Demon Rumm Read Online Free PDF

embarrassed for the women who had to suffer it. He sympathized with them.
    So what had made him touch Kirsten? Granted, he’d been sufficiently provoked on several levels, professionally, sexually, emotionally. Still, he shouldn’t have done it.
    She had every right to be spitting mad. Anger he could deal with. What he couldn’t understand, and therefore what disturbed him the most, was the fear he’d seen on her face. Or had it been fear that caused her upper teeth to clamp down on her bottom lip? Dismay perhaps? Over what? His caress? Or her immediate physical reaction to it?
    Damned if he knew. The elusive answer had haunted him while he showered and changed and spent an hour in the study looking through memorabilia on Demon Rumm.
    Alice had found him there and, hoping to glean some information about Kirsten from her, he had followed her into the kitchen to chat while she prepared dinner. Rylan had taken an instant liking to the housekeeper. Like her employer, she hadn’t fawned over him, but had fussed about the sandy jeans he’d left on the terrace. Her bossiness endeared her to him.
    Where the Rumms were concerned, Alice proved to be loquacious, but discreet. She hadn’t betrayed any confidences, if indeed there were any. Avidly curious about movies and moviemakers, she asked him about her favorite actress, whom he had costarred with.
    He set up his favorite story about that particular actress while Alice grated cheese into a bowl. “So she walks over to the bed, as we had blocked it. I’ve got my back turned to her, see? I take off my shirt.”
    “I remember that. It was a yummy love scene.”
    “Thanks.
Finally
it came out that way. But on that particular take, just as I got my shirt off, she let go this bloodcurdling scream. I thought, ‘My God, has my back broken out with leprosy?’ But it seems that the crew thought it would be hilarious to put a Gila monster under the covers and—”
    “No!” Alice exclaimed.
    “Yes. When she whipped the covers back, there it was in all its horny, ugly glory.”
    Alice was raptly attentive. “What did she do?”
    “After that initial scream, nothing. She laughed and went along with the joke. But the next day she paid them all back.”
    “How?” Alice asked, giggling.
    Rylan popped a ripe olive into his mouth, sucking on it as he talked. “She got up early and while everyone was still sleeping sent her kids—they were on the set with her—around to steal their shoes. By breakfast, she had a pile of Reeboks and Adidas and Nikes, with all the shoelaces tied together. Ever try to sort out forty or so pair of sports shoes and stay on a tyrant director’s rigid schedule?”
    “Who would ever have thought she could be such a cutup? She seems so elegant.” Alice glanced at something behind his shoulder and smiled. “Hi, there. Headache better?”
    Rylan swiveled his head around to see Kirsten standing in the doorway. She avoided looking at him as she answered her housekeeper. “Yes, thank you.”
    He had difficulty catching his breath. The afternoon had culminated in a fabulous sunset. As Kirsten moved between him and the view of it, he could see her slender body silhouetted against the gauzy sundress she was wearing. The bodice crisscrossed in front over her breasts and tied behind her neck, leaving her back bare. It would have been impossible to wear a bra with that dress. Only his preoccupation with her fluid figure prevented him from laughing out loud. She had worn the dress in defiance. He wanted to congratulate her on her gumption, but the sight of her left him momentarily mute.
    “Dinner’s almost ready,” Alice said, turning her back to them to reach for something in the refrigerator.
    Rylan used that opportunity to say, “Nice dress, Kirsten.”
    “Thank you.”
    He could tell from the way she looked through him that she didn’t approve of his dinner attire. The jeans he was wearing were clean, but in no better condition than the pair he’d