Summer Mahogany Read Online Free Page B

she hated every unknown one of them with the violent emotion of youth.
    "There might be a couple," his tongue was very definitely in cheek; he was amused by her answer and probably guessing that she was one of the girls who was crazy about him.
    Gina lifted her chin, thrusting it slightly forward, determined to be adult and womanly. "Do you make love to them? The girls you take out?"
    The mockery left the clear blue of his eyes as a dark brow arched at her prying question. "Do you mean, do I kiss them or—how did you put it the other day—do I take them into the bushes?"
    The subtle inflection of eroticism in his voice brought a pink glow to her cheeks. Gina bent over her coffee mug, hoping he would blame her rising color on the heat from the coffee.
    "I guess I wondered if you were the kind that thought a girl owed you something just because you asked her out," Gina hedged.
    "There isn't any such thing as an unwilling participant in a seduction scene, Gina." Without pausing Rhyder demanded, "Exactly where is this conversation leading?"
    "Nowhere in particular." The forbidding line of his mouth made her more uncomfortable. "We're just talking, that's all."
    "That's all?" He muttered her last phrase in sarcastic disbelief. There was checked anger in the way he pushed himself from the bench and poured the coffee from his mug down the drain. "Someone should tell your grandfather how dangerous it is to let you run loose. He should keep you under lock and key. You're not even dry behind the ears yet."
    "How would you know?" Gina challenged, her eyes smarting with tears at the way he had verbally slapped her as if she were a precocious child.
    Hurt drew her to her feet, and she dumped her own coffee into the sink. When she would have turned away, Rhyder grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her around.
    "You're hurting me," she protested tightly.
    "Someone should teach you a lesson," he growled, and pulled her against him.
    His mouth closed punishingly over hers as his arms crushed her against his muscular length. But the pliant softness of her almost womanly curves molding against the hard contours of his body seemed to immediately drain the savage anger from his kiss.
    The mobile pressure of his mouth became sensual and arousing. Gina wound her arms around his neck, surrendering with innocent abandon to his assault.
    Abruptly Rhyder tore his lips away from hers, and she pressed closer to him, trying to force his head down. "Rhyder, please," she invited.
    His jaw worked convulsively as he roughly pulled her arms from around his neck. "You aren't going to play any grown-up games with me!" he snapped. "Go home, kid, and wait until you grow up before playing with fire!"
    His eyes were as cold as the winter sky, freezing her with their iciness. With a sobbing gasp, she wrenched her wrists free of his hold and raced past him up the steps to the deck, nearly knocking a returning Pete down in the process.
    Once ashore, she checked her blind flight, slowing her steps to a stiff walk. Her emotions alternated between hate and hurt at the way Rhyder had robbed her of her pride. The humiliation she felt was magnified by her young years until she wished the world would come to an end.
    For two days she avoided the harbor as fiercely as she had once sought it. The harbor and any place where she might run into Rhyder. Considering the small area of the community, it meant Gina practically had to restrict herself to the house.
    The third day her grandfather mentioned that the Sea Witch II wasn't at its moorings when he had gone out to haul. And Gina felt free to wander to some of her childhood haunts without encountering Rhyder.
    After washing up the noon dinner dishes, she slipped out of the house. Her grandfather was busy repairing some damaged lobster pots and probably wouldn't miss her until nearly supper. She walked, her pace fast as if she were trying to race to escape the dogging pain. By three o'clock the summer sun and her exertions had