Substitute Bride Read Online Free PDF Page B

of Rick Conway. Why was it, when she had danced with him, she had experienced those strange sensations again? It must have something to do with the antagonism they felt towards each other. It could be nothing else. A girl might be well advised not to trust him, though. Emma shivered when she recaled the dark look in his eyes when she had defied him and the curious cruelty around his sensuous mouth as his glance had flickered over hers.
    As Rick was taking Blanche out to dinner and Aunt Hilda was dining out again with friends, Emma decided she would wait until they had all gone and enjoy the luxury of a bath instead of making do with a shower. For once she had managed to finish early and was busy washing the dishes which were still in the sink from lunch, when she heard the doorbel ring. Fancying that no one had answered it, she hastily removed the last of the dishes from the soapy water and quickly dried her wet hands.
    Flinging open the kitchen door, she was startled and embarrassed to find Rick Conway slowly removing his mouth from Blanche's, in what had obviously been a very pleasurable kiss. He had his arms about her and was kissing her in a lazy, teasing fashion, while again his hands caressed her bare back. Emma gulped, feeling her face go red. No man had ever touched her like that. There was something very intimate in the way Rick's fingers were moving over bare flesh. What did he think he was doing?
    Her cheeks so hot she could scarcely bear them, Emma hid her punishing discomposure beneath scorn, letting it show clearly in her cool grey eyes as they clashed with Rick's.
    Lifting his head, he met Emma's silent disgust head on.
    Anger flared for an instant in the darkness of his face and his hands tightened until Blanche, not realising the cause of it, squealed in protest.
    Without waiting to say helo, Emma turned quickly, stumbling back into the kitchen. As she did so she heard Blanche say coldly that she didn't like being mauled and would go upstairs and fetch a coat.
    Emma, feeling irrationaly, like someone who had ran a great distance and was quite out of breath, was about to colapse weakly on to a chair when the door behind her snapped open and two hands yanked her ruthlessly to her feet. Swiftly she was turned to face the man who held her.
    'Don't ever look at me like that again, young lady!' Rick snarled, puling her without warning towards him.
    She saw his mouth swooping downwards, but could do nothing to avoid it. It took her unawares and her last breath away with it. His hold on her was savage, renewing her former suspicions that he enjoyed hurting her, but this time he used actions as well as words, which hurt even more.
    Although his hands didn't stray his mouth did. She could have sworn that for all his ferocious beginning he had meant to treat her lightly, but when he drew back, after touching her lips briefly, his mouth suddenly descended again, this time to crush hers relentlessly.
    Instinctively, as molten flames began pouring through her, she tried to push him away, but his arms merely tightened about her, putting a decisive end to her struggles. She could feel the heat emanating from him and her whole body went limp with shock, yet when she put her hands up to push him away, she found them clinging instead to the hard strength of his broad shoulders. His voice was deep as he muttered incomprehensibly against her throbbing lips, and she felt her senses flare with what she refused to acknowledge as something very like desire. Shuddering beneath his brutal expertise, she tried to stop thinking, but as his determined assault continued her fair head was bent back, until she feared her slender neck might break before he released her.
    For a long, hateful moment, when he did, they stared at each other, and she saw his eyes had changed and darkened while his breath came harshly.
    'A man's hands are rather tied when it comes to punishing a woman,' he said curtly, 'but you asked for that.'
    'No, I didn't!'