Matilda, the Adventuress by Iris Johansen

Author:Iris Johansen [Johansen, Iris]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Regency, General, Romance, American, Fiction, Love Stories
ISBN: 9780553218732
Publisher: Bantam Books
Published: 1987-08-01T05:00:00+00:00

It was almost dark.

Roman took a drink of bourbon and stared broodingly through the window at the last scarlet streaks lighting the evening sky. He would give her another five minutes, and then he would go after her. She had promised, dammit. What kind of game did she think she was playing? Did she think she had him where she wanted him now that—

Someone knocked briskly on the door. It couldn't be Manda. Her knock was now only perfunctory before she opened the door and ran into the room.

"Come in."

Dennis Billet smiled genially as he came up the steps and into the room. "Some of the boys are getting together for a poker game in the mess tent. Want to sit in?"

"I'm going to be busy." Roman said curtly. "Maybe next time." He finished his bourbon in two swallows, got up, and crossed to the bar. "Have you seen Manda today?"

"Yep, right before she left this morning."

Roman's hand froze as he reached for the bottle of bourbon. "Left?"

Dennis nodded. "You didn't know?" A frown wrinkled his forehead. "Maybe I was supposed to tell you. She was in such a hurry, she was kind of confused. She and Jacto drove into Coober Pedy to catch a plane for Melbourne."

Roman kept his face expressionless.

"She received a call and said she had to go to Melbourne on personal family business."

"I see." Roman carefully finished pouring bourbon into his glass and put the cap on the bottle. "When will she be back?"

Dennis shrugged. "She didn't say. Knowing Manda, I'd say it could be a day or it could be a year."

It wasn't pain he was feeling, Roman assured himself. It was anger. She had left him without a word, and he was angry. He had a right to be angry. She had broken her promise.

He took a sip of bourbon, and it spread a comforting glow that dulled the—he blocked the thought quickly. It was natural to feel disappointed. She had been exceptionally good in bed, and he hadn't had his fill of her. Even now the muscles of his abdomen were knotted with hunger as he remembered how she felt under him as he moved…

"Roman?"

He jerked his attention back to the man standing beside him. "What did you say? I was thinking of something else."

"I asked if you'd like to reconsider." Dennis's hazel eyes were twinkling. "I've got a real yen to take you to the cleaners. That engine overhaul cost me a mint."

"Not as much as the bet you placed on that nag at the Sydney handicap," Roman said absently. He finished his drink and set his glass down on the bar.

"What can I say?" Dennis asked. "Like any true Aussie, I place a bet now and then. There's nothing wrong with that."

"I guess not." Roman couldn't have cared less for Dennis's passion for the ponies at the moment. His hand suddenly closed on the neck of the bourbon bottle. "Sure, why not? There's bloody little else to do out here." He turned toward the door, taking the bourbon bottle with him.

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