Moonlight Surrender (Moonlight Book 3) by Ferrarella Marie

Author:Ferrarella, Marie [Ferrarella, Marie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2015-04-28T07:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-two

Duncan’s eyes were dark when he lifted them to look at Beth’s face. He saw unease mingled with defiance there. He held the bar up higher.

“What is this?” he demanded.

Beth lifted her chin. She held her ground and had no idea why she felt as if she had done him an injustice. This was not personal; it went beyond what had passed between them earlier.

“Money to ransom my father.”

Duncan dropped the bar into the saddlebag once more. It strained the leather with its weight. His voice was low and all the more frightening for it. His men knew the extent of the anger that boiled just beneath the lid. It rarely occurred, but when it erupted, it was a fearsome sight to see.

His eyes pinned her. “You weren’t going to tell me about it, were you?”

She felt her pulse quickening, still she could not retreat. It was not him she was afraid of, but something else she could not name. Something in his eyes. “It did not concern you.”

“On the contrary, it concerns me very much.” In disgust, Duncan threw the saddlebags to the ground. The next moment he swept her up in his hands, his palms bracketing her shoulders. He restrained himself from the urge to squeeze her between them and vent his anger. “Were you afraid that I was going to steal from you, Beth?”

Bitterness traced his chiseled features until he almost looked malevolent as he shouted his anger into her face. “Did you think I was going to rob you somewhere along the trail and then abandon you?”

Her breath caught in her throat. She saw the angry, accusing hurt in his eyes, and for reasons beyond her understanding, it stung her heart. Her secrecy was to safeguard the gold for her father, not to hurt him. Angry now at his tone, she raised her face to his defiantly, defending her action. At the very least, she had not wanted to place temptation in his path.

She matched him, tone for tone, anger for anger. “You said yourself you were a privateer.”

He could have shaken her until she swooned, but what good would that have done?

“Were, Beth, were. And I told you why I took to that life—because I had no choice. I have a choice now. I have a life now. Somewhat maddeningly tranquil at times, but it is mine by choice.”

Duncan gestured toward the house. “There is nothing that I require that I cannot have here.” His face hardened. Her judgment of him wounded him far more than the highwayman’s discharging pistol ever had. It made no sense to him, but that was the way of it.

“Greed was never in my nature, Beth—except when I look upon you.” For a moment, his hands upon her softened as he remembered the night. “You are the only thing that ever aroused my greed, Beth. Wanting you.”

His eyes traveled over her face and he knew he was lost. And a fool. “Having you does not seem to be enough. You prey upon my mind worse now than before.

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