Read Online Temptation by Nora Roberts - Free Book Online

compliment. That wasn’t romance, Eden mused, and it certainly wasn’t love. Perhaps she’d never really understood either.
    Was romance white knights and pure maidens? Was it Chopin and soft lights? Was it the top of the Ferris wheel? Maybe she’d prefer the last after all. With a quiet laugh, Eden wrapped her arms around herself and held her face up to the stars.
    â€œYou should do that more often.”
    She whirled, one hand pressing against her throat. Chase stood a few feet away at the edge of the trees, the edge of the shadows. It flashed through her mind that this was the third time she had seen him and the third time he had taken her by surprise. It was a habit she wanted to break.
    â€œDo you practice startling people, or is it a natural gift?”
    â€œI can’t remember it happening much before you.”
    The fact was, he hadn’t come up on her, but she on him. He’d been walking since dusk, and had stopped on the banks of the lake to watch the water and to think of her. “You’ve been getting some sun.” Her hair seemed lighter, more fragile against the honeyed tone of her skin. He wanted to touch it, to see if it was still as soft and fragrant.
    â€œMost of the work is outdoors.” It amazed her that she had to fight the urge to turn and run. There was something mystical, even fanciful, about meeting him here in the moonlight, by the water. Almost as if it had been fated.
    â€œYou should wear a hat.” He said it absently, distracted by the pounding of his own heart. She might have been an illusion, long slender arms and legs gleaming in the moonlight, her hair loose and drenched with it. She wore white. Even the simple shorts and shirt seemed to glimmer. “I’d wondered if you walked here.”
    He stepped out of the shadows. The monotonous song of the crickets seemed to reach a crescendo. “I thought it might be cooler.”
    â€œSome.” He moved closer. “I’ve always been fond of hot nights.”
    â€œThe cabins tend to get stuffy.” Uneasy, she glanced back and discovered she had walked farther than she’d intended. The camp, with its comforting lights and company, was very far away. “I didn’t realize I’d crossed over onto your property.”
    â€œI’m only a tyrant about my trees.” She was less of an illusion up close, more of a woman. “You were laughing before. What were you thinking of?”
    Her mouth was dry. Even as she backed away, he seemed to be closer. “Ferris wheels.”
    â€œFerris wheels? Do you like the drop?” Satisfying his own need, he reached for her hair. “Or the climb?”
    At his touch, her stomach shot down to her knees. “I have to get back.”
    â€œLet’s walk.”
    To walk with you in the moonlight
. Eden thought of his words, and of fate. “No, I can’t. It’s late.”
    â€œMust be all of nine-thirty.” Amused, he took her hand, then immediately turned it over. There was a hardening ridge of calluses on the pad beneath her fingers. “You’ve been working.”
    â€œSome people make a living that way.”
    â€œDon’t get testy.” He turned her hand back to run a thumb over her knuckles. Was it a talent of his, Eden wondered, to touch a woman in the most casual of ways and send her blood pounding? “You could wear gloves,” Chase went on, “and keep your Philadelphia hands.”
    â€œI’m not in Philadelphia.” She drew her hand away. Chase simply took her other one. “And since I’m pitching hay rather than serving tea, it hardly seems to matter.”
    â€œYou’ll be serving tea again.” He could see her, seated in some fussy parlor, wearing pink silk and holding a china pot. But, for the moment, her hand was warm in his. “The moon’s on the water. Look.”
    Compelled, she turned her head. There were such things as moonbeams.