Intimate Strangers Read Online Free PDF Page B

vicious, Hannah cringed, but she refused to back down in the face of his anger. She reminded herself that he was just frustrated with her. She’d caused and then dealt with that reaction in others for most of her life, so she would deal with it now. "You can come home with Sean, if you’d like." Reaching out, she flattened her hand against his chest. The rapid beat of his heart hammered an invisible tattoo into her open palm. "We would all welcome you as his friend."
    Nicholas stared down at her slender fingers as they rested against his chest. Then, he lifted his gaze to her face. "You are not real," he told her. "Either that or you live in some fairy tale world where reality is an alien concept."
    "Don’t dismiss me because you don’t know or understand me. That’s not fair."
    He shoved aside her hand. "Life’s not fair. I know, because I’ve dealt with the results of the actions of self–serving crusaders who invariably turned into greed–driven bastards for most of my adult life."
    "People aren’t perfect, but your problem is that you obviously expect the worst of everyone. As a result, that’s what you get. If you weren’t so cynical, you’d be a far happier man, and you wouldn’t be living out here in the middle of nowhere like some hermit."
    "It’s late, I’m tired, and I’ve had enough of you and your convoluted reasoning. Are you ready to leave?" he asked, his tone of voice reminiscent of taut piano wire.
    She lifted her chin, clenched her fists, and glared at him. "I’ll leave once you’ve told me everything you know about my brother, including how to find him."
    "You’ll wind up buried in a snowdrift," he said.
    Hannah considered his warning. "Perhaps I could park in your garage." She grinned. "That way, you won’t have to go to the trouble of digging me out."
    "You’ll dig yourself out or you’ll freeze to death. Your choice."
    She sighed. "I’ve already made my choice. Sean comes first. I’ll do whatever it takes to find him."
    "Whatever?" His eyes darkened as he glowered at her.
    "Whatever," she confirmed, heart racing and nerves coiled into knots. However, she contemplated him with what she hoped was an unruffled expression.
    Nicholas shoved his knife into the leather sheathe strapped to his lower leg, kicked open the rear door of the van, and barked a one–word command. "Out!"
    Shocked, Hannah scuttled backward, but she didn’t get very far. As she fought to free herself from the sleeping bag, Nicholas seized her. He subdued her flailing arms, stripped the sleeping bag from the lower half of her body, and then dragged her out into the cold and falling snow in less than five seconds.
    "What do you think you’re doing?" she shouted as she sank into knee–deep snow.
    After slamming shut the van door, he lifted her and tossed her over his shoulder, driving the air out of her lungs. He set off into the darkness as Hannah gasped for breath and hammered his back with her fists.

3
    What in the hell am I doing?
    Nicholas asked himself that question at least a dozen times as he hauled Hannah Cassidy into his home and kicked the front door closed with his booted foot. He decided that hell would probably freeze over before he came up with an answer that satisfied him.
    He subdued her squirming body, eased her off his shoulder, and slid her down the front of his body. She flowed over him like molten satin. He cursed himself for wanting her even as he inhaled the subtle fragrance of her skin and savored the feel of every curve and hollow of her petite figure.
    Hannah tried to pull free once her feet touched the floor. Nicholas jerked her forward. She slammed against him. He held her still, molding her against his powerful frame with one hand at the base of her spine and the other curved carefully at the back of her head. He didn’t want to harm her. If anything, he simply wanted to indulge himself just one more time with the luscious feel of her.
    Nicholas closed his eyes. He gently flexed his