Unlikely Lover Read Online Free PDF Page B

eyes opened and she tugged at his arms, only vaguely aware of the sudden, fierce hunger in his mouth just before he felt her resistance. He lifted his head, taking quick, short breaths, and by the time her eyes opened, he was back in control.
    He was watching her, half amused, half mocking. He lifted his mouth, breathing through his nose, and let her move away.
    “You little virgin,” he accused in a tone that she didn’t recognize. “You don’t even know how to make love.”
    Her swollen lips could barely form words. She had to swallow and try twice to make herself heard. “That wasn’t fair,” she said finally.
    “Why not?” he asked. “You tried to kick me, didn’t you?”
    “That isn’t the way…a gentleman gets even,” she said, still panting.
    “I’m no gentleman,” he assured her, smiling even with those cold green eyes. The smile grew colder as he realized how close he’d come to letting her knock him off balance physically. She was dangerous. Part of him wanted her off the property. But another part was hungry for more of that innocently ardent response he’d won from her. His own emotions confused him. “Haven’t you realized yet why you’re here, Georgia peach?” he asked mockingly. And when she shook her head, he continued, half amused. “Aunt Lillian is matchmaking. She wants you to marry me.”
    Mari’s pupils dilated. “Marry you!”
    His back stiffened. She didn’t have to make it sound like the rack, did she? He glared down at her. “Well, plenty have wanted to, let me tell you,” he muttered.
    “Masochists,” she shot back, humiliated by her aunt, his attitude and that unexpectedly ardent attack just minutes before. “Anyway,” she said salvaging her pride, “Aunt Lillian would never—”
    “She did.” He studied her with a cold smile. “But I’m too old for you and too jaded. And I don’t want to risk my heart again. So go home. Fast.”
    “It can’t be fast enough to suit me. Honest,” she told him huskily as she tried to catch her breath. “I don’t want to wake up shackled to a man like you.”
    “How flattering of you.”
    “I want a partner, not a possessor,” she said shakily. “I thought I knew something about men until just now. I don’t know anything at all. And I’ll be delighted to go back home and join a convent!”
    “Was it that bad?” he taunted.
    “You scare me, big man,” she said and meant it. She backed away from him. “I’ll stick to my own age group from now on, thanks. I’ll bet you’ve forgotten more about making love than I’ll ever learn.”
    He smiled slowly, surprised by her frankness. “I probably have. But you’re pretty sweet all the same.”
    “Years too young for a renegade like you.”
    “I could be tempted,” he murmured thoughtfully.
    “I couldn’t. You’d seduce me and leave me pregnant, and Aunt Lillian would quit, and I’d have to go away and invent a husband I didn’t have, and our child would grow up never knowing his father…” she burst out.
    His eyes widened. He actually chuckled. “My God, what an imagination.”
    “I told you I wanted to be a writer,” she reminded him. “And now, since you’re not dying, would you mind leaving me to pack? I think I can be out of here in ten minutes.”
    “She’ll be heartbroken,” he said unexpectedly.
    “That’s not my problem.”
    “She’s your aunt. Of course it’s your problem,” he returned. “You can’t possibly leave now. She’d—”
    “Oh!”
    The cry came from downstairs. They looked at each other and both dived for the door, opening it just in time to find Lillian on her back on the bottom step, groaning, one leg in an unnatural position.
    Mari rushed down the stairs just behind Ward. “Oh, Aunt Lillian!” she wailed, staring at the strained old face with its pasty complexion. “How could you do this to me?”
    “To you?” Lillian bit off, groaning again. “Child, it’s my leg!”
    “I was going to leave—” Mari