Duty At What Cost?. Michelle Conder

tip. But I don’t have all day. So let’s go.’ Time to stop thinking about the tempting swell of her breasts and her hot mouth.

      ‘You don’t have all day? Thanks to you, I’m impossibly late now,’ she complained.

      He beckoned her with his fingers. ‘My heart bleeds.’

      ‘You’re really very rude.’

      ‘Want me to leave you up there?’ he prompted, fresh out of patience.

      ‘Excuse me for being a little uneasy.’

      Wolfe sighed and held his hands up again. ‘I’ve never dropped a princess before.’

      ‘You’ve probably never had the opportunity before now.’

      He shook his head. ‘You sure do know how to make yourself vulnerable, Princess.’

      She muttered something in French, making him want to smile. she was all fire and…attitude!

      Balancing on her hands, she carefully swung her leg over the wall, so that she was perched on it like a little chipmunk, her fingers turning white as she gripped the edge. Still she hesitated, lifting first one thigh and then the other to make sure the fabric of her jeans didn’t catch.

      ‘Want me to count to three?’ he drawled.

      She threw him a dark look, her eyes fixed firmly on his, and then they snapped closed and she launched herself off the wall.

      Wolfe felt her svelte torso slide through his hands as he caught her, his arms winding around her before she hit the ground. Her rib cage heaved as she dragged in an unsteady breath, the movement flattening her soft breasts against his hard chest.

      Her arms clung tight around his neck, holding his face against the warm pulse at the base of her neck. His senses instantly filled with her heat and sweet perfume. He usually found perfume cloying. Hers wasn’t, and was probably the reason he held her longer than he needed to. Held her moulded against him as if he’d been doing it his whole life. Held her long enough to wonder how it would feel to fit himself deep inside her.

      Tight. Hot. Wet.

      Wolfe’s head reared back as his senses took over and he found himself staring into exquisite, wide-spaced navy blue eyes that made him feel as if he’d been hit by a land-to-air missile.

      ‘You can put me down now,’ she said a little breathlessly.

      He could slide his hands down to her butt and wrap her legs around his waist, as well.

      As if he’d spoken out loud the air between them thickened, and he felt every hot inch of her go impossibly still against him.

      Almost embarrassed by a stupefyingly strong urge to crush her mouth beneath his, which had held him spellbound for—God—he hoped only seconds, he none-too-gently set her on her feet and stepped back from her.

      It was only then that he noticed the slight swelling above her right temple.

      ‘You should get that looked at,’ he instructed roughly.

      Her eyes licked over his face before meeting his, her breathing as uneven as his heart rate. ‘I’m fine.’

      ‘Put your shoes on. It’s time to go.’ He busied himself with collecting Achilles while his mind came back on line. By rights he should search her, to make sure she was clean, but, hell, he wasn’t touching her again. Bad enough he’d have to put her on the back of the horse since Eric and Dane had yet to return.

      He frowned, wondering what was taking them so long.

      ‘I’d rather walk.’ Her eyes flitted from the stamping stallion and back to him.

      Realising he was functioning below par, and that had he been on a real military expedition he might well be dead now, Wolfe re-engaged his instincts and gave her a hard stare. ‘You can try my patience, Princess, but I wouldn’t recommend it.’

      She blinked, as if she hadn’t expected his curt tone. ‘Unlike your men, I don’t take orders from you.’

      Wolfe widened his stance in a purely dominant move he knew she hadn’t missed. ‘We have yet to establish your real identity, so you either get on that horse or I’ll use one of these reins to bind your hands and drag you behind.’

      ‘I’d like to see you try,’ she invited him coolly.

      He couldn’t believe this posh piece of work was calling his bluff. ‘Would you, now?’

      She balled her hands on her hips and drew his sight to her slender curves. Not a clever move in his currently cantankerous state of combined anger and arousal. Of course he wouldn’t drag her, but he’d subdue her and throw her over his saddle.

      He saw the moment she realised his threat wasn’t entirely idle.

      ‘Only men with very small appendages play the tough guy.’

      ‘And only women who are incredibly stupid challenge a man they’ve never met to prove his masculinity. Fortunately for you, I don’t feel the least threatened to prove myself by shrewish females.’

      ‘What can I say?’ She cocked her hip towards him insolently. ‘You bring out the best in me.’

      Wolfe breathed deep at her intentionally provocative manner. ‘I’m sure that’s very far from your best, Princess,’ he drawled.

      Her brows slowly rose and Wolfe realised he’d inadvertently revealed how attractive he found her. No doubt it was something she was used to and, like all women in his experience, would take absolute advantage of it given half the chance.

      Something he didn’t plan to do.

      Aggravated by his one-track mind, he was about to end her rebellious stance by physically dumping her onto the horse when his phone rang.

      ‘We found the car, boss. She’s legit. Her purse must have been thrown from her bag because it was lodged under the front seat.’

      Wolfe grunted a reply and told his men to meet him at the cottage.

      He looked up in time to catch her superior expression and knew that she’d overheard his conversation. ‘Seems you are who you say you are. Next time use the gate.’ He brought Achilles alongside her and grabbed the stirrup. ‘Give me your leg.’

      ‘You’re not even going to apologise?’

      Her tone spoke of generations of superiority that made any apology Wolfe might have given die on his lips.

      ‘Your leg?’ he repeated, his eyes cool and guarded against the fire pouring out of hers.

      Moving forward, she tossed her ponytail over her shoulder, caught her heel on a rock and pitched straight into his arms.

      Already highly sensitised to her touch, and not sure if the move had been deliberate, to throw him off balance, Wolfe immediately set her away from him. ‘And don’t try using that sexy little body to garner any favours, Princess.’

      ‘Trust me when I say that touching you is the last thing I would want to do.’

      She presented him with her stiff back, gathered the reins up in one hand and stamped her foot into his hand. Wolfe didn’t know whether to be amused by her or angered, and perhaps if he hadn’t been about to head off after Gilles’s wedding to oversee an important software installation he might have hung around to test her lofty challenge. But he was, and he wasn’t stupid enough to get involved with another highly strung female.

      ‘Shift back,’ he grated. No way was she riding in front, where she would be cradled between his hard thighs.

      ‘You know, all that masculine muttering is entirely uncalled for. You are unquestionably the most irritating individual I have ever had the misfortune to come across.’

      Wolfe was just about to tell her the feeling was entirely mutual when she twisted the reins out of his slack hold and dug her heels