Tempting The Beast(30)

everything but patient inside.

“Merinus, while your body is demanding my touch, it is not a good idea to push me with your female

stubbornness,” he warned her, male aggression stamped on his features. “I am not fully in control of

myself right now. I could not promise you I would be gentle if you pushed me.”

Merinus’ lips thinned. How typically male. She opened her mouth to speak, but stayed silent as his hand

rose, demanding.

“Hear me well,” he gritted out. “Finish your bath. Then come eat. Your clothes are on the bed. I have

tried to tell you, I am not whatever fairy tale you have worked up in your head. At this moment I am

more instinct than I am control. I am more the animal I was created with right now, Merinus. Do not push

the animal, because even I cannot predict its response.”

The heavy grief in his voice silenced her anger. His eyes were filled with bleak memories, emotions she

couldn’t define. But she saw the pain there. Pain and a terrible loneliness.

“I’m very independent,” she whispered. “I can’t change that. Orders don’t sit well with me.”

He shook his head. “I don’t have the patience to tamp down the beast that demands submission. For

now, perhaps it would be best to control your independence in the face of something neither of us can

predict. Now, once again. Do you need my help?”

“No. I think I can manage.” She couldn’t help her anger. She saw no reason for him to lose control over

something as simple as allowing her choices. And she wouldn’t tolerate it for very long. Only as long as it

took her to get the hell out of there.

“You’re angry.” He tilted his head, watching her with narrowed eyes. “I can smell it, Merinus. It mixes

well with your lust.” He breathed in deeply as though savoring the scent.

“Why don’t you go away and let me finish my bath,” she bit out. “I didn’t ask you to come in here.”

She watched him grit his teeth.

“I would suggest wearing loose clothing, perhaps one of my shirts that I laid on the bed for you. Your

skin is still sensitive, and clothing will irritate it—”

“I know how sensitive my skin is, Callan,” she informed him, fighting to keep her voice calm. “I know

what my body is doing, and why. I don’t need any other explanations, all I need is privacy.”





His golden brows snapped to a frown. A rumbling growl emanated from his throat.

“And don’t do that growling thing at me.” She was tired, horny and irritated. She didn’t need any more

male aggression. “Go away and leave me alone. When I’m done, I’ll find you.”

“You, Merinus Tyler, are an irksome woman,” he accused her.

“Just go ahead and say ‘bitch’, my brothers do it all the time,” she snapped back. “Now, go play

Lion-O someplace else. I don’t have time for it.”

“Lion-O?” he questioned her, clearly offended at her reference to the cartoon character.

“Lion King?” she asked sweetly. “I’m not here to pamper your ego. Now leave me alone.”

She watched his fists clench. His eyes narrowed further, giving him a predatory, dangerous appearance.

He opened his mouth to speak, then seemed to change his mind. He turned and stalked from the room,

jerking the door open then slamming it with a bang. Merinus flinched, then clenched her thighs together.

Damn it.



* * * * *

“I heard you were in town asking questions about Maria the other day,” Callan said as he set a cup of

coffee beside her sandwich plate when she sat down at the table. “Why?”

He seemed less than pleased by the information. He sat across from her, cradling a steaming cup of

coffee himself, his amber eyes watching her unblinkingly.

“She was murdered.” Merinus refused to apologize or back down. “She was special to my father,

Callan. I could tell by the way he talked about her. I want to know who killed her and why.”

He was silent for long moments. Long enough for Merinus to pick up a half of the roast beef and tomato

sandwich and bite into it.

“It’s none of your father’s business, nor yours,” he berated her softly as she ate. “You are once again

involving yourself in a place where you shouldn’t.”

Merinus watched him carefully, gauging the tension in his body, the growl of warning in his voice.

“Did you kill the person responsible, Callan?” Merinus forced the words from her mouth, needing to

know the truth. She wouldn’t blame him if he had, but she had to know.

The realization of how little she knew him weighed upon her. She had spent the night in his bed, his body