Ivory (Manhatten ten) Read Online Free PDF Page B

concern.”
    “But I want it to be.” Panther stretched out, giving me the full view of his long frame. Half-invitation and half-challenge, his heated look hit all my buttons.  
    Including the danger button. The frigid haze that signaled my descent into warrior mode hovered at the edge of my vision.  
    He was too much. “You obviously have no problem letting your beast out.”
    “I am the beast.” He flashed his claws, not to threaten, but to display. “We’re one and the same. Isn’t that how it is for you, Ice Princess? You can’t suppress that part of yourself forever.”
    “That’s not how it works.” He was a panther man, part animal to begin with. I was from an ice tribe. Maybe I was no less wild, but outside of the tundra, I could play human.
    “If you say so.” Panther took another bite of the tartare, flashing pointed canines. “Need a hairdryer?”
    “What?”
    “To thaw out.”
    I didn’t even need to look. The ice had spilled out of my palms. It gave me icicle fingernails and frosted the countertop in white.
    So much for control.
    I drew the cold inward until the counter was clean and none of the evidence of my latest slip-up remained. “You can see yourself out.”
    I left the dishes and once again retreated from Panther, this time to the relative safety of my borrowed bedroom. He was under my skin, and I didn’t trust myself with all of his needling.
    What did he want from me?
    The warrior in me bubbled much too close to the surface. Panther would be in for a spear to the belly if he didn’t pull back. Then he’d see why “letting loose” wasn’t a good idea.
    I folded my legs, closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Meditation. My center was somewhere and I’d find it yet. Picturing the vast white Arctic, I sought calm.
    Every time I came close, that pointed, panther smile intruded on my inner ice field. His heated predator’s gaze dared me.
    To do what, I wasn’t sure.
    The moment I gave in to any of the huntress’s urges was the moment I had to crawl home to my execution. I’d be a danger to every human around me, and assuming I could still remember that was bad, I could kill myself or let my mother do the job.
    I’d kept the huntress clamped down for years, but Panther was too much temptation on too many levels. I could lose myself to a man like that.
     
     
    Panther was gone and the kitchen was empty the next time I dared peek outside. Much longer in the heroes’ tower and I’d be timid as a vole.
    An assortment of gowns spread over the sofa back. Most were sleek and shiny in pale colors cut for a woman of my height. Angel again.
    I’d almost forgotten about the “party”. I wished I could forget again.
    I chose a silvery Diane von Furstenberg from the pile. Its neckline dipped low, but the long lines would hide my bare feet. At least, I had every intention of going barefoot until I discovered the shoeboxes on the coffee table.
    Manolo Blahnik. Chanel. Louis Vuitton.
    It was a buffet of brands, and a miracle. Women’s size twelve?
    They had to be custom, which made them even more extravagantly expensive. The M-10 could obviously afford it, but it sparked my unease. Maybe they thought throwing luxury frills my way would make me indebted.
    With Tank, I expected mind games.
    But…
    Unless I was shopping for snowshoes, I’d never seen such a fitting assortment. It would be madness to pass up.
    Armed with pale Chanel pumps, I was ready for the evening. Everything fit like it was tailored, and it must have been. I let my long platinum curls cascade past my shoulders, but so finely dressed, I looked naked without jewelry.
    The women of my tribe might dress in skins and furs, but they knew how to decorate themselves. I reached for the memories as I reached for the cold inside me, and touching a long-rusted use of my power, spun out a string of ice diamonds.
    I decked my ears and draped my neck. They glittered like the real things, though they were freezing to the touch. No