Free Sweetest Little Sin by Christine Wells Page A

while he stalked her, circled her like a panther toying with its prey. Forced herself not to turn when he halted behind her, spoke in her ear.
    “Well met, Louisa. You always keep a cool head, don’t you?”
    The heat of his breath, his lips tantalizingly close to her ear made her skin tingle, her body shiver. Panic churned in her stomach. She lifted her chin, swallowed past the lump in her throat.
    What did he want with her now?
    Part of her slumped with reluctant acceptance. Perhaps he’d been right all those months ago. Perhaps they were destined to be together, to torment each other, for the rest of their lives.
    “I don’t want to see you. I don’t want to speak with you.” She spoke through gritted teeth but in a voice that couldn’t help a slight tremor.
    “Ah, but I have a very great desire to speak with you,” purred Jardine in her ear. “What the hell are you doing with Radleigh?”
    “You’re the clever spy. What do you think I’m doing?”
    She tried to step away from him, but he caught her arm easily and pulled her into him, one arm clamped around her waist, one hand forcing her chin up so she looked him in the eye.
    “Stay away from him, Louisa. He’s not what he seems.”
    She searched his face, noting the faint smudges under his eyes, the deepened lines about his mouth. “Which of us is?” she whispered.
    His eyes widened a little, then narrowed. “Are you in love with him?”
    “Love!” The word burst from her before she could stop it. Where had that vicious snarl come from?
    She lowered her voice. “What do I want with love? Radleigh is rich, he’s respectable, and he’ll no doubt make an undemanding husband. What more could a woman want?”
    Jardine’s hot gaze raked her face, settled on her lips. His arms tightened around her. “This.”
    His mouth crushed hers in a kiss that scorched and shook her, picked her up, and flung her to the stars. His tongue stole inside her mouth like a secret agent and she was helpless, plummeting, falling. They were bound so tightly by his strong, leanly muscled arms, she imagined them locked together like this until they turned to stone.
    The earth shivered, dissolved beneath her feet until he was her only anchor to the world. She fought to kiss him with every bit as much force, as much passion, as he showed her. They were matched, their souls so intricately entwined as to be one. Sublime. Damned. Destined to rise or fall together, whatever might come.
    There could be no other. Not for her.
    Hadn’t she known that, all along?
    His long, deft fingers began working at her clothing while he kissed her. Some part of her registered what he did, craved it, but she was not so lost to the world as to forget what he’d done.
    Her brain whirred to life, and with the reawakening of her mind, logical thought popped to the surface like a cork. She gulped back a sob and shoved at his shoulders, wrenching her mouth away.
    His hands brushed her breasts as they fell from her bodice, the bodice he’d been deftly unpinning as they wrestled passionately in the sun-dappled forest. Jardine was breathing hard; his dark eyes were hazed with desire.
    Quickly, she re-pinned her gown. When she looked up from her repairs, that old, cynically indifferent look had already fallen over his sharply handsome features.
    How could that be? Surely, he’d been affected by the fiery physicality of their encounter. How could he distance himself so quickly, so easily?
    “Break it off with Radleigh, Louisa.” He gripped her shoulders. “Tell him you never wish to see him again.”
    “You expect me to jilt a respectable man on your command? That—that kiss was a tactic, I take it, to make me more malleable. I think not, my lord.” She struggled against his hard grip. “Let me go.”
    His mouth tightened. “You don’t know what you’re doing.”
    “Oh, I’d say I’ve a fair idea.” And it terrified her, but she refused to show him her fear.
    His long fingers bit into her