Succumb to Me by Julia Keaton Page A

behaving as if nothing had happened. “Well? Was it to
apologize?”
     
    Winter struggled to her feet, glaring at him.
Surreptitiously, she rubbed her butt, which had taken the brunt of
her fall.
     
    “Apologize for what?” she said, stalling for
time. She knew she had to answer him—for he’d dog her until she
did, but she didn’t have to like it. “I came for my painting,” she
said through gritted teeth, casually looking for another venue of
escape but seeing nothing immediate.
     
    It occurred to her that if she had a weapon,
she could bludgeon him into unconsciousness, but she doubted he’d
wait around for her to find something appropriate. He was too fast,
and his reach was too long to give her much hope of seizing
something suitable and using it before he could take it away from
her. The differences in their size had never been more apparent
before now, when she was seemingly at his mercy.
     
    “Your painting? I beg to differ,
Winter. If you’ve come for the painting, you’ve come to
steal my painting. Come, sit
here with me.” Logan sat on a small sofa and patted the space
beside him, his smile easy, charming—one that could easily seduce
the unwary.
     
    Winter wasn’t fooled, but she recognized
defeat when she saw it. She moved to the sofa and sat beside him,
stiff and unbending, as far from him as she could get on the narrow
width of the seat’s cushion. She stared unblinking ahead, but
watched him surreptitiously from the corner of her eye.
     
    “I paid for the painting, requested the
design. It is mine,” he continued nonchalantly, stretching, then
draping his arm across the back of the seat.
     
    Winter was well aware the scoundrel had
commissioned the painting, that it had been entirely his idea that
Giovanni had created something so scandalous, but she couldn’t see
that that entitled him to own something so damaging to her. “It was
done of me. That transfers ownership.”
     
    “So you did pose nude for it? I had wondered. I admit, I
was just a bit shocked. I knew you had fire in you, beneath that
facade of ice, but I confess it hadn’t occurred to me that you were
quite so free spirited.” He shifted casually, as though merely
seeking a more comfortable position, but the movement brought his
leg into intimate contact with her own.
     
    Just as casually, Winter moved her leg
fractionally. She turned to glare at him, resisting the urge to
assault him. “You know very well I did no such thing!”
     
    He chuckled. “In fact, I do. But, of course,
no one save you and I and Giovanni know that for the truth and
somehow I think, if it were ever to come to light, no one would
believe any of us, should we try to dispute it.” He shrugged. “And,
of course, that has nothing to do with our current situation. We
are still at an impasse ... and you have broken into my house yet
again.”
     
    Winter looked away, glaring at the floor. “I
am not going to allow you to punish me.”
     
    “I wouldn’t dream of it, my sweet ice
princess.”
     
    “Don’t call me that!” Winter snapped.
     
    He smiled that infuriating smile yet again,
setting her nerves on edge. “What would you have me call you?
Perhaps ... lover?”
     
    She looked at him, her eyes narrowed. “You
are overstepping your bounds, my lord.”
     
    “As you have?”
     
    She didn’t answer, knowing he was right.
     
    He chuckled, easing closer and placing his
hand on her thigh. “I have a solution to this, though I begin to
think you may not like it.”
     
    Winter stared down at his hand as if a snake
had crawled into her lap, so stunned by his gall she couldn’t even
think how to respond to it. How dare he even think that she might
consider his outrageous proposal, or insinuate that she might
merely ‘not like’ it! She sputtered and stood up. “I wish to go ...
NOW.”
     
    Logan sighed. “You’re fortunate that I’m even
willing to grant you this boon.”
     
    She didn’t know whether to be relieved or
sorry