Read Online Raven's Prey by Jayne Ann Krentz - Free Book Online

But mine is no wilder than theirs and I’m willing to pay you just as much to believe it. Since money is about all that seems to count with you, I should think you’d do me the courtesy of at least not laughing at me!”
    “Are you going to assault me again?” he asked calmly, eyeing her clenched fists and angry eyes. Her slender body was drawn into a taut, furious line and she did, indeed, appear to be on the verge of throwing herself at his throat
    Honor decided against that, knowing in advance that she didn’t have a chance of defeating him physically. But his obvious unwillingness to give even an ounce of credence to her story made some reaction on her part inevitable. Her life was on the line, she told herself in rage and panic, and this man was laughing at her!
    Without a second thought she hurled the contents of her coffee up into this face, the still-warm liquid splashing out to douse his cheek and drip down onto his shirt.
    There was an electric silence as Judd’s bird-of-prey eyes burned into her stricken, defiant features. Honor saw the attack coming before he had even moved, instinct warning her that he would retaliate. She swung on her heel and launched herself at the door.
    She didn’t even make it halfway across the tiny room. Before she had gone two running strides Judd was on her, reaching out to circle her waist with his arm and yanking her back against the hard, taut length of his body.
    “Oh!” The small exclamation came as the force of the impact made itself felt. She took a shuddering breath. His arm was like a steel band around her and there was no way on earth she could escape.
    “If you can’t get a reaction one way, you’ll try another. Is that it, Honor?” he demanded far top gently. “Is that what you crave out of life? The attention and reaction of every man who comes near you?”
    “Damn you!” she hissed helplessly, violently aware of the way her softly rounded rear was being forced against his thighs. The solid expanse of his chest was like a brick wall behind her. Everything about this man was like a brick wall, she told herself hysterically. And somehow she had to find a way to climb it. Throwing her coffee in his face had probably not been an especially good technique for gaining his confidence, she decided in dismay and disgust. “I’m sorry, Judd,” she tried awkwardly. “I lost my temper.”
    “And when you lose your temper you strike out at the nearest available victim?”
    “I said I was sorry!”
    “I think you’re only sorry for your actions when they don’t gain you what you want,” he mused. Slowly he turned her around until she stood trapped in the circle of his arm, staring up at him in mute defiance. “What do you want from me, Honor?” he asked almost idly.
    “I want you to go away and leave me alone. Go back to the States and tell Leo and Nick that you couldn’t find me. I’ll give you the two thousand you care so much about. Just go away and leave me here!”
    “I can’t do that. And throwing your morning coffee into my face isn’t going to make me turn tail and run. Aiming guns at me in the middle of the night isn’t going to do the trick, either. Trying to scratch my eyes out won’t work and neither will telling me incredible adventure stories about illegal gunrunning. Last, but not least, bribery isn’t going to work.”
    “Then what the hell will work?” she blazed. “What will it take to make you leave me alone, Judd Raven?”
    “Probably nothing you’ve got to offer,” he advised simply.
    She whitened beneath the terrible finality of his words. Gamely she fought for her breath. “Then there can be nothing but war between us, Judd,” she told him evenly. “As I told you last night, you’d better be prepared to cripple me or tie me hand and foot because I’m never going to stop fighting you.”
    He stared down into her wide hazel gaze as if searching for a hidden truth. The determination in her was evident in every rigid line