Invitation to Scandal Read Online Free PDF Page B

“Perhaps rape is the only way you can take a woman.”
    He stood staring down at her, his breath coming in ragged pants. “We both know it would not have been rape. Even now I can see the desire in your eyes.”
    “Yes—a desire to be left alone. Not to be molested by a brute stronger than me simply because he feels like it. Not all women are whores. Or is monetary incentive the only way you know how to get a woman?” She all but spat the words at him.
    Shock flared in his eyes. He glared down at her, his rigid stance indicating how livid he was.
    She followed his angry stare, only to gasp as she quickly lowered her skirts from where they were bunched around her waist, her legs exposed to his heated gaze.
    He was breathing heavily. She could not quite meet his eyes. She had been enjoying his touch, his fingers’ caress, and his lips’ soft trail. Her eyes could not meet his knowing gaze; instead, they roamed downward and came to rest on the great cylindrical bulge in his trousers. He was still hard for her. She could not tear her gaze away.
    “If you keep staring at my trousers like that, I’ll think you are lying and you do in fact want me as I want you.”
    His words brought more heat to her cheeks.
    “Are you going to put me out of my misery?” When he spoke, his voice was an intimate murmur designed to coax the deepest secrets from her. Her eyes were drawn back to his bulge. “I meant were you going to tell me about the barrel ?” His voice grew heavy with sarcasm. “Unless you were thinking of some other way to end my obvious suffering. I wouldn’t want to touch you again and be accused of rape.”
    She shook her head and looked away. With a strangled sigh, Rheda leaned back on her elbows and looked up into his ruggedly handsome face, trying to still the sparks of heat flaring in her veins. She had to tell him something. She knew from experience that a man of Lord Strathmore’s fortitude would not leave her alone until he had his answer.
    “We had a big storm pass through here a couple of nights ago. I found it washed up on the beach this morning. It must have fallen off a ship. I thought I’d roll it home.”
    “On your own?”
    “I couldn’t risk leaving it. Someone else might take it. Selling the contents of this barrel could feed us for a month. Unfortunately, as I was rolling it, the barrel slipped off the road down this little slope. I managed to stop it from going over the cliff, but became pinned against this oak tree.”
    She kept her features blank as the lies rolled off her tongue. If Lord Strathmore was with the government he’d learn nothing from her. Smuggling was punishable by transportation to the colonies, but finding goods washed ashore after a storm was merely salvaging.
    His voice became resolute and dropped an octave. “I do not think so; the barrel is not even wet.” He dropped down to kneel on the grass beside her, making any idea of escape ludicrous. Besides, with his stallion there was no way she could outrun him. “Do I need to coax a better response from you?” He reached to cup her chin in his hands. He lowered his face until their lips almost met. “I ask again, where did you get it?”
    Rheda swallowed her fear. “On the beach, my lord.”
    “You will tell me the truth. It wasn’t in the water, was it? What beach? Where did you find it exactly?” His words flew at her with urgency.
    She stammered, his nearness affecting her more than she liked. “I—I cannot remember exactly which beach, but it was near here. The cask is heavy, and I hadn’t rolled it very far before I became pinned.”
    He eyed her wearily as if judging the truth of her words. Her heart began to pound as his eyes darkened from deep brown to almost black. He lifted one hand to stroke her hair as it lay flowing loose on the ground. In a low, deadly tone he said, “Perhaps I should summon the Revenuers and let them extract the truth from you since my methods of persuasion do not work.”
    Meg