Cullen's Bride Read Online Free PDF

challenge, and more than a little irritation.
    Which left the second option.
    Every muscle in his body tightened as he absorbed the possibility that Rachel Sinclair was just as attracted to him as he was to her. Cursing savagely beneath his breath, Cullen tore open the Velcro fastening at his nape and jettisoned the cape. Having her touch him had been an even bigger mistake than he’d first thought. And judging from the unruly response of his body, it was way past time he left
    Rachel stifled the urge to back up a step as Cullen flowed up and out of the chair, his wet hair falling sleekly to his shoulders. For the briefest moment she’d had the clear impression he was going to slide his hands around her waist and bury his mouth against hers. The vision was so graphic that she could almost feel the clasp of his hands, the tingling warmth of his lips pressing hers apart. And then he was walking away as abruptly as he’d done in the alley last night, and leaving her just as disoriented.
    Disoriented enough to follow him a few dazed steps, as if caught up in a violent slipstream. “Cullen?”
    Even though she was sure her voice had been so low he couldn’t possibly have heard, he stopped just short of the door, his back to her—a rip in the sleeveless shirt giving her a glimpse of bronzed, heavily layered muscle. Numbly, Rachel searched for a reason to have stopped him. And it certainly wasn’t going to be the truth, that touching Cullen had been like touching fire, and that the physicality of her own response shocked her. “Will anything happen to that boy’s father?”
    Cullen half turned, as if reluctant to stay in the same room with her any longer than necessary. “Dane would have to complain to get his father charged, and then his mother and his brothers and sisters would be left on welfare.”
    â€œBut surely—”
    â€œEver lived on welfare, Miss Sinclair?”
    â€œNo.”
    Cullen’s scuffed riding boots made surprisingly little sound on her polished wood floor as he covered the remaining distance to the door. He paused, one hand on the jamb. “Thanks again, on Dane’s behalf.”
    Rachel lifted her chin at his determined dismissal of her and her own obscure, untenable hurt at that dismissal. “What’s going to happen to him when he gets out of hospital?”
    Cullen’s jaw tightened at the question, and this time, when he met Rachel’s gaze, he reneged on looking away. Her eyes...he hadn’t known what colour they were in the alley. He’d guessed blue. He was wrong. They were a soft, dark honey—unexpectedly fierce and just a little untamed, with the kind of fire a man could sink right into. And her scent .. Her scent was driving him crazy, urging him to step closer and seek out all the shadowed places where her silky, delicate heat flared and burned.
    Need shuddered through him again, and he locked his muscles tight against it. She was five foot five at most, small and feminine compared to his build, but he didn’t think she would refuse him—not at first, anyway. Rachel Sinclair, like a lot of women, was curious enough about him to at least try a taste. And for the first time in his life, Cullen knew he wouldn’t be able to stop at a taste. Something about Rachel shook him to the core. She was finely built, almost fragile, and utterly feminine. He wanted to hold her, to protect and care for her, to see the somber intensity in her eyes dissolve into laughter. He wanted...everything that a past rooted in violence and despair had taught him he could never have.
    â€œDane’s going to stay with me,” Cullen said, just when Rachel was certain he wasn’t going to answer her question. “And I’m going to give him exactly what he needs—a job fixing my fences.” His voice dropped, roughened. “Thanks for washing my hair. It’ll probably stay clean for at least a