Read Online Linna : Historical Romance (The Brocade Collection, Book 5) by Jackie Ivie - Free Book Online Page A

sound escaped his mouth as he tipped his head to the ceiling. Linna watched the veins strain against the skin in his neck as he did it. Then he lowered his head, heaved another breath, and glared at her. Linna’s eyes widened.
    “I may,” he said .
    She didn’t hear her gasp over the sound of her own heartbeat.

     
    CHAPTER SIX
     
    There was still light being shed about them, the champagne still fizzled in her glass, and the mound of cloak-covered clothing still resided behind her on the tabletop, yet nothing felt the same. Linna had both legs over the edge of the table and was leaning backwards, supported by her arms, just as he’d placed her. It wasn’t a very defensible position.
    It wouldn’t have mattered though . She had no defense. She was the one who’d placed herself in his rooms. He could do with her as he wished. She knew it. He knew it. She knew where he was looking, and what he was going to do when he had it unwrapped, and there was nothing she could do about any of it. How did everything get so out of hand?
    “Didn’t you hear me?” he asked, lowering his head to pierce her with his gaze.
    Linna nodded.
    “You’ve nothing to say on the matter?”
    Moss green eyes hadn’t moved from watching her. She wondered briefly what the love act with him would be like, and then sent the thought away. It might be horrid. It might not. It wasn’t her choice anymore, anyway.
    Linna closed her eyes . She was selling herself but she was getting her price. It was nearly perfect. She was going to be Madame Larroquette. She’d be free of Ryan Daniels. She’d be free of the stigma of having a murderer for a father. She’d be free of Luthor. She’d be free. It wasn’t how she’d wanted it, but it was what she wanted.
    She sent every emotion as far away as possible . It wasn’t easy. One night? She could do it. She opened her eyes. He hadn’t moved.
    “Very well, Monsieur Raoul. I accept your terms. Wait!”
    She held up one hand to stop him, and in the back of her mind it registered just how closely he resembled a cat coiled to spring . He was probably as amazed when he halted mid-stride as she was. Linna licked her lips to wet them. “It’s to be tonight then. One night. I’ll give myself to you tonight. All of tonight. But....”  She let her voice trail off.
    “But what?” he asked, in an ugly tone.
    “But, then...never again. Never.”
    “What ? Are you crazed?”
    Linna forced herself to shrug as if she weren’t facing a man capable of taking everything she was withholding . She met his look as squarely as possible, every bit of her alert to the threat. Her voice was warbling but that couldn’t be helped. It was the best she could do. “Those are my terms. Take it or leave it.”
    Raoul took a step backward and then another . He was stopped by a chair and he flung it aside. Linna’s eyes couldn’t shut on the sight as wood splintered against the wall. His hair wasn’t very long, but he yanked it from the queue he’d worn to the ball. It made him look even wilder than before. She scooted into the center of the table and pulled her knees to her chin. It wasn’t much, but she felt safer.
    “Are you really that cold?” he asked, surprising her with the quiet tone.
    “C–cold?”  The whisper was the best she could manage. Her voice was failing her.
    “You’ve never felt it, have you ? The heat? The intensity? The passion. You know nothing of the pleasure either. Am I right?”
    She didn’t answer . Linna watched as he turned one of his oil lamps down before walking to the next.
    “Well?”  He stopped at the next to last lamp and looked over at her . Linna was having a difficult time seeing him. She blinked.
    “I don’t see what that —” she began, but he interrupted her.
    “You can’t deny yourself what you don’t know.”
    “I know I won’t like it,” she responded as coolly as possible.
    “How can you know that?”
    “Men take. Women do the giving. What else is there