Hearts of Darkness by Kira Brady Page B

someone.
    She couldn’t remember. Someone big, with big shoulders and big arms and . . . gold. That’s right. The memory was coming back to her. Gold bands around his muscular biceps.
    But she still couldn’t remember whom.
    Sven placed something in her mouth—another piece of chocolate, she thought. So good she might have moaned.
    Sven chuckled, his chest vibrating against her breasts.
    â€œYou are so beautiful.” Stop talking , she ordered her mouth. Her prized control slipped, slid, and shattered against Norgard’s shimmering scales.
    â€œI have a feeling about you.” His low voice purred in her ear. “How would you like to be the mother of my children?”
    Kayla laughed. He was joking, right? But it was hard to filter through the haze of her brain. Smack him upside the head , she ordered her arms. They flatly ignored her.
    â€œPerhaps you’ve had a bit too much. I told him to reduce the dose.” He didn’t seem to be talking to her.
    Outside the cold air pulsed against her overheated skin. She was on fire. Hot. Wet. Her clothes were too tight. Her skin was too tight. Suddenly the wall pressed against her back, and she was trapped between brick and a very large, very hot male. His lips were firm on hers.
    She didn’t want to kiss him.
    â€œI . . . drunk.” Her voice sounded very far away.
    â€œBe still,” he said. “You taste of affection, at least.”
    Something was not right. She needed air, needed space, but her arms were lead weights.
    Her eyelids drooped. Waves of light seemed to flow through her. Fire where his hands touched her skin. Her core self was sucked upward, leaving her body, and she screamed.
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    When the Kivati sentinels showed up, Hart was obliged to get his ass off the bar stool and run interference. So much for a leisurely night. Oscar met him at the door, and together they politely escorted the Kivati and their wayward charge out of Butterworth’s. The princess batted her long eyelashes at him just to piss Rudrick off. Always helpful, Hart leered at her. She turned white and scooted closer to her babysitters.
    â€œSee you next time, sweetheart,” Oscar called after her.
    The girl gave him a thankful smile. Nonthreatening, Oscar was. He could be a regular gentleman, if one ignored his penchant for scamming old ladies out of their retirement funds.
    Rudrick tugged the girl into a black jeep and gave Hart the finger. Hart saluted him good-bye, and the Kivati sped off.
    â€œWhat are the odds she gives Corbette a heart attack before the honeymoon?” Oscar asked. He scratched the underside of his jaw with the tip of his knife.
    â€œThree to one.”
    â€œBet you three ounces he won’t say ‘I do.’”
    Hart considered it. He could stretch that much Drekar blood a long way, especially if he was free. But if he lost, replacing three ounces would cost him a shit ton. He wouldn’t put it past Oscar to cheat. “Why not? Deal.”
    â€œYou working the drill this week?”
    â€œNo, I’m on a special.” Thank the Lady. Providing security for the new deep bore tunnel would kill a guy from boredom.
    â€œLuck to you.” Oscar ambled off, presumably to work on his latest con.
    Hart returned inside and met the suffocating iron smell of Norgard’s rage. Patrons started to trickle out. No one wanted to be in the way when the storm broke.
    Hart thought he caught a glimpse of Kayla Friday’s curvy form, but couldn’t be sure. The memory of her smooth skin still burned his fingertips. The image of her large caramel eyes brimming with unshed tears haunted his thoughts.
    If she couldn’t help him find the necklace, she was no longer his concern.
    He was still baffled that she’d intervened in the fight with the Kivati and made Rudrick promise not to hurt him. No one had ever stood up for him. Well, his mother had, and look what that got her.
    Rudrick was