Sleeping Arrangements (Silhouette Desire) Read Online Free PDF

dumped a load of snow off a branch two feet in front of her head, Addy gave up on waiting. She’d damn well rather stand in a dark hallway than out here in the Arctic Circle. Picking her feet up high with finicky cat steps through the newly dumped snow, she approached the darkened house.
    When the lights snapped on, she threw a hand in front of her face, reflexively blocking the sudden glare.
    And then lowered her hand one millimeter at a time, her mouth hanging open and her eyes painfully wide.
    It was a castle.
    Towers and turrets. Candles flickering in sheltered sconces. The hedges, threateningly visible in the sudden light, loomed over her like the encroaching boundaries of an ancient forest. She could almost swear she heard horns, dying faintly away on the cold night air, calling the hounds to hunt.
    When the wolf burst around the side of the building and raced straight toward her, giving one deep woof on the way, Addy decided that she was hallucinating. Clearly.
    Her next conscious thought was that being body-slammed by a wolf into a snowbank sure did shoot the hallucination theory all to hell. Its paws were planted smack in the middle of her stomach and she could feel its hot breath on her neck as it shoved its nose beneath her scarf. She opened her mouth to scream.
    And sputtered in disgust as she got a faceful of doggy drool when the thing licked her from her chin to her eyebrows.
    “Ew, gross, disgusting.” She whipped her head to the sideto avoid another lick and spat into the snow. “Get off me, you big lug.”
    “Elwood! Heel!”
    The dog gave a reluctant whine, swiped one last kiss wetly across her forehead and leapt off her to go trotting obediently away. Addy pushed herself up on her elbows, scraped the snow out of her collar and wished that the heat of her irritation could actually shoot red laser beams out of her eyes to burn to a crisp the man striding across the snow-covered lawn toward her.
    “I’m so sorry. I didn’t realize he was out.” Spencer came to a halt at her feet. She could see him trying to decide whether or not it would be safe to offer her a hand up. The dog, an enormously overgrown puppy she now saw, bounced around his feet, tail wagging and tongue drooling. “Elwood, sit. Sit, Elwood.”
    When Spencer finally gave up and shoved the dog’s butt into the snow with two gloved hands, Addy laughed out loud.
    “Elwood?” she asked as she clambered to her feet and started brushing off her clothes. “Let me guess, he has four whole fried chickens for lunch every day.”
    “That was Jake. Elwood ate dry white toast.”
    “That giant wolf in dog’s clothing certainly eats more than white toast.” She could feel melting snow trickling down the back of her neck. “What kind of dog is it anyway?”
    “Elwood’s a purebred Akita.”
    “Of course. Even her dog sounds snotty, though I wouldn’t have thought Great-Aunt Adeline was a fan of The Blues Brothers. ”
    “I don’t think she ever saw the film. Elwood is my dog.”
    Oops. So much for the truce on insults.
    Before she could ask what his dog was doing at the house, Addy heard Spencer give what sounded suspiciously like a snicker. She glared up at him. His lips were clamped together in what was clearly a weak effort to keep from laughingout loud at her. “If you’re finding this funny, Reed…” she warned.
    “Not at all,” he said, his voice strangled. “It’s just…dripping.” He reached out a gloved hand toward her hair.
    “Don’t touch me,” she snapped, and jerked her head back. This had the unfortunate effect of dislodging the mountain of snow perched on her hat, spilling it down her face in a cold, damp mini avalanche.
    “Dammit.”
    Spencer’s laughter burst out of him in an uncontrollable guffaw. Through the ice water dripping into her eyes, she saw him strip off his gloves and shove them into the pockets of his overcoat. He stepped through the snow to stand next to her, crowding her.
    “You’re