Flame Unleashed (Hell to Pay) Read Online Free Page B

scrutiny, or her protective shell would break.
    She shivered.

Chapter 3
    Mon dieu!
    If the woman from last night did not stand before him, then this was her prim and proper twin. Today, instead of long waves of blond hair, gleaming auburn tresses had been unjustly confined to a knot at the nape of her elegant neck.
    And her figure? Instead of those curves being poured into leather, she filled out plain tan work pants so as to bless the shapeless garments. A deep breath raised her ample breasts to strain the knit fabric of her forest green polo shirt.
    Odilon couldn’t help himself. He inhaled along with the woman, instantly in tune with her.
    This mystery woman had haunted his thoughts since last night’s encounter. At the demonstration of her strength and speed and her bizarre reaction to the dead man, Odie had realized she was also an Indebted. He, of course, empathized with her plight, trapped in his own macabre existence, compelled to perform murder. Perhaps she, too, had been forced to make a grim choice with a loved one, right before becoming Indebted. That’s normally how it worked. That’s how it had happened for him, at least.
    God, what he’d give to destroy Jerahmeel once and for all.
    Enough. Time enough for plotting later. He needed to concentrate on the beautiful woman in front of him.
    The top of her head came to right below his eye level. How would this glorious woman fit against him? Odie needed to know. His hands itched to reach for her.
    He had to know what she’d feel like beneath him, all that soft porcelain skin sliding over his skin. An image of her auburn hair, fanned out on a bed as he gripped those locks in his fist and drove into her body ...
    Never in his centuries walking this Earth had he experienced such a rapid response to a woman. Sure, he was a lusty man in a general sense, but he always retained self-control.
    Why the hell did she command his interest? Was it because she was an Indebted like him? He shook his head.
    All he knew was this woman, as she stood there in such plebian clothing and subdued adornment, appeared even lovelier than the woman he met the evening before. Which woman was real? He had to find out.
    Before he could open his mouth to speak, their gazes locked. Air left him in a whoosh. Long, dark lashes framed eyes with such a unique hazel the myriad colors glowed with an amber light. Flecks of green, brown, and gold swirled in the depths. Her winged auburn brows rose. Odie caught himself leaning toward her until he jerked upright.
    Her full lips were moving, but he heard nothing except air rushing past his ears.
    “May I help you?” she said. The tone of her voice, like an icicle plinking water from the tip, contrasted with the warm auburn hair and creamy skin. Concentrating on polite conversation became impossible as he attempted to reconcile the image before him.
    Fire. Ice. Sexy leather. Khaki pants.
    “How are you, um, after the ... man ... last night,
chère
?”
    Her bland expression didn’t change. “Unfulfilled.”
    That made two of them. He swallowed hard.
    “Perhaps I could remedy that state?” The sudden tightness in his groin encouraged his imagination to devise several methods of fulfilling this glorious woman. Those curves on display as he drove into her soft ...
    “Sir?”
    Heat spread from below his belt to wrap around his neck until he couldn’t breathe. “Ah, yes, about the kill. I had no idea that you were ...”
    “Like you?”
    “Well, yes. I haven’t encountered another Indebted in town. It’s been my territory for hundreds of years. I didn’t realize Barnaby was bringing another ... you ... like us, me, or I would have helped you take care of your ... business. You know, er, welcome you to town, so to speak.”
    Mon dieu
, he was babbling like a nervous schoolboy, squirming beneath her cool appraisal. He found he rather liked the idea of unlocking that constrained exterior, looking for the sexy, leather-clad spitfire that resided