Overload by Linda Howard

Author:Linda Howard [Howard, Linda]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781459294769
Publisher: HQN Books
Published: 2008-05-14T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SEVEN

“Show-and-tell was your idea, not mine.” Her throat tightened at the idea of rehashing the details, reliving the nightmare even in thought. She just couldn’t do it.

“You asked questions.”

“I asked where you went to college, hardly the same as prying into your private life.” Agitated, she stood up and longingly looked through the huge windows to the world outside. Only two thin sheets of transparent material kept her prisoner here with him, but it would take a car ramming into the glass at respectable speed to break it. The glass looked fragile but wasn’t, whereas she was the opposite. She looked calm and capable, but inside she hid a weakness that terrified her.

“Don’t run away,” Quinlan warned softly.

She barely glanced at him as she edged out of the semicircle of sofa and chairs. “I’m not running,” she denied, knowing that it wasn’t the truth. “It’s cooler moving around.”

Silently Quinlan got to his feet and paced after her, big and virtually naked, the dark boxer shorts nothing more than the modern version of the loincloth. His muscled chest was hairy, the thick curls almost hiding his small nipples, and a silky line of hair ran down the center of his abdomen to his groin. His long legs were also covered with hair, finer and straighter, but he was undoubtedly a dominating male animal in his prime. Elizabeth gave him a distracted, vaguely alarmed look that suddenly focused on his loins, and her eyes widened.

He looked down at himself and shrugged, not pausing in his slow, relentless pursuit. “I know, at my age I shouldn’t have recovered this fast. I usually don’t,” he said thoughtfully. “It’s just my reaction to you. Come here, sweetheart.” His voice had turned soft and cajoling.

Wildly Elizabeth wondered if this was going to degenerate into the stereotypical chase around the furniture. On the heels of that thought came the certain knowledge that if she ran, Quinlan would definitely chase her, instinctively, the marauding male subduing the reluctant female. She could prevent that farce by not running, thereby giving him nothing to chase. On the other hand, if she stood still things would only reach the same conclusion at a faster pace. Evidently the only real choice she had was whether or not to hold on to her dignity. If she had felt differently about him she could have said “no,” but she had already faced that weakness in herself. For right now, in these circumstances, she couldn’t resist him—and they both knew it.

He drew closer, his eyes gleaming. “For tonight, you’re mine,” he murmured. “Let me at least have that. You can’t get away from me here. You don’t even want to get away, not really. The circumstances aren’t normal. When we get out of here you’ll have options, but right now you’re forced to be with me. Whatever happens won’t be your fault. Just let go and forget about it.”

She drew a deep, shuddering breath. “Pretty good psychologist, aren’t you? But I’m not a coward. I’m responsible for whatever decisions I make, period.

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