Seducing the Ruthless Rogue Read Online Free

“Bloody hell, John, where are you?”   Silence except for the pounding.   “I’m coming, just bloody hell stop!”   Mack jerked open the door to see a rock coming at his face.
    “Oh, so sorry about that,” the statuesque woman on the other side of the door said, dropping the rock and then sweeping past him.
    “Wait just a minute.   Come back here!   I did not give you leave to enter my house,” Mack roared, as he watched the blonde enter his domain.   He slammed the door shut before stomping through the house.   He found her shuffling through the papers on his desk.   “What in bloody hell do you think you’re doing?”   His brogue getting thicker with every passing moment.   He stormed over to his desk, gathered up all of the papers, and dumped them into a drawer that he quickly locked.   “Now who are you and what do you want?”
    “I’m hurt, Director McKenzie, that you do not remember me.”
    “Perhaps if I could see your face, but that…” he gestured with his hand in front of his face, “whatever you call that scrap of fabric is keeping me from seeing much of anything.”
    “Oh, yes, let me just flip it back so that you can better see who you are dealing with.”   The woman lifted the scrap of tightly woven lace and tucked it backwards over the hat.   “There, how is that, Director?   Still having difficulty?   Our meeting was brief.   A dinner party, almost a year ago at Lady Greenwood’s house.   It seemed as if you, my father , and myself were the only ones in attendance that were not related to one another in some form or fashion.”
    “Miss Graham,” he guessed.
    “Ah, so you do have a good memory after all.”
    “How did you get my address?”
    “A bit of ingenuity on my part and lack of discretion on the part of the new director.”
    “Not new,” he growled.   “He is temporary.”
    “Oh, yes, that is what he said,” she said airily.   “Where is my father?”
    “It’s Monday, isn’t it?” he asked with a groan.
    “Yes, it is.   Where is he?”
    “I don’t know.”
    “And you, sir, are a liar.”
    “That is all you are getting out of me, Miss Graham.   Now, as it is not seemly for a single woman to be seen alone in a single man’s house, I suggest that you leave before we are both forced into something neither of us want.”
    “I would not marry you if you were the last man on earth.   I don’t care what the reason or who was doing the forcing.”
    “I am so glad our feelings for one another are mutual.”   A knock sounded on the door.   “Now, do you want to leave by the front door or the back?”   He chuckled, amused as her eyes widened.   “Ah, not as brave as you would have everyone believe, are ye?”
    “I believe I will leave out the back, but don’t you dare think this is over, Director McKenzie.”
    “I wouldn’t dream of it,” he said and moved to the front door.   He flung it open just as he heard the snick of the back door.   “Good…”
    “Get out of my way,” his beautiful sister-in-law ordered, as she pushed him out of the way and raced down the hall to the water closet.
    “Take the baby,” Gabe said, holding his daughter out to the other man before following his wife.
    “Mack, Mack, Mack, Mack,” the baby repeated happily clapping her hands on her uncle’s cheeks.  
    Just as he made to close the door, he saw Miss Graham race across the small front patch of lawn to a waiting hack.   He gave a little wave in her direction before she glared at him and slammed the door of the conveyance.   Mack shut the front door and took the baby to the parlor.   “Oh, Lady Di, what is wrong with your sweet Mama?”
    “Her Papa,” a husky feminine voice replied.   “Sorry about barging right past you earlier.”
    “That’s all right.   This is a special trip for you, isn’t it, coming to a bachelor’s house?” he asked between making silly faces at his niece, Diana.   She’d discovered walking since the last