Free Affair Of Risk by Jayne Castle Page A

implacable, uncompromising whisper.
    "Nothing could make me change my mind about tonight. If there is another man, the only thing I can think about right now is making you forget him!"
    Kendra took hold of herself, sensing the moment was at hand. In another few seconds he would be reaching out for her, pulling her down onto the white quilt, and then she would be lost. She knew that with sudden, brilliant clarity, and the knowledge both attracted and repelled.
    She stepped gracefully, easily out of reach, flashing a smile of invitation.
    "Kendra?" Sensual menace flickered in his dark gaze, and then he was reaching for her, his hand seeking her to draw her close again.
    God! She would have to be fast. The fall would have to stun him long enough to give her sufficient time to escape.
    She caught at his extended hand, forcing herself to let the trained reactions of her body take over. She must see him as attacker, not lover!
    It was going to be easy, she thought with a surge of charged energy. He was expecting nothing like this. He was off-balance and consumed with desire. If ever a man was vulnerable . . .
    When his hand descended she stepped back slightly and felt him adjust automatically to her slight change in balance. Once again she stepped back, sliding her left foot in an arc to the rear. She shifted her weight, feeling him follow the gentle lead until he was caught by her ankle. In a split second she moved, pulling his arm in an upward circular motion with her right hand and using her left hand in a downward circular motion. The throw was completed by bringing him over her foot, and she concluded it perfectly, her left knee properly bent, her waist straight and firm.
    As soon as he hit the rug she knew she had made a mistake. He didn't fall like a dead weight. He wasn't stunned by the impact. He landed with the trained reflexes she would have expected from a master such as her instructor!
    There was barely time to assimilate the error before his hand struck out to catch her ankle. Shocked, Kendra tried to fight free, wanting to kick at him but unable to do so. Frantically she tried to remember her instruction, but she had never considered this possibility. She had expected to have all the advantages of surprise.
    Belatedly she began to recall some of the art, but everything was happening much too fast. With a savage yank she was jerked off her feet. Kendra managed to break her fall in the proper manner but was unable to recover in time to retaliate.
    Case was on her then, his face a cold mask of fury and desire. A deadly combination that she felt the force of as if the wind had been knocked out of her. And then she began fighting, calling on everything she had learned in the past two years.
    It was a silent, bitter, savage battle, and she was losing it. Worse, every attack or defense she used was angering Case further. But it was not a white-hot, burning anger that might have left him vulnerable. Case was all icy, controlled wrath.
    Beneath the impact of his superior skill, Kendra felt herself succumbing to panic. She began to flail at him in useless feminine ways, using her nails on his face until he caught her hands and anchored them. She kicked at his legs but missed the target. She writhed and twisted, as he pinned her inevitably into the white carpet, exhausting herself with panic and fear.
    Neither of them said a word during the struggle, and it was somehow all the more violent for being carried out in silence. It ended as she had known it would end the moment she realized she had taken on more than she could handle.
    Helpless, damp with perspiration and fear, the red silk dress torn, she finally went still beneath Case's weight. Wide-eyed, she watched his taut face, seeing no possibility of mercy in the roughly hewn features.
    She lay panting, unable to move, waiting for him to hurt her. It was all she could do not to cry out in fear and pain. Her mind was flashing wildly, horribly back to that night two years ago