Beast Untamed: Beasts of Bodmin Moor, Book 3 by Faye Avalon Page A

awkward silence between them any longer, Erin turned to him. “If you must know, I don’t like this any more than you do.”
    Nathan tapped his fingers on the white linen tablecloth. “Like what?”
    “Being lumbered with you, any more than you’re enjoying being lumbered with me.”
    Those dark eyebrows rose. “Thanks.”
    Erin shrugged. “We don’t have to pretend you weren’t forced into asking me. I’ve been at the end of Naomi’s persuasive skills myself.”
    “She sure has them.” He eyed Erin speculatively. “She said you wouldn’t come if I didn’t ask you. Do you have something against formal social occasions?”
    “No.” She’d considered her days of attending them well and truly over. “It’s just that I prefer hanging out in jeans and sweaters.”
    His gaze moved down to the simple bodice of the knee-length dress and held there, making Erin wish she’d kept the matching jacket on and not placed it over the back of her chair.
    “You wouldn’t know from the way you look right now.” His eyes met hers again. “Or from that number you had on the other night. At the hen do.”
    She had a quick jolt that he’d actually noticed. “Another panic buy. It’ll probably end up in the charity shop.”
    It hadn’t always been that way, Erin thought briefly. Once, she’d had a whole closet full of cocktail dresses and formal wear. And each and every outfit had been chosen by Justin.
    “Yeah, well.” Nathan ran his finger between his throat and shirt collar. “I’m not a great lover of these things myself. This suit’s on its second airing. If I get my way, it’ll go back in the closet for all time.”
    “What was its first airing?”
    “Caleb and Talia,” he explained with a nod past her to where the couple was still deep in conversation. “And if they go on the way they are, this bloody suit will soon be out again for a christening.”
    Erin glanced around, and sure enough, the couple was showing all the signs of wanting to beat an early escape. Caleb’s arm lay protectively and possessively around Talia’s shoulder, his fingers brushing the side of her breast. While Talia’s hand rubbed along her husband’s thigh, reaching ever closer to his groin.
    Grabbing her wine, Erin took a swig. It wasn’t a good idea to have those sorts of images in her head when she was already far too aware of Nathan beside her.
    “What’s wrong?” Nathan asked, leaning close. Erin could hear the wicked smile in his voice, and when she looked at him, that glint was in his eye. “Getting all hot and bothered there, sugar?”
    “Absolutely not.” Erin took a sip this time, then carefully placed the glass down. “I don’t do voyeurism, thanks.”
    She used her most prissy voice, but all she got from Nathan was a deepening of that grin. Damn it. How was it the man could irritate her and get her hormones racing at the same time?
    “Nothing wrong with a bit of healthy voyeurism in my book. It can add to the fun, spike up the anticipation.”
    “Happily, our book choices are different.”
    Partly to take the emphasis off where the conversation could lead, but more because she was in fact desperate to know, Erin decided to take the plunge.
    “Did you and Naomi once have a thing?”
    He didn’t flinch or give any indication she’d hit a nerve of any sort, but those eyes bored into hers.
    “You could say that.”
    Now she wished she hadn’t asked, because something akin to disappointment rippled through her. “Did Tynan steal her away?”
    “You could say that too, but Naomi and I were never serious.”
    “So you don’t have any problem with her marrying Tynan?”
    “If they’re crazy enough to hitch themselves to each other for the rest of their lives, it’s up to them. Their choice.”
    “But not yours?”
    “I’m not the hitching type, sugar.”
    “I get that, from things I’ve heard around.” And she’d heard a number of stories on the hen night about Nathan’s prowess. “You have