared her escape,
Royce released his grip on her hand, sending the knife sailing to
the floor. He pushed her out of the way and released a curse so
loud it nearly shook the walls.
    Cringing, she looked down. The knife was
pointed directly into his boot. Fighting the urge to laugh, even
though it was terribly rude of her, she cupped her hand over her
mouth and gasped. Albeit not particularly convincingly, as Royce
sent her a searing glare. "Get. It. Out." He said pointing at the
offending blade.
    She knelt and pulled the knife out of his
boot, noting it hadn't quite penetrated all the way through the
thick leather. What was all the fuss about anyway? As she looked
up, Royce was smirking. "I knew it would happen soon."
    "What?" She was still looking up from the
ground.
    "You'd be on your knees before me,
worshipping the ground I walk on."
    Knife still in hand, Evelyn raised it above
her head, making a sweeping motion to hit his foot. At the last
second she put it into the floor and sent him a sweet smile. "Maybe
you should wait to insult me until I'm not holding sharp
objects?"
    Royce swallowed once, looking away.
"Noted."
    By the time Evelyn had put down all weapons,
and Royce had moved all sharp objects away from her reach, they
only had minutes before they needed to be at the theatre. They
rushed through dinner like lunatics, and then hurried to the
waiting coach.
    "That was lovely." Evelyn laughed.
    "Wasn't it? I must say I rather enjoyed
watching you drink your wine in one gulp. Don't think I've
witnessed anything like it. Say, you aren't feeling tipsy, are you?
Oh, and stop giving me that look! It's not as if I would take
advantage."
    Evelyn rolled her eyes. "If that's not a
lie, I don't know what is. And no, I'm not feeling tipsy. You need
to wipe that look of disappointment from your face. How dare you
think you can get me drunk! It's more likely, in the case of a
competition of drinking between us, you would be passed out before
I would feel a thing."
    "False. I'm calling your bluff." Royce
pointed at her. "No way does a woman drink more than a man. It
isn't done. What do they do in Louisiana? Put ale in your milk as a
child?"
    "Please. As if ale would do anything to a
person like me. It's so watered down, one could drink it when
dehydrated and still be standing straight."
    Royce shifted in his seat before asking,
"What about liquor?"
    "Am I to understand that you want to know
what your family's fine whiskey does to my feminine
sensibilities?"
    He nodded.
    "I've never had it."
    At this Royce's eyes widened in shock but
quickly went back to normal as he laughed. "Well, we will have to
remedy the