Free Battle Prize by Stephanie James Page B

mouth.
    "I didn't start this," she tried to say, but he ignored her words.
    "Yes, you did, and what's more, you're going to finish it." He took his hand away from her disarrayed hair and fumbled for the door handle. "But I'm not going to let you finish it here. At our advanced age we deserve a little comfort."
    She sensed the humor in him and wasn't sure if she wanted to succumb to it Doing so would only be that much more of a surrender. But it was hard to resist. The warm night air was waiting to enfold them as the door swung open and Gage began easing himself out from under her light weight. "Come inside, Rani, and I'll show you how pleasant a date I can be when I try," he coaxed a little thickly as he caught her wrist and began pulling her out of the seat
    "You're very arrogant tonight," she whispered, holding back as she tried to make up her mind.
    "Am I? I expect it's because that's the only option you've left me. I get the feeling that if I don't take charge, you're going to let your own silly arrogance push you into driving away tonight without a backward glance. Just remember you're the one who decided to make a battle out of what should have been a very pleasant night for both of us!"
    Rani clutched at the frame of the car door, refusing to be pulled free. Her eyes glittered with challenge as she looked up at him. "I don't think I'm going to let you manhandle me into this," she drawled firmly. "It would be a sign of weakness on my part, and you would undoubtedly read far too much into it!"
    "A sign of weakness!" he rasped, swinging back to confront her. "Is that what you call sheer obstinate, stubborn, illogical feminine contrariness? I'll show you a sign of weakness!"
    He moved close, and Rani resisted the urge to slide backward along the seat, knowing he would only pursue. Boldly she eyed him, her legs curled under her as she sat waiting tensely. "I don't know what you think you're going to do, Gage, but if—"
    "You're intent on provoking me this evening, aren't you? Well, wait until you see what that gets you!" His hand flashed out and in a moment he had captured both her wrists, manacling them together. Then he used the grip to pull her swiftly, lightly, from the car until she was standing in front of him.
    "Gage!" A little shocked at the unexpected roughness of the treatment, Rani was even more startled when he swooped and lifted her high into his arms.
    "This is a sign of weakness!" he informed her brusquely, striding for the gate. "When a man has to go to these lengths to get himself ravished after a dinner date, weak is about all you can call him, isn't it?"
    "Gage, put me down, you idiot!" Rani was torn between laughter and outrage. And underlying both emotions was the pulsing throb of a rising intoxication. "If you're trying to come across as the injured party, you're not doing very well! This is hardly a sign of weakness!"
    "Ah, but it is." He looked down at her in the moonlight as he pushed open the gate into the Japanese-style garden. "I'm weak with longing for you, my sweet battle maid. Haven't you realized that yet?"
    Rani stared up at him, wide-eyed with wonder not untinged by a trickle of fear as she sensed the passion flowing like an electrical current between them. She knew as the iron gate clanged shut behind them that she wasn't going to have much chance resisting this man tonight
    But what he was offering was so dangerous, she reminded herself swiftly. It was an elemental, threatening emotion that she had always told herself she didn't want, couldn't risk. Yet, the hunger in her had been ignited the night before, during the embrace by the whirlpool, and hunger was a hard drive to deny. It made one take risks, dare fate, break self-made rules, she was discovering.
    Gage must have sensed some sign of impending surrender to whatever the evening still held for both of them. When he set her on her feet in the serene foyer, his gaze was smoky. "The spoils of war," he muttered huskily as he bent his