Читать книгу Seduction Island - Lorie O'Clare - Страница 9

Amber fisted her hands at her hips, fighting the urge to march right back to the castle. Outrage steamed inside her, making her shake, but she held her ground. Standing outside the barn and listening to the servant talk to Jordan Anton pissed her off more the longer she listened. How dare the rogue lead her to believe he was one of the hired help. And then proposition her.

She wasn’t sure if she was angrier with his deception, or the fact that she possibly would have fucked him. Or possibly it was both that pissed her off. Shifting her weight, she listened to Sara talk, finding herself drawn into the friendly accent, as well as to the history lesson she offered Jordan on the castle and the island. Another time, once she’d calmed down, Amber would seek Sara out and learn even more about the history of this place. Never in her life had she dreamed such an incredible castle, which was apparently as old as it appeared, actually existed anywhere other than in fairy tales and movies.

“What’s the matter, Bess?” Sara asked, her tone softening as she made clucking sounds. “You’re edgy, girl.”

“Maybe she’s telling us we have company.” Jordan stepped outside the barn, apparently closer to the door than Amber had realized, and smiled at her. “There you are,” he said, grabbing her arm and dragging her into the lit barn. “Sara, meet my friend, Amber.”

“Are both of you going to ride?” Sara sized Amber up with a quick look. “Bess is easy enough, but Lord is spirited. He’ll let me ride him but I won’t be responsible if he throws you.”

“I don’t ride horses,” Amber stammered, trying to pull her hand free from Jordan’s firm grip.

He wouldn’t let go. “I admit I inspected the barn thoroughly earlier today. I was impressed with your saddles. We’ll ride Lord together.”

“I don’t know,” Sara said, frowning as Jordan marched farther into the barn, still holding onto Amber. “If you’re not a really good rider.”

“I am,” Jordan said without hesitating.

“Lord doesn’t always take well to strangers,” Sara continued.

“We’ve already become great friends.” Jordan let go of Amber’s hand and lifted a heavy-looking saddle into his arms.

“Enjoy your ride,” Amber stated, marching out of the barn. “Sara, it was very nice meeting you. I look forward to more time.”

She didn’t even realize Jordan had put the saddle down. “Not so quick, my dear,” he growled, wrapping his arm around her waist and pulling her against him. “Tell me,” he whispered. “Are you afraid of the horse, or of me?”

“Neither!” she hissed, fighting to twist in his arms, but stilling when Sara watched them curiously. “I don’t care for deception,” she whispered, tilting her head to glare into his incredibly handsome, chiseled features.

His amused grin outraged her even further. Worse yet, it hit her with annoying clarity that as much as she ached to slap that pompous smile off his face, she couldn’t. For the next month, she would be working for Jordan Anton, arranging his social life for him and his fiancée.

“Good night, Mr. Anton,” she began.

“Sara, would you mind saddling up Lord for us?” Jordan asked without looking over his shoulder. Instead, he took Amber by the arm, walking her out of the barn. “Give me a minute to assure Miss Stone that I’m an expert rider and that she’s in good hands with me.”

Amber wasn’t sure if Sara snorted her disgust or chuckled in amusement. Either way, she disappeared into the barn while Jordan led Amber by the arm under the moonlight.

“Why the sudden change of heart?” he asked after walking her a short ways from the barn. “You came here to see me and now you wish to leave?”

“When I came down here I didn’t know you were Jordan Anton,” she accused, yanking her arm from his grip and then hugging herself, as she squared off and faced him.

“So if I were a different man you’d saddle right up with me? Is that what I’m hearing here?” He still had that annoyingly disgusting, smug look on his face.

“I’m saying you intentionally did not tell me who you are,” she snapped, but then threw her hands up in the air. “This conversation is pointless. Enjoy your horse ride because I assure you that will be all you’re riding tonight.”

“If that’s the case, then you shouldn’t have any problem agreeing to just going on a horseback ride with me,” he answered, his tone too smooth, too sure of himself.

Knowing who he was didn’t change her opinion of him, Amber decided. Jordan Anton was cocky and arrogant and probably believed he could do no wrong—obviously to the point where he didn’t mind playing with people. Amber never did like people like that. It sucked that he was so drop-dead gorgeous. His good looks were wasted on a shallow, spoiled rich boy. She understood him all too well.

“I wouldn’t go horseback riding with you no matter who you are,” she told him honestly. At the same time, she gave herself a strict reminder that it was imperative she end this potentially disastrous evening on a smooth note. And if there was one thing she was really bad at doing, it was sucking up to people. Taking a slow soothing breath, she offered what she hoped was a believable smile. “Enjoy yourself, though,” she told him, trying once again to retreat to the castle.

This time Jordan didn’t grab her arm. Instead, while Sara led the giant black horse out of the barn, Jordan moved closer to Amber, brushing his fingertips over her bare shoulder.

His tone lost its cockiness. “If you won’t ride with me because I didn’t take the time to properly introduce myself earlier, then please allow me to do so now.”

“That has nothing to do with it.” She held her head high and still barely stood taller than his shoulder. Looking at him straight on gave her a delicious view of his Adam’s apple. His black hair was pulled back in a ponytail that curled against his collar behind his neck. She imagined he’d look like a knight riding from his castle on that horse with his hair down. The image in her head damn near made her lose her train of thought. “I don’t know anything about horses,” she admitted, deciding the truth was her best argument here.

“You’ll ride on the horse with me. All you have to do is trust me.” With his final words, he scooped her off the ground.

Amber was taken off guard. Jordan’s strong hands pressed underneath her breasts, and if that didn’t shock her, being lifted into the air as if she weighed nothing and finding herself straddling the largest horse she’d ever seen in her life scared the crap out of her. Not that she’d seen many horses.

“Oh God!” she cried out, twisting over the smooth leather saddle.

The horse protested along with her, his large eyes growing even larger when he lifted his head, making a sound that couldn’t be good. She didn’t even know where to grab when it sidestepped, obviously as thrilled to have her on his back as she was to be there.

“It’s okay, boy,” Sara assured the horse, hurrying to the front of the animal.

Before she could grab the reins, though, Jordan slid onto the horse behind Amber, moving onto the creature with more grace and skill than Amber would have guessed a man his size capable of doing. He mounted the animal like he did it every day, adjusting himself behind her and then placing one large, warm hand over her belly while grabbing the leather straps in front of her with the other.

“I’ll brush him down and feed him when we get back,” Jordan informed Sara, and then made a clicking sound with his mouth.

The horse broke into a trot and they left the barn and Sara, whose parting words were impossible to hear.

Amber wasn’t sure which was worse: The fact that she was on a horse and moving really fast, or that Jordan pressed her against his chest while his muscular thighs brushed against hers, his incredibly virile body touching her everywhere.

“Is this so bad?” His rich baritone brushed over her ear, caressing her oversensitive flesh while the wind blew in her face.

“I don’t know.” She was way out of her element.

When he started laughing, shifting behind her, Amber stiffened, certain she felt something hard and long press against her ass. Since she’d never been on a horse, and the smooth leather saddle was quickly making her rear numb every time the horse moved, she wasn’t sure exactly what she was feeling. Not knowing her way around a man didn’t sit well with her, and she would have said as much, except the land around them was flying past her; her eyes were watering as the cold, salt-filled air clung to her face; and a very large creature was between her legs.

“Amber.”

“What?”

“Open your eyes.”

She blinked, then dared move her hand from the death grip she held on the big round thing at the front of the saddle, and pressed her fingers to her cheeks to rub away the tears. She wasn’t crying, but the air made them water.

“I’m fine,” she told him, not knowing what else to say.

“Relax and you’ll be even better,” he assured her. “You’re in very competent hands and trust me, everyone should experience the joy and freedom of riding a horse at least once in his life.”

He sounded like he meant it.

“I appreciate your eagerness to share your passion.”

Again he chuckled, the rich sound sending chills rushing over her body. “Relax,” he whispered into her ear.

“I’m relaxed,” she snapped, wondering if it was too soon to suggest they go back. “What? Why are we stopping?” She sounded breathless and stared anxiously at the darkness around them when the horse quit running.

Jordan adjusted himself again behind her, his long legs brushing against hers while he brought his arm up between her breasts and cupped her chin.

“We aren’t stopping, just slowing the pace down a bit until you’re comfortable in the saddle.” His fingertips were calloused, like those of a man who worked with his hands all day.

“I think I’d be more comfortable if you weren’t touching me everywhere.”

Again that melodic baritone. Jordan’s chuckle would be her undoing if all that roped muscle didn’t push her over the edge first.

“So it’s me who makes you nervous and not Lord? I can get off and walk alongside the two of you if you prefer.”

“Don’t you dare leave me on this thing alone,” she snapped.

“Okay. Okay. But first things first. Lord is a male, superior and confident. Treat him as such, and the two of you will get along much better.” He let go of her chin, dragging his fingers past her collarbone and once again between her breasts.

Amber shouldn’t react to his touch, his body, anything about Jordan Anton. He was on this island to be with his fiancée. She blew out a breath, determined to get through this and chalk it up as insight into the nature of her employer for the next month.

“Take these,” Jordan instructed, picking up the two leather straps that were attached to the horse’s bridle. “They’re the reins and are attached to his bridle. See?” he continued, placing the smooth straps in her hands and then keeping his warm, much larger hands around hers. “This is how you instruct Lord to go where you want him to go.”

“I don’t know where I want him to go,” she said, looking between their legs at her hands inside his.

“That’s okay. Lord can take us where he wishes.”

“You’re trusting a horse to guide us around this island in the dark?”

“I trust horses more than I do most people,” he growled.

Amber stilled, pulling her attention from their hands and taking in their surroundings. She saw the beauty in the darkness for the first time since they’d left the barn. They were closer to the ocean than she realized. Dark waves lapped at a sandy beach as they moved along the edge of it. She breathed in the moist, salty night air, feeling it cling to her skin.

At the same time his comment registered in her mind, giving her insight into a man who was possibly a lot darker than he first came across.

“Why do you say that?” she asked, after a moment of riding in silence.

“Horses are intelligent. Trust me, Lord knows how to get back to his barn. He also senses how nervous you are and will keep at this pace until we allow him full run again.”

“I’m not in any hurry to get to that.” She admitted Lord’s long neck and shiny black hair added to his beauty. And she didn’t deny how beautiful he was; if only he weren’t so incredibly big. When she shifted her attention to the ground, they were a good six or seven feet in the air. It would really hurt to fall off of him.

“Good,” Jordan said, but didn’t elaborate.

Amber suddenly worried he took her comment to mean she wasn’t in a hurry to return to the barn. “Lord can walk back to the barn and I would be okay with that,” she added, not wanting Jordan to think she was content being out here, alone with him, for hours.

Jordan didn’t say anything but allowed the silence to drag out between them. Amber was acutely aware of the giant beast underneath her, of how her thigh muscles would probably ache like hell later from stretching her legs across Lord’s massive back. More than that, she felt Jordan relax behind her, his body barely shifting to the motion of Lord as they walked along the beach, which seemed to go on forever.

She fondled the straps in her hand, feeling Jordan’s hands relaxed against hers. He was a mystery, and admittedly not what she expected out of him so far. The rogue playboy attitude suited him perfectly. Although being unfaithful to a fiancée, or trying to be unfaithful, wasn’t a characteristic limited to the rich. Amber couldn’t even say how many married men had tried seducing her over the years, most of them very open about the fact they were simply looking for something on the side.

“Are you enjoying yourself?” he asked, breaking the silence.

He startled her out of her thoughts. “Oh,” she said, letting the one word slip out without thought. “Sure. I guess.”

“Not what you expected when you came to the barn tonight?”

Amber pondered her answer. “Obviously not,” she admitted. Riding a horse, literally, had been the last thing on her mind. “I’m not sure what I expected.”

“Oh really?” He didn’t believe her. “I propositioned you, set up a meeting time, which you met, and you weren’t sure what you expected?”

“I planned to honor the meeting, just to make it easier to work here over the next month.”

“You believed having sex with me would make it easier to be here for a month?” That amused edge was back in his tone.

“That’s not what I meant.” She wasn’t sure she liked how easily he got her dander up. Usually, she managed more control around men, no matter their walk of life.

“Then what did you mean?” He was rubbing his thumb along the outside of her hand, the slight movement proving more of a distraction than it should.

Not to mention roped muscle flexed against her legs, and if she relaxed just a bit, packed, steel chest muscle was searing hot across her back.

“I meant that if I hadn’t shown up, running across you later would prove a distraction when I would need to focus my thoughts elsewhere.”

“You would be wondering what you missed.” He took what she said wrong and then continued running with it. “Or possibly you would worry I might stalk you, playing the rogue who would chase after the one who got away.”

“You’ve got the rogue part right,” she mumbled under her breath.

“What was that?” His body stiffened around her. “Is that what you think? That I’m no good?”

He grabbed her elbows, turning her and forcing her to slide in the saddle so that she struggled against his hold. Lord sidestepped, protesting loudly the struggle on his back.

“Is this a show to impress me and prove me wrong?” she demanded, sliding more until she panicked and clawed at the air when she was certain she’d fall off the horse and land hard on her back. “All you’re doing is confirming what I already saw as the truth.”

Jordan moved with a calm swiftness that stunned her. Lifting the leather reins with one hand, he clucked with his tongue and whispered to the horse. At the same time he brought his arm around Amber, pulling her against him. She still felt like she wasn’t centered on the horse, with one leg hanging farther off and the other sticking out in the air on the other side. But letting go of his shirt, which she hadn’t realized she’d grabbed ahold of, and pulling herself back onto the horse, seemed a feat she wasn’t sure she could pull off at the moment. Instead, she hung precariously, staring at Jordan’s perfectly chiseled features. It was no wonder his confidence level soared beyond anything anyone could tolerate. Not only was he damn near the best-looking man she’d ever laid eyes on, as he soothed the horse with words soft enough to calm a baby he prevented Amber from falling off the large animal and quite possibly severely hurting herself.

“I’m not the despicable man you believe me to be,” he said after a moment, shifting his blue eyes that looked more gray at the moment to her. He penetrated her with a compelling stare, as if he possessed some hidden gift to reach deep into her soul and learn what made her tick simply by gazing deep into her eyes. It was unnerving at best and she blushed, feeling the heat spread over her flesh, traveling quickly until it swelled between her stretched legs. The seam of her jeans rubbed against her crotch, adding pressure to the swelling. Jordan studied her face, his features relaxing. “I’m honestly curious to know what action on my part convinced you I was no good.”

“Oh, I don’t know,” she said, regaining her composure when he placed the ball in her court. Certainly he wasn’t so full of himself that he didn’t realize how despicable his actions were just being out here with her. Especially when he continually implied something sexual could exist between them. “Possibly it could be you’re hitting on the woman you hired to be your social organizer for you and your fiancée.” She stressed the last word and let go of his shirt, reaching for the saddle and then forcing herself upright and forward once again on the horse. “How do we turn him around? I’m done with this charade.”

“I didn’t hire you, my grandfather did,” Jordan said, his voice softening to a deadly tone.

If he weren’t directly behind her and she could see his face, Amber would guess her accusation, as true as it might be, pissed him off.

“You didn’t know you would have a social organizer while on the island with your fiancée?” Again she stressed the word.

“Yes, I knew. Grandfather arranged for you to be on this island when he made arrangements for me and Princess Tory to be here.”

Amber noticed Jordan no longer held the reins. In fact, his arms weren’t around her at all, but behind her. Other than his legs brushing against her outer thighs, he wasn’t touching her at all.

She fingered the leather straps, wondering if maybe she shouldn’t touch them either. Lord would respond to any tug from the straps, and she didn’t know all the signals. He continued walking, his body moving underneath her like a warm, solid muscular wave flowing from between her legs to her tailbone and then back again. If anything, Lord’s fluid, relaxed movement as he continued along the edge of the beach nearest a wall of tropical trees and foliage indicated he possibly understood the tension between the two humans on his back. Amber imagined the horse probably put them out of his head, instead focusing on whatever horses thought about as he enjoyed a nighttime stroll under the bright moon.

“How do you justify your behavior when you know the woman you’re going to marry is showing up tomorrow?” More than once in her life Amber had been accused of being a bit too direct. But damn it, sometimes people needed a good smack upside the head for them to see the obvious.

She would wait out the silence, in no way offering him any help in coming up with a believable answer. As aware as she was that his arms were no longer around her, and in fact as little of him was touching her as possible, Amber wouldn’t allow herself to regret no longer having all that roped muscle brushing against her. She would never claim to be perfect, but one thing she wasn’t was a cheater. Jordan was sexy as hell, a distraction at the least, but he belonged to another woman.

“If you knew in your heart that I wasn’t engaged, would you still find me despicable?”

His question threw her off guard, but only for a moment. “I’m not going to play games, Jordan. We’re adults here. There is no subtracting a commitment you’ve made simply to offer convenience to one evening.”

“There is nothing convenient about this conversation,” he growled.

“I’m sorry if the truth hurts,” she added, staring at her hands and running the leather straps between her fingers.

“The truth is more painful than you know.” He was angry.

But that was too damn bad. His anger was his issue. She wouldn’t enable him. Even when it hit her to change the subject, lighten the mood and talk about something less awkward and unpleasant, she bit her lip and said nothing.

“And I’ll ask you one more time. Not for convenience’s sake. You made it clear before we left for our ride our evening wouldn’t be sexual. But if you believed I wasn’t engaged, would you still find me despicable?”

“I never said you were despicable.”

“Would you find me unappealing?”

“You’re not unappealing.”

“Good enough.”

“What is good enough?” she demanded.

“It’s actually not good enough, but for now it will have to do.” Jordan’s serious manner, his not touching her, and the matter-of-fact attitude he’d assumed with this conversation offered light to a side of him Amber hadn’t seen when they’d first met. “Knowing your only reason for thinking me a rogue is your belief I have no scruples because of an engagement.”

“And you think it’s okay for someone to seek out something on the side?”

“Absolutely not.”

“Then why are you trying to do it?”

Again he was silent. Amber blew out her frustration. This conversation wasn’t going anywhere. If she did get him to admit his actions were wrong, it wouldn’t stop his behavior. A cheater was a cheater.

“I think we should head back now,” she said, no longer enjoying the ride. And oddly enough, for a few minutes there, she had to admit she was getting used to being on Lord’s back.

“I’m not so sure.” Jordan shifted behind her and then reached around her, taking the reins from her hand. “You seem to have relaxed since we left the barn. I’d hate for my unscrupulous behavior to ruin your opportunity to learn the love of riding horses.”

She dared glance over her shoulder. Jordan stole her breath with the intensity of his expression. If she didn’t know better, she’d swear she stared at a man hardened with conviction. It unnerved her. Amber always believed herself a good judge of character. Maybe she didn’t have the education most had. Hell, she had less than most. But she had street smarts. And she could spot a criminal, or a shyster. Up until that moment she would have pegged Jordan a player who pouted over being called on it.

“We agreed prior to our ride that this night wouldn’t be sexual, remember?” she said, studying his face as she spoke. There were so many layers to this man, a nature that went so far beyond his perfect bad-boy good looks. “Therefore your actions aren’t unscrupulous.”

“Just my desires?” he countered immediately.

“Well, that would depend on what your desires are,” she whispered, tingles immediately rushing up her spine and spreading over her body when he moved slightly and his chest pressed into her back.

His face was too close to hers. And those eyes, now more gray than blue, probed so deeply inside her she felt the quickening in her gut as she lost herself in them.

Jordan’s hands moved in front of her. There wasn’t time to shift her attention and see what it was he was doing. Apparently he switched the reins from one hand to the other because his free hand moved to her face, gripping her chin and preventing her from looking away.

But when his mouth covered hers, searing her with a heat that robbed her ability to think, there wasn’t any doubt what his desires were. He parted her lips with his tongue, tasting her and offering her a taste of a man hell-bent on a mission. Amber lost herself in the kiss, drowning in the power, determination, and raw, unbridled lust that filled her as his mouth moved over hers.

It took more effort than it should have to break off the kiss. And she hated herself for that, despised her weakness. The only thing she could do was strike out, release her frustration over tasting something she couldn’t have, in the only way she knew how.

“Damn you!” she yelled, twisting and raising her fist at the same time. Anger peaked inside her and she aimed directly for his face.