Tidewater Lover Read Online Free PDF Page A

everything I want here, but I didn't realize he meant it literally," the intruder mused, his tone riddled with suggestion.
    Lacey brandished the poker. "Get out of here!" Her voice was a croaking whisper, making a mockery out of her attempt to threaten him.
    She heard his throaty chuckle and wanted to run, but her legs were trembling. She had never been so terrified in her life as she was at that moment. There were so many things that could happen to her and she was trying desperately not to visualize any of them.
    "You'd better get out of here," she warned again, this time with a steadier voice, "or I'll…I'll call the police."
    She glanced at the telephone, inching closer toward it. She knew it was dead, but she was taking the chance that he had nothing to do with it.
    "Sorry—" there was laughter in his voice, rich and low "—but the telephone has been temporarily disconnected."
    As she breathed in quickly in despair, a tiny sob of panic made itself heard. She saw the male contour of his mouth curve into a smile that was oddly gentle, if mockingly indulgent.
    "Why don't you tell me who you are and what you're doing here?" he suggested.
    His question struck her as being so absurd that she was speechless. It became obvious that her presence wasn't going to intimidate him into leaving. She would have to think of something else.
    "I'm not here alone, you know," lied Lacey. "My husband has gone to the store and he'll be back any minute. You'd better leave before he comes."
    "Is he now?" The intruder merely smiled. "That's good. Maybe when he gets here, you'll put down that poker and start explaining a few things."
    He took another step forward and Lacey raised the poker to strike. Her heart was hammering against her ribs, her stomach churning with fear.
    "Don't come any closer," she threatened shakily, "or I'll bash your head in!"
    He stopped, the lazy smile still curving his mouth. His stance was indolent, but Lacey wasn't deceived. There wasn't any spare flesh on his muscular frame and a man that physically fit could react in a split second, like a predatory animal.
    "I believe you would try," he acknowledged, but in his acknowledgment he was implying that she would be no match for him even with the poker.
    Behind Lacey a log in the fireplace popped loudly. The explosive sound startled her to the point that, for a scant second, she thought she was being attacked from the rear.
    Before she could assimilate that the sound had been caused by the innocuous popping of a burning log, the steel teeth of a trap had closed around her right wrist, the hand with the major responsibility of holding the poker.
    A strangled "No!" was torn from her throat as the weapon was ripped from her grasp.
    Adrenalin surged through her system. Where once her limbs had been shaky and weak with fright, they now throbbed with new strength. She struck out at her attacker, arms and legs flailing at anything solid. And there was a great deal that was solid.
    At first he was satisfied to merely hold her arm and ward off the bulk of her blows, but as her accuracy improved, he changed his tactics. Lacey felt herself being bodily twisted onto the sofa. Primitive alarm raced through her frantic heartbeats when she felt the force of his weight following to press her against the cushions.
    With panicked breaths, she strained to rid herself of the crushing weight of his chest—to no avail. His sheer maleness was awakening all sorts of danger signals and she reacted all the more wildly. The bruising fingers pinning her shoulders to the sofa and thwarting the ineffectual hammering of her fists easily kept her his captive.
    As she made a superhuman attempt to twist away, she felt the delicate strap of her pajama top tearing beneath his fingers. It was an inadvertent happening, but the touch of his hand against her now bare skin made her blood run cold with terror.
    His body heat had already burned its male imprint on her. She heard him curse softly when she muffled