Whispers in the Dawn Read Online Free

instead of thinking up ways to damage my person.”
    Odessa really wanted to stomp on his foot now. His grin not only aggravated her but made her think of making love to him. His mesmerising, sexy mouth and glittering eyes made her breath catch. She swallowed her annoyance and managed, none too steadily, “How do I know you’re a friend?” Odessa ran her tongue over her lower lip and tried to take in a calming breath. He appeared earnest enough, but could she trust him?
    He spread his hands out in front of him. “Guess you’ll just have to take my word for it, won’t you?”
    “Words are cheap. I can take care of myself without your help.” Hadn’t her brothers tried to teach her self-defence? Maybe the only thing they hadn’t taught her was how to test a man on the honesty scale, a killer-gorgeous man who radiated animal magnetism. He would impair any woman’s good judgment. “Oh, my gosh,” she exclaimed, her eyes widening.
    He grinned. “Having a tough time with that?”
    “I, uh, oh!” She sucked in a terrified breath. “Maybe you’re one of those be men who hypnotise women and spirit them away to their lairs with the snap of a magical finger?” Roland had told her that story, but she hadn’t believed it. At the time.
     
    Dakoda Harley, better known to his friends as Dak, found the petite woman charming, a feisty handful, and ridiculously innocent. Or was she an adept actress? Her bark was clearly worse than her bite. Her outburst had surprised him. For some reason, she was acting as if she couldn’t add two single-digit numbers together, in imitation of so many of the other women on Romaydia. Was she undercover and bungling the job? Or was she hunting for a man who would take her off this hellhole? She wasn’t so unlike other women he’d had the misfortune of encountering on other assignments. “I’ve not heard that story before. Is that one they tell on your planet to misbehaving children, princess?” he asked, suspecting she would tell him another lie.
    “I, uh, was thinking you might be magic.”
    He couldn’t resist breaking into loud laughter. “That’s a new one. No one’s ever called me a spirit with magic before.” The laughter died. If he’d had magic powers, he wouldn’t have let his wife die. From force of habit he surveyed the area, the grim station’s interior that had worn on his nerves hardly a month into the assignment, and the extra security that was visible to his eyes but not to the average person. Nothing struck him as out of place.
    She shrugged.
    He saw the indecision. She was ready to flee, he guessed. “Yes. Like this.” He raised his right hand and snapped his fingers to demonstrate his point.
    Her eyes widened into large gems before she grimaced. “Nothing happened.”
    “Did you expect it to?”
    She pulled herself together. The top of her head hardly reached the bottom of his chin. “I was expecting something, damn it.”
    The conversation was getting stranger by the moment. Maybe she wasn’t that bright after all. What kind of woman expected magic at the snap of a finger on an ugly space station? “You still didn’t tell me which planet you’re a princess on.”
    She grimaced. “Earth.” She met his gaze squarely, apparently unafraid of his reaction.
    “The last I heard, there are no real magicians or sorcerers who practise magic there. Has that changed since you were last there?” Harley fished for information, unable to believe he was indulging her in this conversation. Magic and sorcerers had never been part of his harsh reality, not as a child, nor as a man.
    “Only in children’s fairytales.”
    “Then why did you expect magic when I did this?” he asked, snapping his fingers again.
    This times her eyes stayed focused on his face. “I’m not sure. As a matter of fact, I’m not certain about anything right now.” She gave a little sigh, either the femme fatale or the perfect actress.
    He shook his head, marvelling at how this woman