“Rhi is very lucky then.”
Kiril turned to face Shara. “So, what sort of trap have you set for me?”
CHAPTER TWENTY
Shara couldn’t believe the difference in Kiril. He wasn’t the same charming man as before. The undercurrent of danger was still there, but a deadly thread had been added to it. It saddened her, but at the same time she couldn’t blame him. She was the enemy. He thought she had deceived him, and in some ways she had.
“I don’t know of a trap.”
His smile didn’t reach his eyes. “I’m supposed to believe you?”
“Believe what you want. I came to tell you about Rhi because … well, I don’t really know why. If you happen to find your way to Balladyn’s compound, he will capture you.”
“And you’ll be standing beside him, I suppose? Do you often jump from one man’s bed to another?”
His words stung so badly that she wanted to lash out verbally and physically. It was the absence of his smile and smooth seduction that froze her, keeping her immobile as her heart hammered against her ribs.
“No,” she answered simply when she finally found her voice. “Regardless of what you think, I didn’t share Balladyn’s bed. He wanted me there, and for a short period I considered him as a means to get away from my family.”
“I suppose that’s why he attacked Farrell?” Kiril asked casually before taking a drink of the whisky.
She watched the deep gold liquid tilt in the glass before flowing past his lips. Her gaze traveled to his throat to see him swallow. She lifted her gaze to find him watching her coolly.
Shara had known coming to him was going to be a mistake. She couldn’t think straight around him. He was purely male, utterly sexual. And for one brief moment in time, he had been hers.
Everything she had done after that had pushed him away. Fear of being without her family, and worry of trying to fit in with the Dragon Kings had stopped any thoughts of a future with Kiril.
Knowing what she did now, she would change every decision she had made. Yet there was no going back. She had put herself in this predicament, and she would get herself out of it. Somehow.
“He attacked Farrell because Farrell was going after you.”
Kiril lifted one shoulder in a shrug. “I can see that. Balladyn doesna want his position threatened by anyone, least of all by one of the most powerful families in the Dark world. It still doesna explain why you’re here. You could’ve left me a message about Rhi. By the fact your clothes are no longer soaked, you had to have waited here quite awhile for me.”
“I did,” she admitted. “I left the pub right after Farrell told Balladyn that I knew you.”
Kiril raised his glass. “Ah. So you deceived the great Balladyn as well. You’re running out of men, Shara.”
“I didn’t tell him about you because I knew he would force me to help him get to you.”
Kiril threw his glass against the wall, his thunderous expression darkening his face as the crystal shattered. “No one can make you do anything you doona want to do! Quit using that as an excuse!”
“Fine!” she shouted in return. “I’ll tell you the truth. I flirted with him because I thought he could be my way out from beneath my family. I have to marry anyway, and I knew Balladyn was the only one my father couldn’t say no to. I was using him. Is that what you wanted to hear?”
“Finally, the truth.”
Shara slapped her hands against her legs and blew out a frustrated breath. “You want more truth? I came here to see you one last time. Are you satisfied, damn you?”
She gasped as he was suddenly before her, slamming her against the wall with her hands held over her head by one of his and his hard body covering hers. His face was breaths from hers, the anger gone from his gaze, replaced with desire.
“Say it again,” he whispered savagely.
Her breaths were coming faster, her chest rising erratically. But she had never felt such passion burning through her veins. “I wanted to see you.”
He searched her gaze, and as always with Kiril, she found herself opening to him. There was nothing she could hide from him, nothing she wanted to hide from him.
His head lowered, and when he paused she lifted her face trying to reach him to get another of his searing kisses. Yet he pulled his head back. She stared at him, trying to decipher what it was he wanted from her.
He wasn’t even attempting to hide the desire sparking his green eyes. Water beaded at the ends of his long hair before dropping onto his shoulders, soaking into the material of his jacket.
Shara tried to lean against him, needing to feel more of his body, but once more he didn’t allow it. She had never wanted someone so much only to have them push her away. What she didn’t understand was why? He desired her.