Harlequin Nocturne May 2016 Box Set Read Online Free Page A

with a faint smile. “I think I have already made an accurate estimate.”
    An intensely physical tension rose between them as Daniel realized that she had been as fully aware of his body as he had been of hers.
    Her smile faltered, and he had the sense that she was startled by the change in the air, as if she had suddenly lost the use of a tool she had wielded with ease all her life.
    What would she do, Daniel thought, if he let her see just how little under her influence he really was?
    She must have seen something in his eyes that alarmed her, for she looked away and backed toward the door. “I will speak to you again soon,” she said. “Rest well, Daniel.”
    In a moment she was gone, and the door lock engaged. Daniel sat down on the bed and stripped off his boots, dirty shirt and pants, trying to distract his thoughts from Isis and the sense of walls closing in around him. He stepped into the shower and imagined that the water was washing away the memories, but they were never far from his thoughts. Part of him still lived in that tiny, dirty cell Lord Palemon had kept him in when Daniel wasn’t being used or punished for defiance. Even his good years with Ares and his time in Avalon and Delos hadn’t erased that cell from his mind.
    When he walked out of the bathroom, Isis was standing by the door. A tray of food and a pitcher of water lay on the table, but Daniel barely noticed them. Isis wet her lips and stared at him, and his body reacted exactly as it had before. This time there was no concealing it.
    â€œI am flattered,” Isis said huskily.
    â€œIt’s no less than you expect from any man who comes near you,” he said.
    Her brows drew down. “You are discourteous, Daniel.”
    â€œAnd you aren’t used to discourtesy, are you? You don’t have to order anyone to get what you want.”
    Her dark eyes sparked with anger, bringing out the deep purple lurking within them, and Daniel laughed inwardly. She wasn’t so different from the Opiri he’d known in Erebus, or even some of those he’d met outside in the colonies. She summoned respect, even if she didn’t acknowledge it.
    â€œYou’re a Bloodmistress,” Daniel said bluntly. “You were born to influence others.”
    He was surprised to see distress in her expression. “What do you know of it?”
    â€œDo you deny it?” he demanded.
    She wrapped her arms around her chest and shivered. “You are wrong.”
    â€œA pity you never had a chance to own another intelligent being,” Daniel said. “Then you could have had absolute power.”
    â€œI do not want it!” She gripped the edge of the table, her knuckles turning white against her golden skin. “You do not know me. You see only what you wish to see.”
    â€œThen you do deny it, in spite of all the bows and smiles and deference everyone shows you, as if you were the goddess your name implies.”
    â€œI made no attempt to influence you,” she insisted, her golden skin turning pale.
    â€œMaybe not consciously,” he said, relenting a little, “but instinctively. Because you are what you are.”
    â€œThat is truly what you think of me?”
    â€œWe’re strangers,” he said. “What should I think?”
    To his astonishment, she worked at the fastenings of her robes, and they fell like water to her feet. Beneath them she was naked. And breathtaking. Her body was sweetly curved, full-breasted and hipped, her legs shapely and strong, her waist supple.
    â€œYou cannot abide losing control, Daniel,” she said. “That is your rebellion against your old life. Now I give you a choice. You may prove to yourself that I cannot influence you...because I want you, and I will do nothing to make you want me .”

CHAPTER 3
    L ust shone in Daniel’s pale blue eyes, but he made no move toward Isis.
    He was disciplined, she thought. Disciplined and