Read Online The Wizard King by Dana Marie Bell - Free Book Online Page A

she lay spent in his arms, he’d picked her up and carried her to his bedroom, to his den, and nestled with her under the covers until they’d both fallen into an exhausted sleep.
    Well. She’d fallen asleep. She had no idea if he’d followed suit. She’d been so tired from spell casting and then sleeping with Gareth that purple elephants could have danced the mambo in front of her and she still would have passed out.
    “Good morning.”
    Gen meeped, startled.
    Gareth laughed, the sound low and deep in his chest, sending shivers down her spine. He rolled over on top of her so quickly she had no time to respond. “Hello, warlock mine.”
    “Hi.” Mine? Did he just say mine?
    And she very much doubted that was a cucumber poking her stomach as he loomed over her.
    He smirked, that knowing expression that made her want to beat him with his own arm. “So. A virgin.”
    She flushed deep red. “You’ve met my family.”
    He nodded. “Yeah. Though I’d like to think they had nothing to do with you being a virgin.”
    “I’d ask you to picture yourself with a baby sister—” She laughed when he suddenly scowled. Overprotective of his brothers and their mates as he was, he’d be a holy terror with a sister—“but my brothers were never that nice.” She tilted her head. “My father had every intention of making an advantageous marriage for me, and remaining pure merely drove up my price. So he tasked my brothers with driving away any potential suitors.” She grimaced. “They were exceptionally good at their jobs.”
    “So I managed to steal the princess from her ivory tower.”
    “No.” Her serious tone wiped the smirk from his face. “The princess broke free on her own.”
    “You’re right, sweetheart. Getting away from your father and brother took some balls.”
    She nodded as grimly as she could when a man who’d hated her one day and made love to her the next was straddling her thighs. “It’s why I clank when I walk.”
    Gareth blinked, a wide, delighted grin crossing his face. “You made a joke.”
    “Yes, Gareth. The stick up my ass is actually a funny bone.”
    Deep, booming laughter was her reward for mocking herself. “That’s my girl.” He kissed the tip of her nose before rolling off of her. “Time to get up, sweetheart.”
    She blinked. “Um. All right.” She took a deep breath and rolled over, studiously avoiding looking at the naked man striding toward the bath…
    Oh. That ass should be illegal. Nothing should look that good before caffeine.
    She waited until the door was shut before scrambling for her…
    Oh dear. Where were her clothes?
    She sighed deeply, remembering exactly where they were. She was going to have to streak through Gareth’s house to his workroom, gather her things and pull them on. Her suitcase was still in the car, but everything inside was dirty and needed a wash as desperately as yesterday’s outfit did. She needed to go home, gather some more of her things to take over to Kerry’s house before her brothers destroyed them. She wouldn’t put it past them to take her items and sell them on eBay.
    But that was a worry for another day. Today, she had to worry about getting from the bedroom to the workroom without being seen.
    She opened Gareth’s closet door and pulled out one of his button-down shirts. It barely covered her dignity, but it would do for her purposes. If the man owned a robe it was somewhere else, probably in the bathroom.
    Somehow, she doubted he did.
    Gen darted into the hallway and down the stairs, heading for Gareth’s workroom. She only had a few minutes before Gareth would be done in the bathroom.
    “Good morning.”
    She froze, her hand on the knob of the workroom door. She didn’t remember either of them shutting it last night.
    “Ah.” Pulling the tatters of her dignity around her, Gen turned and faced Gareth’s steward. “Good morning.”
    The man’s gaze remained on her face, either out of respect for Gareth or because he