Read Online Pirate Wolf Trilogy by Marsha Canham - Free Book Online Page A

large gold salamander,
easily the length of her hand and as fat around as two fingers. The
golden beast had two cabochon rubies for eyes and a glittering row
of pyramid-cut diamonds winding down its spine. Its four reptilian
feet were splayed possessively over a bed of loose gems—pearls,
tourmalines, emeralds, and diamonds—most of them uncut and unset,
but all of a size and quality that caused a small thrill of heat to
unfurl at the base of Beau’s spine.
    “ Why,
Mistress Spence, can that be the sinful gleam of avarice I see
shining in your eyes?” His voice was deep and soft and very near
and Beau did not have to turn around to confirm he was standing
right behind her. She could feel him there, looming extremely large above her, and the small
flutter of heat became a disturbing downpour.
    She snapped the
lid closed. “I presume you want this to come with you?”
    “Actually, I
had forgotten about it.” A large, well-callused hand reached over
her shoulder and took the casket. “I’m surprised it was missed in
the search.”
    “Your ship was
searched? By whom?”
    He either
ignored or chose not to acknowledge the question, and after a few
tinkling sounds of a finger raking through the stones, he handed it
back.
    “As I said, if
you see something you want, help yourself.”
    “What if I say
I want the whole box?” she asked sardonically.
    “Then it’s
yours. If I recall correctly there are some topazes in there that,
when cut and polished, should about match the color of your
eyes.”
    The entire
exchange had been so out of character, Beau came instantly alert
for a trap. She drew a deep breath and pushed to her feet, rounding
on him with another healthy dose of Spence’s epithets ready on the
tip of her tongue.
    They died
without a squeak when she found herself standing so close to Dante,
she felt the brush of his linen shirt as he pulled the hem free of
his belt and shrugged it up and over his big shoulders.
    The sheer scope
of muscle laid bare before her took her breath away along with her
intentions. His arms were sculpted out of marble, smooth and
hard-surfaced. His shoulders had deep indentations where the top of
his breastbone met the column of his neck. A thick, luxuriant mat
of black hair covered his chest, whorling down to a silky cable’s
width over his belly. A finer coating of ebony hair covered his
forearms, and above the elbow the tracery of veins stood out on the
bronzed surface, flexing with each movement of his hands.
    The scent
coming off his flesh was that of sun and sea and male arrogance.
She should have known. She should have seen it coming.
    " What do you
think you are doing?” she asked with quiet intensity.
    Dante’s
eyes lingered a moment on the pout of her mouth. It had been
shocked out of its usual insolence and as he watched, the flush
came back into her cheeks, the color blooming softly on the
sculpted crests, then flowing downward to stain the slender length
of her throat. He knew he had struck another sensitive chord,
physical in origin, and he wondered, for all her acid tongue and
bravado, how many times she had been faced with a similar threat
for which she had no defence. She was bolder than the average
woman, stronger than the average woman, but she was still no match
for a man who had gone several months without sheathing himself in
the velvet heat of a woman’s flesh.
    He lowered his
hands with deliberate slowness to the buckle of his belt. “What
does it look like I’m doing?”

CHAPTER
FOUR
     
    Dante
removed his belt and
slung it over his shoulder.
    “It has been so
long since I have felt the need to appear presentable, you will
have to forgive the error. I thought this was the chest that held
my spare shirts and breeches, but I see I was mistaken. Ahh. There
it is.”
    He moved
past her, releasing her from the heat of his gaze. Beau felt it as
almost a tangible loss and suffered a mild rush of light-headedness
as he walked away. The blood was humming through