Read Online This Fierce Splendor by Iris Johansen - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Iris Johansen
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more pleasure than this skinny little bespectacled gnome. But he didn’t want Rina or her girls, he realized in amazement. He wanted Elspeth MacGregor with a lust that was beginning to tear at his gut. It would go away, he told himself impatiently. As soon as she was out of his sight it would vanish as if it had never been. And the sooner that circumstance occurred, the better.
His hand dropped from Elspeth’s throat. “You’re right, it’s time this stupidity ended. Here, hold this.” He threw Patrick the gunbelt he still carried in his hand. “And open the door.”
With a relieved grin Patrick moved swiftly to obey. For a moment he hadn’t been sure Dominic would give Elspeth up without a struggle. Who the hellwould have dreamed Dominic would become aroused by the little Scottish girl? And the fact that he had become aroused couldn’t have been more obvious since Dominic was naked as a jaybird. Patrick flung the door open with a flourish. “Yes,
sir
.”
“Brat.” Dominic picked Elspeth up and slung her facedown over his shoulder.
“Put me down!” Elspeth shouted. She could feel the play of muscles in his shoulders as they braced beneath her struggling weight. He was walking quickly, and with each step her lips touched the middle of his naked back. His arm was around her knees and she could feel the heat from his body even through the layers of her petticoats. Fear. It must be fear that was making her heart pound so frantically, she thought. They were on the porch and then going down the steps. She could see the people who’d been peering over the banisters now streaming down the stairs. “Let me go!”
“I’m about to let you go.” She was sliding down the front of his body to land in a heap of black silk and a flurry of petticoats in the dirt of the street. She fought simply to gain a sitting position.
Dominic Delaney was standing before her, legs astride, glaring down at her. “Now, let’s go over it once more, Miss MacGregor. You don’t exist for me. There are certain lines women don’t cross without suffering the consequences. You crossed one today and didn’t pay with more than a little indignity and dirt on your face. Next time you cross that line you won’t be so lucky.”
He turned and walked toward the laughing crowd of people gawking at them from the front porch.
She struggled to her knees and called after him, “I’m not giving up, you know. I’ll keep on until you listen to me.”
He didn’t look back, and in a moment he had disappeared into the house.
Patrick was suddenly beside her, leaning down to lift her to her feet. He took off his red bandanna and gently rubbed a smudge of dirt from her cheek. “Hewas right, you know. You got off lucky. In this country a lady is treated as a lady only as long as she obeys the rules. We don’t have as many rules as they do in other parts of the world, but the line he was talking about does exist.”
“I’m not giving up.” There was a touch of desperation in her voice. “I’ll just have to think of something else.”
“I didn’t think you’d give up.” Patrick sighed. “But do me a favor and stay out of Rina’s place while I’m gone. You owe me that much for calling down Dom’s wrath on my hapless head.”
“Very well.” It was an easy promise to make. She had never felt more frightened and vulnerable in her life than the moment she stood there in that warm, scented dimness with Dominic Delaney’s fingers around her neck. “I won’t go back there again.”
Patrick stuffed the bandanna in the back pocket of his pants. “Well, that’s something anyway. Come on, I’ll take you back to the hotel.”
“You’re leaving town now?”
“Pretty soon.” He’d have to stick around long enough to drop a few words into the right ears about Elspeth’s virginal purity and her peculiar ideas of female independence. Those explanations, along with threats of murder or immediate emasculation if any man bothered her
His hand dropped from Elspeth’s throat. “You’re right, it’s time this stupidity ended. Here, hold this.” He threw Patrick the gunbelt he still carried in his hand. “And open the door.”
With a relieved grin Patrick moved swiftly to obey. For a moment he hadn’t been sure Dominic would give Elspeth up without a struggle. Who the hellwould have dreamed Dominic would become aroused by the little Scottish girl? And the fact that he had become aroused couldn’t have been more obvious since Dominic was naked as a jaybird. Patrick flung the door open with a flourish. “Yes,
sir
.”
“Brat.” Dominic picked Elspeth up and slung her facedown over his shoulder.
“Put me down!” Elspeth shouted. She could feel the play of muscles in his shoulders as they braced beneath her struggling weight. He was walking quickly, and with each step her lips touched the middle of his naked back. His arm was around her knees and she could feel the heat from his body even through the layers of her petticoats. Fear. It must be fear that was making her heart pound so frantically, she thought. They were on the porch and then going down the steps. She could see the people who’d been peering over the banisters now streaming down the stairs. “Let me go!”
“I’m about to let you go.” She was sliding down the front of his body to land in a heap of black silk and a flurry of petticoats in the dirt of the street. She fought simply to gain a sitting position.
Dominic Delaney was standing before her, legs astride, glaring down at her. “Now, let’s go over it once more, Miss MacGregor. You don’t exist for me. There are certain lines women don’t cross without suffering the consequences. You crossed one today and didn’t pay with more than a little indignity and dirt on your face. Next time you cross that line you won’t be so lucky.”
He turned and walked toward the laughing crowd of people gawking at them from the front porch.
She struggled to her knees and called after him, “I’m not giving up, you know. I’ll keep on until you listen to me.”
He didn’t look back, and in a moment he had disappeared into the house.
Patrick was suddenly beside her, leaning down to lift her to her feet. He took off his red bandanna and gently rubbed a smudge of dirt from her cheek. “Hewas right, you know. You got off lucky. In this country a lady is treated as a lady only as long as she obeys the rules. We don’t have as many rules as they do in other parts of the world, but the line he was talking about does exist.”
“I’m not giving up.” There was a touch of desperation in her voice. “I’ll just have to think of something else.”
“I didn’t think you’d give up.” Patrick sighed. “But do me a favor and stay out of Rina’s place while I’m gone. You owe me that much for calling down Dom’s wrath on my hapless head.”
“Very well.” It was an easy promise to make. She had never felt more frightened and vulnerable in her life than the moment she stood there in that warm, scented dimness with Dominic Delaney’s fingers around her neck. “I won’t go back there again.”
Patrick stuffed the bandanna in the back pocket of his pants. “Well, that’s something anyway. Come on, I’ll take you back to the hotel.”
“You’re leaving town now?”
“Pretty soon.” He’d have to stick around long enough to drop a few words into the right ears about Elspeth’s virginal purity and her peculiar ideas of female independence. Those explanations, along with threats of murder or immediate emasculation if any man bothered her
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