Virgin Star by Jennifer Horsman Page B

I? Take your clothes?" He looked as if the mere idea offended him, and it did. "I saw what you had to offer, and believe me, it was hardly enough enticement. Besides, nefarious as my reputation is with women, I at least like to know their names before I part them from their clothing. What is your name?"
    The awful truth overcame her at last A truth infinitely more terrifying than everything that was happening to her: the giant’s weight or heat, the ease of his humor, or even the oddity of his deformity. The horror seized her, like a jolt into a nightmare played in the light of day.
    She did not know her name.
    Seanessy saw the alarm in her face and said after a sigh, "L knew you'd be trouble."
    He drew a sharp, almost painful breath. He needed to get a grip on the desire her slim form not only incited but somehow kept inflaming. Men were such beasts really, separated from their animal natures by the thinnest of lines—-this unlikely brat was very nearly pushing him over it. He forgave his apparent weakness but only after deciding he'd better send for Molly before seeing his agents.
    Returning to the less immediate problem, he offered, "1 found you yesterday, apparently badly used: beaten and half-naked, dropped like a parcel on my doorstep. In your hand was a slip of paper that had my name and address on it."
    He watched as she took this in, her expression revealing her shock. "I don't believe you!"
    “ Its validity does not depend on your belief. Of course, I've heard a hard blow to the head can result in memory loss, and you have had a mean whack. Though I've never known anyone so unlucky as to actually have it happen to them."
    The short speech did not seem to eliminate her terror, and assuming the magnitude of this discovery had subdued her as well, he lifted his weight to touch the visible bump on her head. A mistake, for instantly her elbow shot up to land a hard blow to his chin. He suffered the briefest moment of surprise, which she used to try to scramble out from under his weight, but the beast's speed utterly defied his size. His weight came back solidly, his long forearm pinning the undersides of her arms entirely.
    "This has got to stop," and now he meant it.
    "I cannot breathe," she lied, desperate to be free. Her body seemed completely untroubled by his deformity, his huge staff pressed hot on her abdomen. A curious tingling tension pulsated from the spot, she felt an almost irresistible urge to writhe and twist beneath him, and it scared her. "I beg you!"
    "We've gone from battering to begging me in the space of a moment. Really, I have more fun under cannon fire. Considering how frisky you are in the morning, I'm sure you'll be surprised to know I like a strong cup of tea before I take a beating. Look, I want to let you up, I do. But you will have to promise to behave."
    She absorbed part of this speech as he spoke but it required effort. The man's language flew in the same amazing speed with which he moved, all of it dancing, spinning, flying with remarkable agility. She understood only that she'd kill the monster if he let her up and this time she would not underestimate him. She nodded.
    The cool air brushed against her skin as Seanessy raised off her, sitting back on the bed, needing a good long minute to recover and trying to ease the ache and the inexplicable race of his pulse.
    "So which was it: you do not know or you will not-"
    A rock hard heel landed; in the vulnerable spot beneath his ribs. Then another and another. Seanessy grunted again, the last grunts expelled with a soft curse. His hand snaked out to catch her foot, but too late. She leaped from the bed and stood poised, obviously ready to fight.
    He came off the bed so quick and fast, she had not time to take a single step back. Mercilessly strong arms seized her weight and stopped her scream as he tossed her back to the bed and hard, knocking the wind from her lungs. Before she could even think to roll out, his weight returned. "Another