Because You Are Mine Part I Read Online Free

agree.”
    She risked a sideways glance. He was staring at her with those dark-angel eyes.
    “Let me take your jacket,” he said, extending his hands.
    “No.” Her cheeks heated when she heard how abrupt she’d sounded. Self-consciousness slammed into her haze of enthrallment. His hands remained extended.
    “I will take it.”
    She opened her mouth to rebuke him but paused when she noticed his hooded gaze and slightly raised eyebrows.
    “The woman wears the clothes, Francesca. Not the other way around. That’s the first lesson I’ll teach you.”
    She gave him a fake glance of exasperation and shrugged out of her jean jacket. The air felt cool next to her bare shoulders. Ian’s gaze felt warm. She straightened her spine.
    “You say that like you plan on teaching me more lessons,” she muttered, handing him the jacket.
    “Perhaps I do. Follow me.”
    He hung up her coat, then led her down the gallerylike hallway before turning down a narrower one that was dimly lit with brass sconces. He opened one of many tall doorways, and Francesca stepped into the room. She expected to see yet another room filled with wonders, but instead entered a large, narrow space that ran the length of a row of floor-to-ceiling windows. He didn’t turn on the light. He didn’t need to. The room was illuminated by the skyscrapers and the reflective lights of them in the black river. She walked to the windows without speaking. He came to stand next to her.
    “They’re alive, the buildings . . . some more than others,” she said in a hushed voice after a moment. She gave him a rueful glance and was awarded with a smile. Embarrassment flooded her. “I mean, they seem like it. I’ve always thought so. Each one of them has a soul. At night, especially . . . I can feel it.”
    “I know you can. That’s why I chose your painting.”
    “Not because of perfectly straight lines and precise reproductions?” she asked shakily.
    “No. Not because of that.”
    His expression went flat when she smiled. Unexpected pleasure filled her. He did understand her art after all. And . . . she’d given him what he wanted.
    She stared at the magnificent view. “I understand what you meant,” she said, her voice vibrating with excitement. “I haven’t taken any architecture classes now for a year and a half, and I’ve been so busy with my art classes I haven’t kept up with journals, or I would have known. Still . . . shame on me for not seeing it until now,” she said, referring to the two most prominent buildings that lined the black-and-gold-speckled shimmering river. She shook her head in wonderment. “You made Noble Enterprises a modern, streamlined version of a Chicago architecture classic. It’s like a contemporary version of the Sandusky. Brilliant,” she said, referring to the echo that the Noble Enterprises building made of the Sandusky Building, a Gothic masterpiece. Noble Enterprises was just like Ian—a bold, strong-lined, elegant, and modern version of some Gothic ancestor. She smiled at the thought.
    “Most people don’t see the effect until I show them this view,” he said.
    “It’s genius, Ian,” she said feelingly. She gave him a questioning glance, noticing the glints in his eyes caused by the lights from the skyscrapers. “Why didn’t you brag about it to the press?”
    “Because I didn’t do it for the press. I did it for my own pleasure, just like I do most things.”
    She felt trapped by his gaze and couldn’t respond. Wasn’t that a particularly selfish thing to say? Why, then, did his words cause that heavy sensation to grow at the juncture of her thighs?
    “But I am pleased that you’re pleased,” he said. “I have something else to show you.”
    “Really?” she asked breathlessly.
    He merely nodded once. She followed him, glad he couldn’t see the color in her cheeks. He led her to a room almost completely surrounded by filled, dark walnut bookcases. He paused inside the door, watching