To Have and to Hold Read Online Free PDF

this, but I don't drink."
    He blinked at her. "You don't what?" he asked politely.
    "I don't drink Thanks anyway," she said, trying to ignore the glass facing her.
    "Is there some particular reason for that hang-up?" he asked curiously, leaning a muscular forearm over the back of the sofa while he studied her through narrowed, wary eyes. "I didn't ask you over here with the intention of getting you drunk and seducing you."
    She blushed, and he saw it. A strange expression crossed his rugged face.
    "I don't like alcohol," she said quietly. "That's the honest-to-God truth, and you can take it any way you like. It makes me sick to drink it."
    "Burgundy, you are one hell of a puzzle to me," he said, shaking his dark head as he studied her. "I'll be damned if you aren't. You don't drink, don't smoke, don't chase men, don't put on airs...and you can still blush. Have you ever slept in a man's arms, little girl?"
    The blush deepened, and she looked away. "I came over for supper, I thought," she reminded him.
    "I've got a casserole in the oven," he said. "With ten more minutes to go—potatoes au gratin. Do you have to wear your hair like that? I don't like it."
    "You don't have to like it."
    "Don't argue. I get enough of that everywhere else." He reached out a big hand and carefully pulled out the hairpins, as if he had every right. And she didn't try to stop him as the auburn tresses drifted in wisps down around her face and shoulders. "That's better," he said in a deep, lazy voice. His fingers tangled it gently, and the careless action had an effect on her pulse that she didn't even want to acknowledge. "No hair spray," he commented. "Just soft and natural and silky to touch. There's nothing artificial about you, is there, honey?"
    Her eyes were on that broad chest where the shirt strained open across a mat of curling dark hair. The scent of his cologne was everywhere. The vibrancy of his big body seemed to be reaching across the space that separated them, drawing her towards him. He made her feel sensations that were new and exciting and vaguely frightening. She couldn't get her breath this close to him, a discovery that brought her heart into her throat.
    Her eyes were on his mouth, watching the hard masculine lines of it curve suddenly, gently, into 'a semblance of a smile. His fingers touched her throat gently, where the pulse was slamming at its walls. His skin was masculine and dark against that white softness.
    "Your heart's going very fast, little one," he murmured lazily. "Are you afraid of me?"
    "I don't know you very well," she managed in a loud whisper.
    "That explains it then," he said with a smile in his voice. He took his hand away. "Come help me with the steaks. You can slice the onions," he added wickedly, going ahead of her into the kitchen.
    "You said that as if you actually knew that they make me cry," she teased, getting her balance back with the distance between them.
    "I guessed. Here, don't cut yourself," he added, handing her a sharp knife and an onion.
    The kitchen, for so large a house, was unusually small. All through the preparations, she had to brush against him as she worked, and every fleeting contact with that rock-hard masculine body made her tingle. By the time it was ready, she was visibly shaken, despite her efforts not to let it show.
    Just as they started to sit down to eat, he came up behind her and caught her waist from behind with two powerful hands.
    "You remind me of Cabbage," he s aid at her ear, his breath warm on the soft skin. "Will it make it any easier if I kiss you, little girl?"
    The trembling started in the pit of her stomach and worked up and down her body until he could feel the vibration.
    Her fingers caught at his, cold and almost pleading. "S...supper will get cold," she whispered nervously.
    He chuckled gently. "All right. Here." He let her go and seated her at the table with an old-world courtesy.
    The meal was delicious when she calmed down enough to taste it properly,