A Relentless Rake by Anna Harrington

Author:Anna Harrington
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Published: 2022-02-24T00:00:00+00:00

Fifteen

Alec paced the length of his dark study, not having bothered to light any lamps. Dawn was only a few hours away, yet he couldn’t quash the icy anger inside him to find enough peace to sleep.

He could barely fathom it. Olivia Everett had run away with a man, surrendered her innocence, and then lied to the world about it, letting everyone believe she was still a respectable, virtuous miss. She’d been lying to him. All those times when he’d mentioned how innocent she was, how unspoiled and proper…all those times when she didn’t correct him. He felt like a fool.

Damn her! Damn her secrets and her lies. Damn her façade of respectability—

No, damn himself for letting her into his head and under his skin.

He halted in front of his desk to rake his fingers through his hair. He’d lost his mind tonight when he’d followed her into the dark shadows. Apparently, he’d lost control of his cock as well, because he’d certainly been thinking with it instead of his brain or he never would have kissed her like that, never would have bared her breasts to his greedy eyes and lips, never would have dropped to his knees. But he’d been too intoxicated by the taste and feel of her to deny himself.

Or to realize that she was living a lie. Just as his father had.

He’d thought he’d known exactly who she was—a woman so unlike the others he’d ever known that she’d seemed to sweep into his life like a fresh breeze. Not someone world-weary or jaded, not someone looking for a liaison to fend off an evening’s boredom, but a woman who shared his view of the world by living her life honestly about who she was and the actions she took.

A woman who was opening her heart and body for the first time. To him.

It was nothing but lies.

He took a gasping swallow of whiskey. Its burn seared down his throat and straight into his chest. Good. He wanted it to cauterize his heart to her and put her back where she should have been from the beginning, as nothing more than a mission asset.

But even now, the memory of her made his blood boil, his body ache—

Christ! He hurled his tumbler into the fireplace. It exploded in a shower of glass and flames.

“What did that glass ever do to you?” a soft voice chided from the doorway.

He spun around. Olivia.

She leaned against the doorframe in the flickering firelight as the flames drank up the whiskey and slowly diminished, but her blue eyes remained bright even in the shadows. Beneath her cloak, she wore the same dress he’d nearly stripped off her tonight, and her hair still showed signs of being mussed from their embrace. His gut twisted, and it wasn’t from anger or blame. Despite her deception, he still ached to finish what they’d started in the gardens, remove that dress completely, and lose himself in her.

He bit back a curse. “How did you get in here?”

“The rear door was unlocked.

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