Read Online To Tempt a Scotsman by Victoria Dahl - Free Book Online Page B

me now. I, I offered myself to you like a . .." She pulled herself straight and refused to say it. "And you didn't want me."
    "That's absolutely not true."
    "Of course it is." She looked down at the floor, unable to meet his suddenly understanding gaze. "You're simply too nice to say it."
    "Come here."
    "No." She shook her head to emphasize the word. She heard a step and saw his boots come into her line of vision.
    "Alex," he said more softly.
    She shook her head again, wishing he'd go away, wishing she didn't feel so uncertain. She felt his hand beneath her chin and let him raise her face to his gaze.
    "Surely you know when a man wants you."
    "Apparently not."
    "Alex." She heard the laughter in the word, his amusement at her pouting. And then his breath touched her lips. And then his mouth was against hers and she was sighing and opening to him.
    The kiss was so soft, so hesitant that, though her heart leapt at the touch, it only confirmed what she feared. He did not want her as she wanted him. He didn't kiss her hard and hot. He didn't push her to the bed and strip her naked and slake his need. He only held her, licked gently at her bottom lip.
    She wanted his tongue. She wanted his arousal.
    She broke away, swiped at the warmth that lingered on her mouth. "Don't lie to me, Collin." Ignoring his shocked eyes, she spun and jerked open the corner drawer of her dresser.
    "Here." She thrust the stiff paper into his hands, pushing it away from her. "Take it. Leave." He just stared at her a moment, looking almost hurt.
    Finally, he glanced down, brow furrowed as he turned the paper over in his hands. "What is it?"
    "What do you think it is?"
    The paper snapped, it unfolded so quickly beneath his fingers. His face blanked, then flushed. Alex turned to her trunk and smoothed the already neat bundles of clothing.
    She'd given it to him in anger, and already her hand itched to snatch it back. Damien's note was passionate and flirtatious, and she'd only wanted to show Collin that someone didn't think her too low to desire. Now she felt foolish. Used.
    "It came this afternoon," she muttered. The letter was brief. Surely he'd finished it.
    "I thank you for the information. And the titillation."
    A glance over her shoulder found him holding it out toward her. She sniffed. "Shouldn't you keep it? It's what you wanted, after all."
    "Oh, I wouldn't deprive you of such a tender keepsake. Surely you treasure his vivid remembrance of that evening in the rose garden. It is all that keeps him going, after all."
    Alex snatched it back from him as she should have done before he'd read it. A hard toss sent it floating into the chest and she slammed the lid against the sight of it.
    "Good-bye, Mr. Blackburn. Let me know if I can be of assistance to you in the future." The silence behind her stretched her nerves thin. "What?"
    A shush of fabric as he shifted. Then nothing.
    "What?"
    "I did not kiss you, or . . . I did not make love to you as a means to get information."
    "Really?"
    He cursed. It sounded like a curse, anyway, though it wasn't English. Gaelic, she guessed. Of course, she didn't really think he'd used her, but better he think that the cause of her anger than injured pride and hurt feelings.
    "I realize you do not know me well," he murmured from close behind her. "But I would never do that. I meant to not touch you at all, but I could not help myself."
    A shiver of pleasure slid over her spine at the honest heat in his voice.
    "I am not a man who often loses control."
    "And so you did not."
    "I did. If not for that ill-timed cart I would have happily buried myself between your legs and damn the consequences."
    The shiver turned to a stroke of hot lust. Oh, God, she could picture him rocking against her, his naked hips pressed against her own.
    His hand reached from behind to circle her wrist. He pulled her around to face him. "Is this a habit of yours? Collecting confessions of lust from men who can't have you?"
    "I. . ." His