Exposing the Heiress Read Online Free PDF

pictures and information I get about Eli. And they’re being extremely cooperative about me providing protection. I won’t overstep that.” No matter how much she wanted to. She’d given up the right, pure and simple. Now she had to live with that choice.
    “Fair enough.” He held up the bottle. “Wine?”
    Bad idea. She was tired, hungry, and too vulnerable. She opened her mouth to say no. “Sure.” Huh, there seemed to be a miscommunication between her brain and tongue.
    “Can you grab a couple waters from the fridge? I started the fire pit in the front. Let’s eat there.”
    They went outside and settled around the stone pit in the center of the terrace. The dark, grape-scented night and gently crackling flames soothed some of her ragged edges. Propping her feet up on the stone ring, she took the plate piled with pizza. The smell tantalized her again, finally tripping her memory. Her mouth watered, but she turned to Hunt who sat next to her. “Greek pizza?”
    “It was your favorite.”
    Her heart did a happy little skip that he remembered. “I haven’t had this in years.” She took a huge bite, her mouth filling with the feta cheese, peppers and olives. “Better than I remember.”
    The wine warmed her along with the fire as she stuffed herself with pizza. Curiosity that she’d been suppressing all day surfaced. “So you bought this place from your parents?” It couldn’t be cheap.
    “Yep, right when I came home two years ago. They were tired of the upkeep and wanted to travel. Both Erin and I didn’t want to let it go, but she’s not in a financial position to buy it, so I did.”
    Every time he mentioned his sister, Alyssa missed her more. “Erin’s Loft is doing well. I follow her online.” Erin sold the products of local artists, including her own pottery.
    “Yes, but her business takes a lot of her money, and I didn’t want her getting in over her head. And…”
    “What?” She turned, watching him in the firelight.
    “I needed a place to sculpt.”
    “Oh.” There was an intensity beneath that statement she didn’t understand. Hunt’s parents and sister were driven artists—his mom painted, his dad carved stone, and Erin did pottery. For Hunt, it had been more of a hobby. He had an insane amount of talent, but his love had been the military. So when had this need manifested itself? “Is the studio still out back?”
    Hunt’s jaw twitched, then he turned. “I keep it locked. You can go anywhere else in or out of the house, feel free to use the pool, whatever you want. But the studio is off-limits.”
    She lowered her slice of pizza, her stomach tensing. Years ago, she would burst into the studio when he was working, and he never cared. Had welcomed her. She’d take pictures or chatter, but mostly she’d just wanted to sit there, letting the music he had playing wash over her as she watched him sculpt. And now he didn’t want her in there.
    She opened her mouth to ask why, then thought better of it. She hadn’t seen him or his family in years; she didn’t have the right to demand answers. He’d been extraordinarily generous to bring her here, keep her safe, arrange for protection of Eli and his family. For the first time in the last miserable twenty-four hours she felt safe. If he wanted her to stay out of his studio, then she’d respect that. “Okay.”
    “I don’t let anyone in there, it’s not just you.”
    There it was again, that tension eating at him. She reached across the space separating them and touched his forearm. “I’ll respect your privacy.”
    He relaxed, grabbing another slice of pizza.
    “So what are your folks doing in Scotland? Sightseeing?” She smiled thinking of them.
    “Mom has a job there. One of her former art students became a bestselling author, bought an old castle ruins and built a house on the property. Mom is painting a few murals in the house.”
    “Castle ruins?” Alyssa was instantly caught up in the romance of it. “Is it