Read Online Spellbound in His Arms by Angel Sefer - Free Book Online Page A

the flame.
    In the meantime, he had approached dangerously close and
was leaning over her, looking intensely in her eyes.
    “Please… don’t…” Jackie whispered, unable to move.
    “Jackie,” he said softly.
    She felt as if his voice had touched her skin, caressing
it softly. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me,” she said irritated, not so much
at him, but from her reactions to his presence. She swallowed hard and shook
her head, trying to clear her thoughts. “I’m probably tired, and this old
mansion is making me act weird.”
    “It’s not the mansion,” he said and looked at her
tenderly. “And it’s not the storm. It’s us.”
    “There is no us!” she protested, even though she knew,
he was absolutely right. She could deny it to him, but she couldn’t deny to
herself. Every time she was around him, her entire body burned with desire, and
she could think of nothing else than to run into his arms and stay there
forever.
    “Oh, but there is!” he insisted. “I know that you can
feel it too!”
    Jackie shook her head from side-to-side in denial. “I
have to go to bed,” she said suddenly and left him alone in the kitchen. She
couldn’t stay in the same room with him any longer and keep on hiding the way
she felt.
    Walking into the foyer, she realized that she hadn’t
managed to make it to the study yet. Anxiously, she looked over her shoulder to
make sure he hadn’t followed her.
    When she was sure Michael had stayed in the kitchen, she
rushed down the corridor, entered the study, and softly closed the door behind
her. She approached the desk and picked up the folders. Then she hastily
stuffed the documents back inside them and raced downstairs to the secret room.
Having no time to waste, she left the documents on the mahogany table and left
the secret room, closing the steel door behind her. She climbed the narrow
steps, two at a time. In the study, she turned the hound’s head
counterclockwise and stepped back, watching the fireplace move back in place.
She let out a deep breath. Now, all she had to do… Oh! My God! One of
the documents had fallen on the floor.
    She bent down to pick it up when she heard a noise close
by. Frantically, she hid the document beneath one of the pillows on the leather
sofa. Then she stood still and waited. Nothing. The only sound she could hear
was her heavy breathing. She carefully approached the door, opened it, and
checked the corridor. There was nobody there.
    ***
    Michael peered through the small opening in the wall
behind the big portrait of Emilios Demiris—Constantinos’ grandfather—which hung
on the wall behind the showcase with the miniature of the mansion. A small
corridor behind the kitchen led to a secret entrance in the study and also had
this small opening through which one could watch what was going on in the room.
The mansion had a lot of secret passages like this, which had saved the lives
of the residents, during wars and other difficult times. Michael knew every
single one of them.
    So she knew about the secret room, Michael realized. He
watched Jackie walk out of the room and turned to get back to the kitchen when
he heard a smashing noise. He looked through the opening again. A tall, bulky
man climbed inside through the broken, stained glass window.
    Without a second thought, Michael pulled the door of the
secret entrance to open in order to get inside the study. The door was stuck
and Michael had a hard time trying to get it open. By the time he made it to
the study, he caught a glimpse of the man climbing out through the window and
running away.
    Michael cursed out loud and rushed to the sofa to check
underneath the pillow. As he had suspected, the document was gone. Without
delay, Michael stormed towards the window. He climbed outside and pulling out
his gun, he ran after the intruder.
    ***
    Jackie walked down the corridor towards the kitchen,
looking for Michael. Suddenly, the sound of breaking glass coming from the study
made her