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Lover Avenged(93)

By:J. R. Ward


“Welcome.” Rehvenge stopped at the door and extended his hand toward her. “I would have waited for you outside, but it’s too cold for me.”

Two totally different worlds, she thought.

“Ehlena?”

“Sorry.” Because it would be rude not to, she put her hand in his and stepped into his penthouse. But in her mind, she had already left him.



As their palms met, Rehv was robbed, mugged, burgled, broken and entered: He felt nothing as their hands melded, and desperately wished he could sense Ehlena’s warmth. Still, even though he was numb, just watching their flesh come together was enough to make his chest sparkle like it had been steel-wooled to a bright shine.

“Hi,” she said in a husky way as he drew her in.

He shut the door and kept hold of her hand until she broke the contact, ostensibly to walk around and look at his place. He sensed, though, that she needed physical space.

“The view here is extraordinary.” She stopped and stared out at the sprawling vista of the twinkling city. “Funny, it looks like a model from way up here.”

“We are high, that’s for sure.” He watched her with obsessive eyes, absorbing her through his sight. “I love the view,” he murmured.

“I can see why.”

“And it’s quiet.” Private. Just them and no one else in the world. And alone with her here now, he could almost believe all the dirty things he’d done had been crimes committed by a stranger.

She smiled a little. “Of course it’s quiet. They’re using ball gags next door-er…”

Rehv laughed. “You get the wrong side of the building?”

“Did I ever.”

That blush told him she had seen more than just inanimate objects from V’s Bondage-R-Us collection, and suddenly Rehv was dead serious. “Do I need to say something to my neighbor?”

Ehlena shook her head at him. “It was totally not his fault, and fortunately he and Jane hadn’t…er, started. Thank God.”

“You’re not into that kind of thing, I take it.”

Ehlena went back to staring at the view. “Hey, they’re consenting adults, so it’s all good. But me personally? Not on your life.”

Talk about bubble burst. If BDSM was too much for her, he guessed that meant she wouldn’t understand the fact that he was fucking for ransom a female he hated. Who happened to be his half sister. Oh, and who was a symphath.

Like him.

His silence brought her head over her shoulder. “I’m sorry. Have I offended you?”

“I’m not into that either.” Oh, not at all. He was a whore with standards-kinky crap was okay only if you were forced into it. Fuck the consensual shit V and his mate were into. Yeah, ’cuz that was just wrong.

Christ, he was beneath her.

Ehlena wandered around, her soft-soled shoes making no sound on his black marble floors. As he watched her, he realized that under her black wool coat she was in her uniform. Which was logical, he pointed out to himself, if she had to go to work after this.

Come on, he told himself. Did he really think she was going to stay the night?

“May I take your coat?” he said, knowing she must be warm. “I have to keep this place hotter than most people are comfortable with.”

“Actually…I should just head off.” She put a hand in her pocket. “I only came to give you the penicillin.”

“I was hoping you’d stay for dinner.”

“I’m sorry.” She held out a plastic bag to him. “I can’t.”

Flashes of the princess tripped through Rehv’s brain, and he reminded himself of how good it felt to do right by Ehlena-and erase her number from his phone. He had no business courting her. None at all.

“I understand.” He took the pills from her. “And thank you for these.”

“Take two four times a day. Ten days. Promise me?”

He nodded once. “Promise.”

“Good. And try to go see Havers, will you?”

There was an awkward moment, and then she lifted her hand. “Okay…so, bye.”

Ehlena turned away, and he opened the glass panel with his mind, not trusting himself to get too close to her.

Oh, please don’t go. Please don’t, he thought.

He just wanted to feel…clean for a little while.

Just as she walked out, she stopped and his heart pounded.

Ehlena glanced back, the wind ruffling the pale wisps around her lovely face. “With food. You need to take them with food.”

Right. Medical information. “I’ve got plenty of that here.”

“Good.”

After he shut the door, Rehv watched her disappear into the shadows and had to make himself turn away.