Mallory Rush - [Outlawsand Heroes 02] Read Online Free PDF Page A

strained chuckle at the small joke he'd made. She did not laugh with him.
    Rather, she said fervently, "I want you to stay with me. You have to—at least for a little while. If you go now, you won't be safe, and I'd never forgive myself if something bad happened to you. Please, don't try to leave."
    Her palms gripped his shoulders and she pressed him deeper into the tub. Water sloshed over the side and he noticed her white blouse was molded to a pair of breasts so enticing that he was sorely tempted to linger.
    A short time would not make much difference. But he could afford only a few stolen moments.
    "My good woman," Noble murmured, "I find your character as exceptional as your feminine charms. Unwise though it is, I'll dally with you for as long as I dare." Already he dreaded their parting. But he would make such exquisite love to her first, she wouldn't hesitate to promise to save her favors for him, and only him, until he returned to claim her.
    Her lips seemed to beg for a kiss and Noble traced the full sweep of her bottom lip. It quivered softly beneath the pad of his thumb as she whispered, "For the moment why don't we dally together over a bowl of chicken soup?"

 
     
     
    Chapter 3

     
    "Your offer of soup is most kind," he replied in a low, roughened voice Lori likened to raw silk. "However, I find that my appetite requires more tempting fare."
    Lori was at once enchanted by his quaint, eloquent way of speaking and slightly unnerved by the smoldering glint in his eyes. They were an unusual, riveting shade of gray, reminding her of gunmetal. His unwavering gaze seemed to pin her in place beside the claw-footed tub at the same time it lured her to lean closer and press her palm to his chest.
    His heart beat in a steady rhythm, assuring her that he was unbelievably, miraculously alive. She assured herself further that the crisis was truly over by giving in to the temptation of tentatively exploring his chest. Beneath the dense mat of dark hair, his skin was warm, his muscles taut and firm. Without her conscious consent her fingertips wandered, lightly touched the tip of a dark brown nipple.
    One side of his mouth crooked up in a devilishly sexy half smile. Definitely alive. Lori's heart caught and so did her breath. The sound of her pulse swelled in her ears. It mingled with the thickening silence, carried on sultry tendrils of steam.
    She tried for a hospitable tone, but her voice emerged throaty and carried an undercurrent of innuendo. "If you're not in the mood for soup, what sounds good to you?"
    "Your voice sounds lovely. And strangely familiar." Lines of concentration creased his prominent brow, which glistened, droplets trickling from his dark brown hair. "I'm sure that I'd remember had we met before. And yet, it seems like I know you. Such a mystery, is it not?"
    As with his previous questions, she was carefully ambiguous in her reply. "Not such a mystery, really. I talked to you a lot while you were... unconscious." Her deepest, darkest confessions coming back to her, she laughed, embarrassed, and ducked her head.
    Only to take in the flat plane of his abdomen. Unable to stop herself, she glanced lower and saw that he was partially aroused. Not fully resuscitated yet, but showing impressive signs of life. She jerked up her gaze.
    And encountered his amused, intimate regard.
    Lori was suddenly uncomfortable—with their compromising positions; with the atmosphere, charged with expectation. But most of all with her awareness of him as a man whose nearness was awakening something inside her, a miracle in itself. The persona he projected was so strong and compelling she could hardly think past the clamoring impulses she had thought buried with Mick. Now they were coming back to life with a desperate vengeance, resurrected by the man she had labored, prayed, to save.
    It had been so long, how good it was to feel the tug of desire again. At the moment she didn't even care if it sprang from the ordeal they'd