Read Online The Heart Has Reasons by Martine Marchand - Free Book Online Page B

shallow, panting breaths, her chest
heaving beneath his.  Both it and the pulse throbbing in his ears seemed
unnaturally loud in the heavy stillness.
    “Despite
the fact that I’ve thoroughly enjoyed wrestling with you, it’s beginning to
grow tiresome.  Continue to resist, and I will use pain to make you
comply.”
    She
took a deep, shuddery breath as green eyes brimming with frank rebellion met
his.  “I’m not taking that freaking pill.”
    While
preparing for this mission, he’d tried to plan for every possible contingency,
but never once had he imagined that she’d be so goddamned recalcitrant . 
Pinning her upper arms to the mattress, he walked his knees up either side of
her body until he was straddling her waist, all the while trying to ignore the
erection that tented his pajama bottoms.  “I didn’t want to do this, but
you leave me no choice.”
    When
he circled one hand about her throat, she realized his intention and tried to
suck in a breath.  He clamped down with barely enough force to close off
her windpipe.  Grabbing his wrist with both hands, she struggled to wrench
his hand away.
    He
held the pill before her face.  “Open your mouth and I’ll let go.” 
Her jaw clenched tighter.  “Open your fucking mouth!”  The tears that
glittered in defiant green eyes deflated his erection.  Oxygen depletion gradually
slackened her grip on his wrist, her face began take on a bluish hue, and still she wouldn’t open.
    Fuck!
    He
abruptly released his grip.  Her chest heaved like a bellows as she
desperately sucked in air.  “You can kill me if you want, but I’m not swallowing
that pill.”
    He
briefly considered relenting but, if he conceded defeat so easily, she’d be
even harder to manage over the next four days.  She had to take
it.  But since threats seemed to have no effect, how could he make her
comply without actually hurting her?  He’d more easily managed hardened
Afghan rebels, while she was just a pampered American woman.
    Then
it hit him.  He needed to change tactics and deal with her as a woman .
    Shifting
off her, he grabbed her shoulders and roughly flipped her onto her
stomach.  He immediately threw a leg over her so he was once again
straddling her, but this time facing her feet.  Grabbing her pants by
their elastic waistband, he yanked them down to expose her bare buttocks.
    Thrashing
frantically, she threw an arm back over his thigh, locked a hand onto her
pants, and struggled to pull them back up.  “ What are you doing? ”
    “It
just occurred to me that you don’t have to swallow the capsule.  It’ll
work just as well administered as a rectal suppository.”

CHAPTER
7
     
     
     
    “ No! ” she screamed.
 “Okay.  Okay!   I’ll take it!”
    “Too
late.  I’d rather give it to you this way.”
    “ Please!  
Let me swallow it.”
    “Are
you sure?”
    “ Yes!  
I promise not to fight anymore.”
    Triumphant,
Chase let her up.
    Scrambling
away from him, she huddled against the cheap, wooden headboard and knuckled
tears from her eyes.  “If you’re not planning to … to do something to me,
then why do I have to take it?”
    “Without
it, you won’t be able to sleep.  If you don’t sleep, I won’t
sleep, and I’ve got a whole day of driving ahead of me tomorrow.”
    Sullen
eyes stared at him for the space of a dozen heartbeats.  “And there’s no
other reason?”
    “I’d
think by now it would be obvious that if I wereplanning to molest you
I’d prefer you wide-awake and struggling.”
    Her
eyes flicked to his crotch, and a flush crept up her cheeks.  “Okay, give
it to me.”  When she opened her mouth, he placed the capsule on her
tongue.  She drained the last of the water from the glass, swallowed, and
opened her mouth again, lifting her tongue this time.
    “See
how much easier it is when you don’t fight me?”
    “See
how much easier it is when you explain things?”
    Pleased
her spirit was still intact, he raised a hand