Free Succumb to Me by Julia Keaton Page A

eyes, knew he would detect the
most minute sign that he had pierced her shell.
     
    “You know I do.” She glanced at it over his
shoulder, wishing a simple look could set it ablaze and end her
torment.
     
    He sat back on the desk, swinging one leg.
“The question is, how much is such a masterpiece worth to you? What
payment could you give me?”
     
    Hope leapt in her veins when Logan mentioned
a possibility of settlement, but Winter felt those hopes sink
almost as quickly. She knew, just by the look in his eyes, that he
would demand something exorbitant, some price she could never
pay.
     
    Perhaps all he really wanted to do was make
her grovel, to shame and degrade her as she had shamed him. Very
likely, he would not accept any offer she made, but she realized
she had to try, if only to spare her mother from sharing in her
downfall. She would simply have to find a way to pay his price,
whatever it might be. She licked her lips, took a deep breath and
tried. “I have little to pay with, not nearly enough, I’m sure, to
compensate you. But … is there naught more than gold you wish for?
Perhaps some service—”
     
    His eyes lit, and he interrupted her, “What
do you propose, Miss Stevens?”
     
    Winter felt a blush suffuse her cheeks, then
rush away again, leaving her weak kneed. “I-I’m not sure what you
mean. I meant only that I have limited funds at my disposal.”
     
    She knew exactly what he meant, hinted at so
bluntly. She was not a complete fool. He had told her very plainly
that he would accept her body as payment.
     
    “As I thought. The years have been unkind to
you.”
     
    His expression as he spoke was surprisingly
tender. He reached up to cup her cheek, but she drew back before he
could touch her. The tenderness was unexpected—she could almost
believe he felt pity for her, but knew better by now than to
believe anything but the worst of him.
     
    He dropped his hand, his face hardening, his
fist clenching by his side. With an effort he regained his careless
facade. “As it happens, I would not consider any price … in coin
for such a piece. There is only one thing you could give
me....”
     
    Logan allowed his gaze to roam her length
suggestively. Like a merchant examining the wares, he studied her
face, the slender column of her throat, the rounded tops of her
breasts, her narrow waist.
     
    Winter felt her pulse quicken with awareness,
felt her heart beating hard in her chest even as her breath caught
in her throat. She realized suddenly that she had completely
underestimated him once again. He had suggested she allow him to
bed her, but always in a manner that had allowed her to persuade
herself that he was not completely serious, that he was only
tormenting her to watch her squirm, that he would not go so far as
to seriously suggest she give herself to him. Regardless, she
thought she had made it plain that she was unwilling to bed him and
ruin herself.
     
    He met her eyes once again, his look heated.
“Submit to me, Winter. In every way I demand.”
     
     
     

CHAPTER EIGHT
     
     
    “No.” Winter shook her head, closed her eyes.
He’d narrowed her options down to this one choice, and it was
impossible for her to fulfill with any dignity. “Why would you do
this? I have done nothing so terrible as to warrant what you ask of
me.”
     
    He’d hated The
Ton in England, so much so he’d turned his back on his
homeland ... and his father. He’d wanted to succeed on his own
merits, earn respect, not have
it handed to him on a silver platter. When Winter had cut him at
that party, it was as if all the sacrifices he’d made had been for
naught. That blessed time from before, when she had shown kindness
and empathy for a fellow human being, had been erased as if it had
never been. Even in America—land of the free—status and position
were everything.
     
    He swallowed down his hatred of her
from that time. She would never understand him—He had been wrong. She was like all the