Read Online Sizzle All Day by Geralyn Dawson - Free Book Online Page B

to protect her family, she needed to know what. That was why the Wraith of Rowanclere intended to get mean.
    Gillian discarded her belly, gathered up her string, scissors, a bag full of feathers, and went to work.
    * * *
    Jake awoke from the old nightmare about the time during the cattle drive to Wichita when rustlers had him trussed like a beeve waitin' on the iron. In his case not a branding iron, but a shootin' one. He'd have been one dead cowboy had his best friend and recently wed brother-in-law Cole Morgan not ridden to the rescue.
    His capture that day had been a nasty event, and as a result, those ugly feelings lingered as he drifted back to consciousness. The pounding head and aching muscles didn't help anything. Neither did realizing the sensation of being tied down was not a dream.
    This wasn't good.
    Warily, he opened his eyes. To blackness. Blindfolded. Hell.
    He strained against the ropes, testing. No give at all. Damn.
    Twisting his head, he felt something brush his cheek. Something soft and ticklish. He jerked away from the sensation, only to have it repeated against the other cheek. "What the—?"
    "Spiders," came the disembodied voice from out of the darkness to his left. "My grave is filled with them... and other creeping, crawling things."
    Jake wasn't impressed. Bugs didn't bother him one whit. Now, had he awakened sharing space with a real ghost, he might have experienced a fright or two. The woman who called herself Death was very much alive and back to her old tricks.
    And this particular trick had gone too far. "Are you Mrs. Dunbar?"
    Her laughter bubbled like a brook in a dense, dark forest "Nae, that sweet lady has gone visiting in the village this afternoon. I am the one who led you here. I took her form. I am good, am I not? I fooled you completely."
    Jake scowled and something crawled along his cheek. He blew a breath from the side of his mouth attempting to blow it away. Though spiders and insects didn't give him the willies, he'd just as soon keep them off the menu. Whatever hung beside him swung back and brushed him, and he blew it away again. "If this is the way you treat all your guests at Rowanclere, I wouldn't expect much company."
    "I would not expect many of Rowanclere's guests to conduct a clandestine search of the library."
    "Hmm." Jake pursed his lips in thought. "Caught, was I?"
    "That you were. Now I wish to know why you insulted your hosts with such activity."
    Rather than answer immediately, he listened carefully, probing his surroundings. He sniffed the air, detecting only the closed, musty scent of an underground chamber. She was alone. A woman alone. He thought about that for a moment, then said, "Suppose I don't want to tell you?"
    "Then I shall torture you. The Rowanclere dungeons are well equipped for such activity."
    "Oh?"
    "I warn you, it will be very frightening."
    She sounded so fierce. And... cute. Damned if he could decide whether he was angry or enjoying this. He waited a count of ten before asking, "Painful?"
    He heard a sniff on his right, but when she spoke he definitely heard it on his left. "Who do you think I am, Young Fergus?"
    She was pitching her voice somehow. Like she had last night. "If I remember correctly, I do believe that earlier you introduced yourself as Death."
    "True, sir. However, ways exist to torture a person, to kill a person, without even touching them."
    "Yeah, but those ways are not necessarily pain free. Take last night's torture, for instance."
    Suspicion clouded her voice. "What do you mean?"
    "That was you in my bedroom last night, wasn't it? Believe me, honey, you had me hurting all night."
    "Hurting? From what?"
    "Let's just say that after your unveiling, if I'd had to sleep on my stomach, I'd have broken something off."
    The "ghost" softly gasped. Jake swallowed a chuckle. Yes, he definitely leaned toward enjoying himself at this moment, ropes and all.
    "You are a wicked man, Delaney."
    A smile was his only reply.
    Frustration bristled