One Handsome Devil Read Online Free Page A

they suffered from a similar problem?
    "Maybe."
    "My feelings are similar. I can't stretch, can't extend my wings, can't really move. I must get out."
    "But—"
    "If you don't let me out, I can make your life quite unpleasant."
    All of the sympathy she'd started to feel vanished at his threat.
    She put her hands on her hips and stepped toward him. “Listen, if you think you can—"
    Almost imperceptibly, his body tensed as she stepped closer. If she hadn't been quite so attuned to his muscular chest, his sexual frown, she might not have noticed. At the edge of the glowing blue line, she stopped short.
    "You tried to trick me, into stepping across the barrier."
    He sighed. “Of course."
* * * *
    Jack sensed time getting away from him. It was an unusual feeling. With all the time in the universe to contemplate their fate, demons learn patience. Being trapped in a cage so close to freedom was worse than any type of claustrophobia Sara might understand. Something would discover him, held helpless, before too very long. When it did, he would be in trouble. In that case, the best he could hope for was an angel to send him straight back to Hell. The worst was that he might be discovered by another freed demon.
    "How come you can change my wine and grant Katra's wishes, but you can't hurt me?” Sara demanded.
    "Your wards keep me from leaving. They don't hold in my powers. If I wanted to hurt you, I could.” If he wanted to spend a painful part of his existence trapped in a magician's wards while every demon and angel under creation tortured him. He had to get out of here.
    "Why won't Katra get what she was hoping for?"
    At least Sara was still interested in her wishes. He kept looking for the strings he needed to pull. “I'm compelled to find loopholes."
    She seemed puzzled. “Can you give me an example?"
    "Do you wish me to?"
    She laughed. “You must think I'm pretty stupid. I'm not going to waste a wish on that."
    He shrugged again. “Then this one is free. Let's suppose you wished for peace on earth. Since peace sounds exactly like p-i-e-c-e , I could grant your wish by having sex with you lying in the dirt. Piece on earth. Your wish is gone. It's simple, really."
    Sara backed away from the wards as if they would burn her rather than him. He couldn't believe he found this human female sexually attractive but, quite obviously, he did. He was probably echoing Sara's obvious desire. It was the kind of weakness that could get him destroyed.
    Pull yourself together, girl, Sara urged herself. There was no way he could know she'd temporarily lost control of her fantasies.
    "Of course that is what you were thinking of wishing for, isn't it?” For just an instant, Jack's eyes seemed to hold all the wisdom of the universe, and a sadness that would crush any woman's heart.
    "I suppose you read my mind?"
    "It isn't hard. I could teach you to do it, for a wish."
    Sara had imagined loving a man who could actually know her desires without her having to ask. Now she knew she wasn't ready for it in real life. Not all of her thoughts needed to be shared with the entire world. Certainly she didn't want to be bombarded by the thoughts of those around her. That was probably the loophole here. “What else can you see?"
    "I see that you're looking for a man.” He shook his head. “Finding the right man won't be easy."
    "Why? What's wrong with me?” Sara might never be asked to pose for the cover of Glamour , but she didn't think she was that hard on the eyes.
    "You won't settle for a guy just because he's cute and willing. Also, you don't put on the little-girl-lost act like your friend Katra. You intimidate the men you meet."
    "I'll have you know that I'm very easy to get along with,” Sara flared. She'd always worried that she could come off a little too much the intellectual. That didn't mean Jack had to rub her nose in it. “I have a lot of friends and I have interesting hobbies, and I'm a geologist so I make good money and meet a lot