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Lethal Rider

Page 36

by Larissa Ione


  Rolling the man onto the sled was not as easy as she’d hoped. The guy was heavy as a damned boulder and huge. And…handsome. And very, very naked.

  “Really?” she muttered to herself. “You’re going to notice how hot he is now?”

  Granted, it was impossible not to notice those things, but she still felt a little guilty as she ran her hands over him, checking for injuries. Aside from being unconscious and as frozen as a fish stick, he appeared to be uninjured.

  Interesting horse tattoo on his right forearm, though. When she’d skimmed her fingers over it, she swore she’d felt a dim vibration, as if the henna-colored lines pulsed with a mild electrical current. Too bad warmth didn’t ride in on that current, though, because damn, she swore the temperature plummeted twenty degrees in the few minutes it took to check the guy out.

  As if Mother Nature had some sort of grudge against her, the biting cold wind picked up even more, and the snow, which she normally loved, became an enemy. It was probably stupid of her, but she stripped off her coat and laid it over the guy, tucking the coat’s sleeves carefully beneath him. The half-dozen shirt layers she was wearing should protect her for a while, as long as they hurried.

  “Let’s go, Sammy.” She urged the gelding to move faster than she’d normally like, but nothing about this situation was normal.

  She was freezing and exhausted by the time she smelled the smoke from her wood fire, and her eyelashes were crusted with ice by the time she eased Sam up to the rickety porch. The frigid air burned her lungs with each breath as she dragged the man’s dead weight off the sled and then unhitched Sam. She’d remove the harness later. Right now she had to get the man into the house and the horse into the barn.

  She ran the thirty yards to the barn and, battling the wind, tugged open the door. Sam trotted inside, but she didn’t bother taking him to his stall. He’d find it on his own.

  Too bad getting the man to her bedroom wasn’t nearly as easy as putting up the horse. As a fitness freak who worked a small farm, Jillian wasn’t a wuss, but she thought she might have dislocated something as she dragged Fish Stick across the floor. She spent another ten minutes of heaving and straining to lift him onto her bed.

  Once he was sprawled out on his back, his broad shoulders taking up an enormous amount of room on the mattress, she cranked the electric blanket to the highest setting and checked his pulse. Still strong. Shouldn’t it be sluggish? She’d taken basic CPR classes as well as Search and Rescue training, and from what she remembered, hypothermia caused a slow, weak pulse. Fish Stick’s couldn’t be more opposite. Strong, steady, and she swore his skin had already pinked up a little.

  Leaving the mystery alone for now, she checked the phone, and sure enough, it was dead. Next, she stoked the fire and turned up the electric heat to eighty degrees. She was lucky to have electricity at all, actually. The power kept flickering, and it was probably only a matter of time before it went the way of the phone line.

  Ooh, and then she’d be alone, in the dark with no phone, in the middle of nowhere … with a stranger.

  This was a horror movie setup. She even had the token small animal to prove the situation was serious and make all the women in the audience worry.

  Her cat, Doodle, watched the activity from his bed in front of the wood stove, unconcerned that there was a strange man in the house. But then, nothing really fazed him. As long as he had food and someone to pet him, he didn’t bother to get excited about much.

  “You’re a big help there, buddy.” She shot Doodle a dirty look as she changed into dry sweats and slippers. “I’m going to check on the complete stranger I brought into the house, but don’t worry about me, okay?”

  Doodle blinked at her.

  Wishing she had a big dog right about now, Jillian slipped into the bedroom. As she entered, Fish Stick sighed and shifted in the bed, just the smallest movement, but enough to give her a bit of hope.

  Then his eyes popped open.

  Startled, she leaped back, slapping her hand over her mouth. His eyes… God, they were amazing. The lightest shade of blue, and crystal clear, like a shallow glacier. They bored into her, but there was nothing cold about them. The heat in them pierced her all the way to her core.

  Feeling a little silly for her overreaction, she moved back to the bed.

  “Hi. I’m Jillian. I found you in the woods. You’re going to be okay.” She wasn’t sure if he understood or not, but his eyes closed, and his thickly muscled chest began to rise and fall in a deep, regular rhythm. His color was good now, and his lips, once pale and chapped, were a smooth, dusky rose.

  Remarkable.

  What now? Maybe she should get something hot into his stomach. Quietly, she started for the door to put some broth on the stove.

  “Hey,” he rasped, his voice a broken whisper. “Did I … hurt you?”

  She inhaled sharply and turned, risking a look at him. Once again, his eyes drilled into her, but this time, they seemed to…glow a little.

  “No.” She swallowed dryly. “No, you didn’t hurt me.”

  His long, golden lashes fluttered down, as if he was satisfied by her answer. But dear God, why would he think he might have hurt her?

  Who the hell had she brought into her house?

  Don’t miss Larissa Ione’s fantastic Demonica series Available now from Piatkus

  PLEASURE UNBOUND

  Tayla Mancuso is a demon-slayer who hungers for sensual pleasure – but fears it will always be denied her. Until she lands in a hospital run by demons in disguise, and the head doctor, Eidolon, makes her body burn with unshakable desire. But to prove her ultimate loyalty to her peers, she must betray the surgeon who saved her life.

  Eidolon cannot resist this fiery, dangerous woman who fills him with both rage and passion. Not only is she his enemy, but she could very well be the hunter who has been preying upon his people. Torn between his need for the truth and his quest to find his perfect mate before a horrific transformation claims him forever, Eidolon will dare the unthinkable – and let Tayla possess him, body and soul…

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  DESIRE UNCHAINED

  Pleasure is their ultimate weapon…

  Runa Wagner never meant to fall in love with the sexy stranger who seemed to know her every deepest desire. But she couldn’t resist the unbelievable passion that burned between them, a passion that died when she discovered his betrayal and found herself forever changed. Now, determined to make Shade pay for the transformation that haunts her, Runa searches for him, only to be taken prisoner by his darkest enemy.

  A Seminus Demon with a love-curse that threatens him with eternal torment, Shade hoped he’d seen the last of Runa and her irresistible charm. But when he wakes up in a dank dungeon chained next to an enraged and mysteriously powerful Runa, he realises that her effect on him is more dangerous than ever. As their captor casts a spell that bonds them as lifemates, Shade and Runa must fight for their lives and their hearts – or succumb to a madman’s evil plans.

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  Table of Contents

  Also by Larissa Ione

  Copyright

  Acknowledgments

  Glossary

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-one

  Chapter Twenty-two

  Chapter Twenty-three

  Chapter Twenty-four

  Chapter Twenty-five

  Chapter Twenty-six

  Chapter Twenty-seven

  Chapter Twenty-eight

  Chapter Twenty-nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-one

  Chapter Thirty-two

  Chapter Thirty-three

  Chapter Thirty-four

  Chapter Thirty-five

  Chapter Thirty-six

  Chapter Thirty-seven

  Chapter Thirty-eight

  Chapter Thirty-nine

  Chapter Forty

  Chapter Forty-one

  Rogue Rider

  Chapter One

  Pleasure Unbound

  Desire Unchained

 

 

 


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