Guardian's Joy #3 Read Online Free Page B

she
couldn’t send it out. When he raised his thigh into her crotch and
lifted her off the ground, she gasped.
    Her pulse quickened beyond the adrenaline
rush of fear and flight. She closed her eyes and silently cursed
the tingle of desire that crept from the juncture of her legs where
his thigh was pressed tight, up to her abdomen where muscles
constricted in anticipation and fingers of heat curled through her
stomach. Her breasts stood taut against the confining leather of
her vest and when he spoke, inches from her lips, her body
quickened with desire. Goddamn him.
    “Who the hell are you?” he asked in a
whispered growl.
    Her lips parted against her will to drink in
the warmth of his breath and her body trembled slightly with her
sigh.
    “Why did you do it? Who are you?” he asked
again without the growl. He didn’t want to do this, didn’t want to
question her, didn’t want to hurt her. He bent his head to her neck
and took a long, slow breath, trying to place her scent. She
smelled of something spicy and sweet and delicious. Goddammit, he
couldn’t do this.
    “Who are you?” he asked a third time and his
lips touched her neck. Recognition came as the scent and the taste
blended together in his memory and he couldn’t help it. He smiled.
It was those little red candies Grace used to decorate cookies.
    “Joy,” she whispered and swallowed hard. Why
had she given him that name, the one she abhorred? His lips were on
her neck, over her jugular and their whisper soft movement sent
another sexual shiver through her core. Was this what it was like
to die from a vampire’s bite?
    Joy? Nardo pulled away from the sweet
temptation of that long slender neck. He shook his head to clear it
of the fantasy that was swirling through his brain and hardening
his cock against the fly of his jeans. There was a job to be
done.
    “No joy for the kid you killed,” he said
quietly.
    Her mouth opened and closed several times
before she could speak. “Killed? You think I…? She was…”
    Her fist came up and clocked him in the ear.
She’d been held in some kind of vampire thrall and hadn’t even
realized she was free. He only grunted with the blow that would
have knocked a normal man off his feet. As he was planting his feet
more firmly to steady himself, she struck again, twisted and slid
beneath him.
    This time, he was ready for her and when she
struck, he grabbed her wrist. She snapped it downward, trying to
break his grasp and he heard the crack, saw the pained shock in her
eyes and let her go. She scrambled backward, bracing herself with
her good hand and kicking out with her legs.
    “You bastard!” she screamed. She yelped as
shards of glass pierced her palm. “I didn’t kill that girl and you
know it. I heard her cry out. I was trying to help. It was your
kind that did it. Your kind. A monster. For all I know, it was
you.”
    Shit. Shit. Shit! Nardo knew in her anger
she’d spoken the truth. He held his hands out in a calming gesture,
took a deep breath and then another to dispel the rage. He’d hurt
her and she was an innocent. He could have killed her. He’d wanted
to kill her. His stomach rolled at the thought.
    “It wasn’t me,” he said when he felt his
fangs retract, “You had the knife, blood on your hands. I thought…
oh shit, I’m sorry.” He nodded toward her broken wrist. “You’re
injured. Let me help you.” He moved cautiously forward. “I won’t
hurt you. I’m okay now.”
    His face and body had returned to normal. No,
not normal, just more human. You couldn’t consider a vampire normal
unless, of course, you were a vampire. Everything’s
relative. JJ smiled and then remembered this was no joke. What was
the matter with her? The adrenalin and other hormones rushing
through her body must be making her giddy.
    “You’re a vampire. Stay away from me.” She
scooted back until she was propped against the wall, cradling her
broken wrist in her left hand.
    “I’m a Guardian, not a