Master of Seduction Read Online Free PDF Page B

wanted pirate on earth has abducted me and means me no harm? Surely, sir, you take me for a fool.” And Lorelei was anything but a fool. It was time she parted company with Black Jack Rhys.
    As she attempted to jump from the cart, the pirate grabbed her arm and pulled her back toward him. “I told you you wouldn’t believe it.”
    Struggling against his hold, Lorelei drew back to slap him.
    His face turned dark, foreboding. “Don’t.” That one word carried more power in it than a raging hurricane.
    Not willing to test his brutality, she settled down and eyed him warily. “You don’t really expect me to just sit here quietly while you abduct me?”
    “That’s exactly what I expect you to do.”
    “You haven’t been around many women, have you?”
    When he spoke, his voice was empty and strange to her ears. “I’ve been around enough.”
    “Well,” she said, “they certainly didn’t teach you any manners.”
    “I’m a pirate,” he scoffed. “What, would you have me spout poetry?”
    She stiffened her spine at his reprimand. “You didn’t appear the pirate last night at the party. You were a gentleman then.”
    “Yes, well, you didn’t appear to be a tavern whore last night, but—”
    “Don’t you say it,” she snapped, her vision dulling at the second time someone had insulted her so.
    He laughed again. “I apologize, Miss Dupree. I have no doubt of your innocence.”
    Her fear multiplied. “Is that why you intend to rape me?”
    He pinned her with a furious glare. “I have no intention of raping you.”
    “Then why this elaborate abduction?”
    “Why not?” he asked flippantly. “I was there, you were there, Lord Pasty Face was there. It seemed like a perfect opportunity.”
    The knot in her stomach drew tighter. She tightened her grip on the back of the seat as the cart rattled along the dirt road. “An opportunity for what?”
    He didn’t answer as he veered the horses to the left fork in the road that headed toward the docks. He glanced back over his shoulder, then he looked at her. “Let’s pretend it’s a game, shall we?”
    Was he serious? Or just insane?
    “A game?” she gasped in indignation. “A game of what?”
    “Of chance and chase.”
    Could the man never answer a straight question? At any other time, she might have respected his quick thinking; however, it was her future they were talking about and she wanted to know what this man had planned. “Meaning what?”
    “Meaning you, my little guppy, are the bait I intend to use to lure a shark out of his nest.”
    “I don’t understand.”
    “I know you don’t,” he said, his gaze veiled. “I don’t want you to. Suffice to say, you’re going to be my guest for awhile.”
    Lorelei could see the docks up ahead. She had no intention of allowing him to take her on board his ship. She’d heard too many tales of what men like Black Jack Rhys did to the unfortunate females they captured. “Thank you for the invitation, but I really must decline.”
    This time his laughter was evil. “I’m afraid I really must insist.”
    As soon as Jack slowed the cart to a pace that wouldn’t injure her, Lorelei leapt from her seat. A loud rending of fabric sounded as the hem of her dress caught in the cart and tore a gaping hole in her skirt. Ignoring it, she hit the ground on her side with a fierce thud that knocked the breath from her. Even so, she refused to succumb to the pain. She pushed herself up from the ground and ran. Her legs trembling, she prayed she could make it to the alleys of the warehouses before he caught her.
    She didn’t.
    Jack’s arms wrapped around her and the two of them tumbled to the ground. As they fell, Jack rolled so that his body absorbed the impact and they came to land a few feet from the cart with Jack on the bottom.
    Lorelei dug her elbows into his chest in an effort to loosen his hold so that she could rise to her feet. He groaned and tightened his arms around her until she could no longer