Succumb to Me Read Online Free PDF Page A

His hot
breath fanned across her cool skin, causing a shiver of goosebumps
to rise in response.
     
    Trapped, by his nearness, by a strange
weakness of her own limps, she could do nothing but look into his
shadowy eyes, fighting down her panic.
     
    “I’ll scream.” She tried to pull her head
back but found she had nowhere to go.
     
    “No, you won’t.” He sounded so confident, so
assured of his victory.
     
    “I will.”
     
    He pressed his hips firmly to hers as though
emphasizing his point. “You haven’t yet. Could it be you fear being
caught with my arms around you?”
     
    The thought hadn’t occurred to her, but now
she realized just how deeply in trouble she was. After the debacle
on the dance floor, if they found her out here like this, her
reputation would be compromised beyond repair. “I fear nothing,”
she whispered without conviction, hating the doubts he’d instilled
in her.
     
    “I think you do. I think fear you will enjoy
this far more than you fear being caught, and possibly compromised.
Relax.” He kissed the corner of her mouth softly. “Don’t fight
this, and you will almost certainly enjoy this as much as I.”
     
    He’d given her little choice but to
acquiesce. She decided she would comply, but only to lull him into
believing he’d won so that he would drop his guard and she could
escape.
     
    He nibbled at her lips, relaxing her with his
soft teasing before settling his mouth full upon hers. It was her
first kiss, the first time a man had held her in his arms.
     
    Forbidden pleasure rushed through her body
like a heady wine. She tingled everywhere his flesh connected with
hers, her mouth, her breasts against his chest. A sudden pulse
throbbed in that secret place between her legs as he sucked at her
bottom lip, tugging it with his teeth.
     
    She whimpered, unable to control herself, and
he growled low in his throat, pushing his tongue inside her
mouth.
     
    She gasped into him and he rocked his hips
against her, rubbing that mysterious hardness low on her belly.
Dimly, she knew what it was, some animal instinct inside her had
responded to it, her body welcomed its intrusion.
     
    Dear god, she should not enjoy this so much,
certainly not with him. She turned her head, breaking his kiss,
gasping for breath. “Stop,” she whispered, trembling. He’d done
this to humiliate her, she realized suddenly. He had wanted to show
her she was no better than him, low, wicked ... And it had worked.
A wave of shame washed over her. She knew now she should have
damned the consequences and screamed for help.
     
    He chuckled, releasing her, and she
discovered her legs had gone weak, refused to fully support her.
She leaned against the gazebo, shaken, feeling the cold seeping
into her bones, leaching away the heat that had leapt up between
them with his nearness, his kiss. She shivered and rubbed her arms,
staring numbly after him as he walked away, smug and satisfied—and
begging for a dagger in the back.
     
    “Never forget a crude oaf made you feel this
way, Miss Stevens. Never.”
    * * * *
     
    Winter tossed and turned in her bed, reliving
every shameful moment of her past. Every detail was as painfully,
achingly clear, as powerful as if it had happened only
yesterday.
     
    Her body ached with remembered longing—as
unwelcome now as it had been then, and she was furious at herself
for desiring him, for yearning for his kisses.
     
    Would she never escape those unbidden
feelings he’d aroused in her so long ago?
     
     
     

CHAPTER THREE
     
     
    If she’d had the coin, Winter would have
hired someone to clobber Logan Cordell as he left Giovanni’s studio
with the painting and taken the canvas once he was down.
Unfortunately, that had not been an option. Only the wealthy could
afford the safety and clean conscience of having their work hired
out. Winter no longer fell in that category and had been left with
no option but pursue the drastic ... and dangerous herself. She
simply