Modern Romance March 2021 Book 5-8 Carol Marinelli (ebook reader computer txt) 📖

face of the earth so that everything he had ever worked for, or cared about, was lost to history, the legacy he cared so much about nothing but dust. I swore to him that I would never marry and never have children, that not a trace of his legacy would be left on this planet.”

For a moment, there was a pause, as if the room itself had sucked in a hiss of irritation. The muscles in his neck tensed, then flexed, though he remained otherwise motionless. He blinked as if in slow motion, the movement a sigh, carrying something much deeper than frustration, though no sound came out. Hel’s chest squeezed as she merely observed him. She felt like she’d let him down in some monumental way though they’d only just become reacquainted. She struggled to understand why the sensation was so familiar until she recognized the experience of being in the presence of her father.

Then he opened his eyes again, and instead of the cold green disdain her heart expected, they still burned that fascinating warm brown—a heat that was a steady home fire, as comforting as the imaginary family she’d dreamed up as a child—and all of the taut disappointment in the air was gone.

Her vow was a hiccup in his plans. That he had a low tolerance for hiccups was becoming clear. How she knew any of this when he had revealed so little in his reaction, and her mind only now offered up hazy memories of him as a young man, she didn’t know.

She offered a shrug and an airy laugh in consolation, mildly embarrassed about the whole thing though she was simultaneously unsure as to exactly why. “Otherwise, you know, I’d be all in. Despite the whole abduction...” Her cheeks were hot, likely bright pink, but it couldn’t be helped so she made the joke, anyway, despite the risk that it might bring his eyes to her face, that it might mean their eyes locked again and he stole her breath again.

Of course, that is what happened. And then there was that smile again, the one that said he knew all about the strange mesmerizing power he had over her, and it pleased him.

Whether he was the kind of man who used his power for good or evil had yet to be determined.

Either way, beneath that infuriating smile, deep in his endless brown eyes, was the sharp attunement of a predator locked on its target. “Give me a week.” His face may not have changed, but his voice gave him away, a trace of hoarseness, as if his sails had been slashed and the wind slipped through them, threaded it, a strange hint of something Hel might have described as desperation...if it had come from anyone other than him.

“What?” she asked.

“Give me a week to change your mind.”

Hel’s sympathy dried up like a desert pool. She shook her head. “No, thank you. I’m pretty set on this. And while I appreciate the seriousness, as well as the lack of intention, you did kidnap me...”

He laughed, and the sound of it eased some of the tightness in her chest. She brought a hand to the spot in the center of her breastbone, where the sensation seemed to coalesce, and rubbed as he continued, his eyes sharp on her every movement. “Give me seven days to bring you around to my plan. We want the same thing, in the end. Let me convince you.”

Hel snorted. They didn’t exactly want the same thing. He wanted revenge. She wanted eradication. But she didn’t say that. Instead, she asked, “And if you can’t? What do I get?”

His eyes lit, voice picking up a charge as he said with a shrug, “I bring you back home, forgiven—no harm, no foul. You did your part to right the wrong.”

She sucked in a little breath, the only outward sign of the allure of that promise. But, clearing her mind, she shook her head and said, “My job prevents things being that simple.”

He chuckled. “It’s not just your job.”

Hel smiled. “Agreed. My absence is likely already rather visible.”

He nodded sagely and she almost laughed.

“Now, and I know this is rather unconventional, “ he began, “but, seeing as how you are already ‘kidnapped,’ my suggestion would be to keep things simple and just remain so.”

Now Hel did laugh. A lot.

Shaking her head, she wiped at the tears that escaped from the corners of her eyes. When she had collected herself, she said, “So you’re suggesting I take this as an enforced holiday, if you will?”

He gave a single, firm, grave nod in response and another chuckle bubbled out of her.

“And on this enforced vacation, you’re going to try and seduce me out of the deathbed vow I made to my father?” She lifted an eyebrow with the question.

He smiled, his grin quick and wicked. “If you want me to. I just said I’d change your mind, though.”

Hel’s blush was an immediate inferno—hot enough that she glanced surreptitiously at her arm just to make sure she hadn’t caught fire.

“You’re not,” he said, reading her mind.

“What?” she asked, irritation threading the question.

“On fire,” he said, chuckling. “You looked worried.”

“What are you talking about?” she snapped, knowing exactly what he was talking about.

“Well, you’re as red as a ripe tomato and even look a little sweaty, so I only thought...”

Her mouth dropped open again. “I’m not sweaty,” she said.

He inclined his head and raised his palms. “My mistake. Glistening.”

There was no match for his audacity, Hel realized. No attack she could be assured he wouldn’t deflect smoothly...except one.

“Yes.” The word danced out of her mouth, relaxed and self-assured, while her stomach spiraled and her palms went clammy. She had the sense of things picking up speed, right before they spun out of control—the moment before the crash she knew so well from her days of high-performance racing, but it was too late to take her foot off the gas now.

Once again, his entire body stilled, his cocky smile