Free Historical Romance Boxed Set by Brenda Novak Page A

though you’re in a great deal of pain.”
    “I am,” Alexandra cried indignantly. “You and your men are brutes to keep me tied up all day.”
    “I’m holding you for ransom. Isn’t that what I’m supposed to do?”
    He was teasing her. Alexandra ignored him, savoring her last bite of a delicious pudding she had never tasted before and could not now identify. The hotel room wasn’t large, but it was clean. Decorated in ivory and green and furnished with a tester bed, an elaborate washstand with a tiled back, a large wardrobe, and a thick pile rug to cover the wood floor, it lacked only a fireplace. Had Alexandra been staying at the inn for any other reason, she might have found it quite comfortable.
    “If you consume so much when you’re hurt and upset, I’d hate to see what you require when you’re not. I pray you don’t forgive me,” he chuckled, intruding upon her thoughts.
    “There’s not much danger in that.” Alexandra tried to put some fire into her words, but it was difficult to sound angry when she was so full and sleepy. Besides, she had been right about Nathaniel. He was exceptionally handsome when he smiled. She let her gaze slide over his face, feeling a blush rise to her cheeks as she remembered the feel of his tongue parting her lips.
    “I’m glad to see that you’re at least as tired as I am,” he commented, oblivious to the course of her thoughts. “Otherwise, it would be difficult to sleep on the floor.”
    She grimaced, wondering how she could have thought him appealing only a moment before. He was a black-hearted scoundrel, nothing more. “I expected as much. You’d think you’d treat your sister with at least a little kindness and respect.” Alexandra knew she was foolish to play on Nathaniel’s belief that she was Lady Anne, but his haughtiness goaded her. “Do I at least get a blanket or a pillow?”
    “You’ll get what you earn.”
    Alexandra set her fork on the table with a thunk. “What does that mean?”
    “I could use a good massage.”
    “Hire a maid.”
    “Why should I, when I’ve got you? Besides, I can’t exactly bind and gag you and sit you in the corner. And I can’t invite anyone to my room with you on the loose.”
    Alexandra picked her fork back up and twirled it thoughtfully. “Only if I can earn the bed,” she said at last. “An hour’s massage for one night of sound sleep.”
    “A massage from a woman unused to giving that sort of thing—of giving anything—isn’t worth the bed. My best offer is a pillow and a blanket.”
    “I have strong hands.” Alexandra stood, rounded the table, and began to knead his shoulders.
    He moaned. “Very well. You can earn the bed.”
    Alexandra smiled to herself. Mayhap she could cause Nathaniel to lower his guard after all.
    When Nathaniel had set their dishes outside the door, he removed his shirt, exposing broad shoulders that tapered to a lean waist. A matting of dark hair covered his chest, trailing down his flat stomach to a mysterious end somewhere below his belt.
    Alexandra had to fight the impulse to stare. This man was a criminal. He had abducted her. Yet she could not explain the tremor that went through her at the sight of his naked torso.
    With effort, she pulled her gaze away and had him lie across the bed. She was not experienced with massage to any great extent, though sometimes her fellow needlewomen relieved the aches and pains caused from long hours of sitting by rubbing one another’s backs. Alexandra felt somewhat confident she could improvise from there. Of course, Nathaniel expected her to have received many massages over her lifetime. Such luxury was a favorite pastime of the aristocracy.
    Nathaniel’s back was smooth and tanned to a honey brown. Though Alexandra couldn’t help noticing his narrow hips, firm buttocks and long legs, it was his deformed arm that held her interest the longest. It was misshapen, to be sure, but it wasn’t a hideous appendage. The same golden skin