Read Online How To Seduce A Pirate (The Hawkins Brothers Series) by Alexandra Benedict - Free Book Online Page A

terrace doors
and  prowled the flagstone courtyard, searching for something to crush with his
hands. When he discovered a bench, he slammed his fists into the seat,
splintering the wood. He thought of turning the bench over and ramming it into
the ground, when mordant laughter captured his senses.
    ”Piss off,
James!”
    His brother
crossed the terrace with a knowing grin. “I once fractured my knuckles after a
fight with Sophia, shoved my fist right into a wall.”
    “Is that why
you’re being such a charming ass? You know I’m in hell?”
    “Aye.”
    Quincy clenched
his palms, aching for a fight, but his sadistic brother wasn’t going to give
him one, relishing instead in his torment.
    “I can’t live
with her, James.”
    He shrugged.
“You spend most of the year at sea.”
    “I’ll stay in a
hotel when I’m on land.”
    “And spread
rumor of an abandoned bride? You can’t avoid her, Quincy. She’s your wife.”
    And with another
ruthless smirk, James sauntered back inside the ballroom, his last words
hanging over Quincy like a noose.
    She’s your wife.
    His innards
twisted with want. Aye, she was his wife. And she was intent on her blasted wedding
night. It wasn’t enough he had saved her reputation? He had to surrender his
body, too? Why? What did she want? Children?
    Well, she could
take a damn lover and have her infernal wedding night. He’d claim any of her offspring
as his own. There were already hordes of men salivating over her now that she
was wed, plenty of candidates to choose from.
    A maiden was
dangerous territory, always leading to wedlock—he knew firsthand—but a married
woman was the perfect mistress, offering an affair without the risk of a
nuptial entanglement.
    As soon as the
vision of another man grinding over his wife flashed through his mind, though, a
murderous impulse streamed through his blood.
    “You must be so
tired after your long voyage.”
    Her gentle voice
came over him like a hammer. He trembled with fury. And more. He trembled with
unfathomable lust. He’d never wanted to bed a woman with such intensity in all his
life. He doubted another wench would satisfy him—and that worried him.
    Immensely.
    Quincy girded
his muscles as he turned toward the terrace doors and found his wife in angelic
amity, the ballroom lights illuminating her shapely silhouette.
    She had been
spending his money carte blanche, he thought, nettled. She looked damned rich
in her shimmering satin gown and bejeweled headpiece—and bloody beautiful, too.
Her low cut bodice cupped her firm breasts, elongated her slender neck and
framed her heart-shaped lips. He dragged in mouthfuls of air as his blood
simmered with achingly familiar hunger. 
    “Shall we retire?”
She stepped forward, her hips swinging. Her eyes narrowed on him with such
intent, he shuddered. “I’ll have the staff prepare your room. A light supper,
too.”
    He imagined her in
his bed, screaming his name as she orgasmed, drawing him deeper into her womb,
and he shuddered again.
    “No.”
    “All right, if
you’re not hungry.”
    “Oh, I’m
hungry,” he rasped, his erection pressing against his trousers. “I’ll be at
Madam Barovski’s for the rest of the night.”
    He headed through
the garden, pounding the grass.
    “I’m afraid
you’re banned from Madam Barovski’s establishment.”
    He stilled. “What?”
    “She wants
nothing more to do with you, not since your brother’s visit to her gaming hell some
months ago.”
    Slowly he turned
toward her again. “Who told you this?”
    “Your brother,
Edmund.”
    Damn! Edmund had
threatened the gaming mistress with ruination unless she confessed the identity
of Lord H. Quincy would have to find another haunt to fulfill his needs.
    Unbelievable.
He’d yet another reason to throttle his wife.
    And why was his wench-of-a-wife talking to Edmund about his haunts? Or conversing with
James for that matter? Or Belle? And about such intimacies?
    “I’ve already
sent for the