Welcome back to Harlequin’s free paranormal read weekend! Chapter one of Demon Seduction by Pat White was posted last week…now here’s Chapter Two…
Elizabeth didn’t feel threatened exactly, yet her nerves skittered as she stepped into the quaint cottage. She helped Marcus to the couch and glanced around the room. A hearty fire crackled in the fireplace and she wondered who’d tended it while he was on his walk about.
Glancing at the walls, she noticed worn classic novels lining wooden bookshelves and an oil painting on the opposite wall. Created with warm, red tones it featured a naked man and woman in the throes of passion, the woman’s head tipped back as her lover brushed his lips against her neck. Elizabeth’s skin warmed.
“I’m sorry, it embarrasses you?” Marcus said.
She ripped her attention from the painting. “Of course not.”
He didn’t have to know how utterly prudish she was, how innocent and naïve. She was rather inexperienced because typical blokes didn’t appreciate her qualities of focus and determination, nor did they fancy a girl who dressed in baggy jeans, a knee-length slicker and combat boots, with a fifty-pound pack of equipment strapped across her shoulders. Elizabeth didn’t fool herself. She wasn’t sexy or alluring, and that was fine by her. There was work to be done in the fight against creatures of the dark realm.
“Please, sit,” he offered.
“I could warm water for tea,” she said.
“That would be lovely.” He smiled.
Her stomach did a back flip. She snapped her attention from those fascinating blue-green eyes of his and went to put the water on. Truth was, she hadn’t taken the time to properly size up his looks, what with all the excitement of paras in the woods and Mickey’s confrontation.
She sighed. The destruction of her equipment wouldn’t stop her. She kept back-up materials at her flat in London. Later, she’d think about that, after she eased her conscience and tended to Marcus, the innocent bystander.
She glanced over her shoulder to get a proper look at her host. He was striking, with high cheekbones and an angular face. Yet he had a friendly look about him as well. Curious. Maybe that’s why she didn’t feel threatened. No, it was something else that put her at ease.
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