Seductive as Flame Read Online Free PDF

though, you have a reputation.” She wasn’t sure she wished to be amused by a man whose name was a byword for casual debauch. “I’ve been warned off by my cousin.”
    “I thought you were the one with the reputation,” he said as if she’d not rebuked him. “Aren’t you supposed to be a witch?”
    “I thought that’s what they called your wife.”
    He threw back his head and laughed uproariously. “Christ,” he murmured some moments later, a smile still lingering in his eyes. “You’re a brazen little piece.”
    “I’m not little. As for brazen, I could say the same of you. Tell me why you’re here?” His wife apparently wasn’t a problem, nor was his confidence. She was curious how or whether he’d ask.
    “The truth?”
    “I prefer it.”
    “You entice me.”
    “From what I hear, all women entice you.”
    “Not like this.” He blew out a small breath, unnerved by his sudden truthfulness. “Although by and large,” he said, restlessly tapping his quirt against his boot, feeling the need to nullify his unwitting disclosure, “honesty is rare in these situations.”
    “Speak for yourself. I prefer the unromantic truth. Isn’t that what we’re talking about? Sex not romance?”
    His brows rose. “Are you always so frank?”
    “Generally. It saves my time and patience. I deplore prevarication. And you of all people even suggesting a private parlor might be of concern is laughable. The upstairs maids at Groveland Chase are all hoping you’ll give them a tumble this weekend. The girl who helped me dress this morning was quite explicit in her enthusiasm.”
    He stood very still for a moment, then flicked his quirt in a rudimentary gesture. “May I sit?”
    She smiled for the first time. “Have I thrown you off your pace?”
    “Perhaps a little,” he said.
    “What if I said you may not sit?”
    He took note of her small equivocation, took pleasure in it. “Naturally, I’d remain standing.”
    “For how long?” But she was smiling, too.
    “For as long as you wished, of course,” he said. “A gentleman always gives a lady what she wants,” he softly added and was gratified to see her cheeks flush. “And consider, Miss MacKenzie, I’ve been looking for you for over an hour, so you might at least offer me a chair. We could talk about horses rather than sex, if you like. That flashy hunter of yours for starters.”
    “He is rather lovely, isn’t he?”
    “Rare, I’d say. You don’t see that color often.”
    “Oh very well,” she said with a sigh. “Please join me, Dalgliesh. We’ll compare horses.”
    But he took notice of her quick intake of breath as he approached and knew she was responding to him, knew she was feeling what he was feeling—had known it from the moment they’d met.
    As he took a seat in a chair next to hers and dropped his quirt on the floor, the door opened and a servant girl entered with his coffee and brandy. “Would you like breakfast?” he casually asked, relaxing in his chair, back on familiar ground with a woman wanting him. “I didn’t eat much this morning.”
    “I can always eat,” Zelda replied, immediately blushing a deeper pink at the inadvertent sexual innuendo.
    “I’m happy to hear it.” Her blush was alluring to a man who couldn’t remember when last he’d seen a woman blush. Most of the women he knew were long past such innocence. He turned to the servant girl who was placing his cup on a table beside his chair. “What can the kitchen offer us this morning?”
    “Porridge, eggs, bacon, fresh scones and apple tart, and some rare fine apple cider, if you like. The apple harvest was right good this year.”
    Dalgliesh glanced at Zelda and said with punctilious politesse now that they were no longer private, “How does that sound, Miss MacKenzie?”
    “Very fine, Lord Dalgliesh.” She, too, was capable of good manners in public. “And another cup of this.” She pointed at her cup.
    “I’ll try the apple cider,” Alec said.