Her Every Pleasure Read Online Free PDF

ignore the silken warmth of his breath against her neck and the curious sensations that his big, muscled body roused atop her. The feelings were not entirely unpleasant.
    “Why don’t you find these kittens new homes if they are such a bother?” she suggested tartly, still refusing to look at him.
    “But they were born here. I am only a gentleman-tenant.”
    Gentleman?
The word got her attention as it signaled his honorable intent. Slowly, cautiously, Sophia met his curious gaze from the corner of her eye.
    “I will free you if you promise not to kill me,” he offered in a sardonic murmur. “I give you my word as a gentleman that you will not be harmed.”
    What choice did she have?
    Sophia said nothing, but gave him a hard look, then uncurled her fingers and let her knife plunk down onto the floorboards in a gesture of good faith.
    “Ah,” her handsome captor said in a husky tone of approval. “How novel. A woman of sense.”
             
    With extreme caution, Gabriel loosened his grip around her delicate wrist by degrees. Freeing her knifehand was easy, however, compared to the self-restraint it took to ease his weight up off her warm, slim, nubile, young body. Every male atom of his being cried out to lower his head instead and claim her lovely mouth.
    Of course, that might have got him stabbed. Even a harlot wanted a man to wait until he was invited.
    With a heave of effort, Gabriel backed away from the raven-haired temptress; she did the same, both of them kneeling on the floor with its thin scattering of hay.
    Her gaze locked with his; the girl’s wary brown eyes tracked his movements as he rose slowly, moving carefully, not wishing to startle her again. He went instead to look after the kittens, giving her a moment to recover from their clash.
    “You’re pretty quick with that knife,” he remarked, walking over with measured paces to see if there was any milk left in the bowl.
    “Practice,” she answered in a low, rather defiant murmur.
    Fiery, this one.
    “I take it Derek sent you.”
    “Derek?”
    “My brother.” He crouched down and pushed the black kitten and the gray tabby away from the bowl so the little orange one could drink some of the milk, as well.
    “Your brother,” she echoed slowly, tasting his words.
    “The other Major Knight, my dear. The man who hired you to come here and, ah…serve me, I presume.” His glance flicked over her body. He couldn’t seem to help it.
    “Oh, right. Derek,” she answered with a vague nod. “Of course.”
    “He does tend to think he’s amusing.” Gabriel lowered his head, watching the kittens to try to keep his stare off her. “Unfortunately, it isn’t going to work. You are beautiful, God knows, but you can go back to London or wherever it was that he found you, for I…”—He faltered, then redoubled his resolve—“I do not require a bedmate at this time.”
             
    A bedmate?
    Sophia stared at him, her eyes wide, her whole body motionless with shock.
    Was
that
what he thought she was doing here?
    Zounds! He thought she was a hussy?
    Her royal sire would be turning in his grave—and if Leon ever heard the cheeky blackguard imply such a thing, her old lion would pound him into the dirt!
    Well, at least he would try. Even Leon might have a time of it with this one, she conceded, her gaze trailing over his formidable physique. The “gentleman-tenant” was a towering wall of muscle, six-foot-four at least, of pure iron. She could not believe she had attacked him and lived.
    Still, she quickly realized that
his
explanation for her presence here was safer than the truth—especially since he claimed he did not need her “services” at this time.
    Really, a girl could take insult at being so easily refused, she thought wryly.
    “I see,” she replied, playing her cards close to the chest. Heart pounding, she hid her astonishment, still not quite sure how to react.
    He really was very mysterious. Who was he, and why