Woohoo, The Beast is finally here, and I should be jumping for joy. I am really....sort of, but before I share from my new story, a little personal request from me.
Those who follow me on Facebook will know that we lost my husband's mother not so long ago. Her passing wasn't completely unexpected. She had been in hospital not so long ago, and was home on Oxygen and requiring constant care, but when he got the call, it still shook hubby up a lot.
We weren't in close contact, for reasons I can't share. Suffice to say it was always a source of regret for hubby, and of course her passing has intensified that feeling.
We will be attending her funeral this morning, so can I ask you to spare a thought to Pamela. She was a gentle soul, and she will be missed, especially by hubby.
I have fond memories of her holding our oldest daughter when she was a newborn, and that's the way I'll always remember her.
“Go and answer it. He’s here for you
anyway. Time to earn your keep, girl.”
Again that shiver of dread threatened to
steal her breath, but she had learnt long ago to never show any weakness in
front of her father. He didn’t appreciate it, and the cruel streak Mama had
tempered when she was alive had only become stronger at her passing. With as
much grace as she could muster Emilia walked across the foyer and swallowed
nervously at the imposing shadow she could see through the frosted glass.
The man stood on the other side of the
door was huge, and when she opened it her greeting stuck in her throat.
She would recognize those broad
shoulders and wide back anywhere. Even covered by the expensive tailor-made
woolen coat he wore against the chill of this December afternoon, his muscled
physique made her feel small and oh so feminine.
Hunter Monahan inhaled sharply and then
turned around slowly. Emilia took an involuntary step back when the harsh porch
lighting illuminated the scars on his face briefly. His features tightened when
he witnessed her reaction, and he turned slightly until only his good side was presented.
His mouth kicked up in a grim smile, and his deep voice washed over her.
“I wasn’t expecting to see you so soon,
Emilia. When did you come home?” he asked.
“Erm, yesterday, Sir.” She whispered the answer, feeling ridiculously
tongue-tied like she always did around him, but frightening scars
notwithstanding, there was something so earthy and virile about Hunter.
Dangerous even, and as if to prove it, his amber eyes flared to yellow as he
bent down and inhaled next to her ear.
“I do like it when you call me that,
kitten.” His hot breath skimmed across
the sensitive skin under her ear, and Emilia bit her lip to stop herself from
reacting to his presence. This close to
him his intoxicating scent wrapped itself around her like a warm cocoon, and
she had to fight the urge to lean in closer.
The Beast, as he was known, would not
appreciate the contact she was sure, so instead, she stepped back to allow him
to pass, and took his coat when he shrugged out of it.
He frowned at her, and she offered him a
tentative smile, and after a moment’s hesitation he handed it to her. Their
hands touched briefly, and Emilia almost dropped the garment. Her fingertips
tingled from the contact, and she hastily yanked the coat up higher to hide her
nipples. Like wanton beacons of her sex-starved self, they firmed and pushed
against her silk blouse. Emilia wanted the ground to swallow her up when
Hunter’s gaze rested on her boobs for several heart-stopping moments.
He couldn’t have noticed, could he? It was
bad enough that Emilia turned into a simpering wreck whenever her father’s
former friend was around. It was altogether far too mortifying that he would
actually notice her lusting after him.
Quite apart from the fact that Hunter
was only seven years younger than her father, the man was way out of her
league. Reserved to the point of rudeness, Hunter carried himself with an air
of leashed power and aggression that separated him from his peers.
As a child, Emilia had spun fairy
stories about him as the scarred warrior, or the gentle beast, who needed the
love of a good woman to break the witch’s curse. As a teenager those dreams had
taken on a rather erotic turn. Moving away to go to university had done nothing
to lessen her attraction to the man, quite the opposite.
Not for lack of trying on her part, but
none of her so-called boyfriends had ever made her skin tingle with just one
look, and besides they only wanted her for her father’s money. When they found
out that Leo was Papa’s only heir, they always scarpered, which was fine by
Emilia.
She didn’t need any boys in her
life, and she might never get rich working as a midwife, but she loved her job,
and how many people could say that?
“You should smile more, kitten.”
Hunter’s cool words shook her out of her
internal musings, and her heart missed a few beats under his intense scrutiny. Standing
sideways, so that his scars weren’t visible, Hunter watched her from under
hooded lids with a curious tilt to his full lips. They were surrounded by
several days’ worth of scruff that extended along his square jaw and
disappeared into the neckline of his shirt—a pink one, much to Emilia’s
amusement. His very presence pulled her under his spell. So much so that she
must have missed something, if the way both her father and brother scowled at
her was anything to go by.
“Have you lost your brain completely?”
Leo said, and grabbed the wall for support. “Go get some coffee, thunder
thighs. I need some, and no doubt our beast here will want some, too.”
Emilia winced at the look of utter
disgust and hatred both her father and brother threw toward Hunter, and he
seemed to grow taller in front of her eyes. Hands balled into fists by his
side, jaws clenched, a rumble emanated from Hunter’s broad chest, and Leo
blanched and put his hand up in an act of surrender. Emilia was half expecting
her lily-faced brother to lose control of his bodily functions, and Papa, too,
looked pale under his tan. Pale and very old, as he glanced at her and jerked
his head to the kitchen in a clear demand.
“You heard your brother. Coffee.”
“Please don’t trouble yourself on my
account, Emilia.” Hunter gave her a grim smile, and the almost growl in his
voice had every feminine cell in her body sigh in submission. She could listen
to him talk all day.
“And you, pup, don’t talk to her like
that in front of me. Not if you’re fond of your own teeth, that is.” Hunter
took a step toward Leo, and Emilia knew her mouth had fallen open in
astonishment at hearing Hunter come to her rescue.
“I talk about her any which way I
fucking want, beast. She ain’t yours yet. Fail to see why you’d want her
anyway.”
“Leo, enough. Let me handle this.”
Papa’s stern words brought Leo’s head up, and he stuck his bottom lip out in a
sulk so reminiscent of the brother she used to adore as a child that emotion
clogged up Emilia’s throat. She swallowed past the lump and focused on what her
brother had actually said.
“What do you mean, I’m not his yet?” The
earlier snatched bits of conversation she’d heard came back to haunt her, and
she looked among the three men in dawning terror.
“What did you do, Leo?” she asked.
Her brother stuck his hands in his
pockets, and that sulk grew. Right now he looked like a petulant child who
hadn’t gotten the toy he wanted for Christmas.
“He cheated, I’m sure.”
Again that menacing growl rumbled from
Hunter, and Emilia clenched her thighs together, as he stepped close enough to
her that his scent drew her in again. Waves of heat seemed to come off him, and
chased away the goosebumps that had broken out on her own flesh at the
underlying tension in the room.
“Watch who you’re calling a cheat, pup.
I’m not the one who cannot hold his drink and threw his own sister to the
wolves.”
Leo gave a humorless laugh and shrugged
his shoulders.
“Says the guy who can’t get a woman to
fuck unless he buys her. Have you looked in the mirror lately, beast? You … umph.”
Hunter moved so fast that Leo couldn’t
even raise his fists. One well aimed punch to his solar plexus had her brother
doubled over and gasping for breath, and then Hunter pinned him against the
wall. Hand around Leo’s throat, he had the younger man dangling several feet off
the floor, and Emilia dropped the coat she was still clutching and pulled at
Hunter’s arm to get him off her brother.
“Let go, please. You’re going to kill
him.”
Hunter paid her no heed. Over the
rushing of blood in her ears, and the outraged shouts of her father, Leo turned
blue. His legs made futile attempts at kicking Hunter, and with both hands on a
death grip on Hunter’s wrist, Emilia still couldn’t shake the much taller man
off. In a last act of desperation, Emilia ducked under Hunter’s arm, earning
herself a painful kick in the ribs from her brother in the process, and
reaching up framed Hunter’s face in her hands.
Her breath stalled at the different
textures under her fingertips. One side had smooth even skin, covered by his
stubble; the other was a mass of corded, scarred, raised flesh, which felt
rough and tight under her hand.
A shudder went through Hunter at her
touch, and he turned his head to look at her. Emilia gasped at the inhuman eyes
staring back at her until he blinked, and they were once again the deep
chestnut brown she was used to.
“Please, let him go. He’s my brother,
please.”
Hunter shook his head and then let go of
Leo. Her brother fell to the floor, and Emilia let go of Hunter and scrambled
to Leo’s side to help him up. Dazed as he was, he still pushed her help away
and let their father pull him up instead. The rejection stung, and Emilia was
dimly aware of Hunter’s deep sigh behind her. He bent to pick up his abandoned
coat, brushed the dust off it, and stepping closer to her, nudged her chin up
with his knuckles.
“They don’t deserve your concern,
kitten.” The ghost of a smile kicked up his mouth, and then he stepped away from
her and looked the men in her family up and down.
“I’ll be outside. Let me know what your
decision will be, and I’ll have my lawyers draw up the contract one way or the
other, though I fear I know what it will be. Know this, however. I need to hear
it from her, or the deal is off.”
Buy it from: Evernight Publishing Amazon Are Bookstrand
