Seducing the Mercenary

He held her eyes for several long beats, as if deciding whether to even answer.

“What good would a book do me, Emma?” he said.

She decided to play her wild card. It was dangerous, and she knew it, but she’d glimpsed the little chink in his walls, and being bold enough to go for those barely perceptible vulnerabilities was what had made Emily the uncanny success she was at psychological analyses—so successful, in fact, her peers often joked about her being psychic. Plus, she was running out of face time with Laroque. If she didn’t move now, she’d lose her window completely. She’d fail her mission.

“A book could show people that you are not like your father, Your Excellency.”

His mouth flattened and his eyes narrowed to slits. He took a step closer to her, and she felt herself tense.

“It’s not the truth the world wants to read, Emma,” he said darkly. “What is true is less important than what is widely believed. People prefer to believe in monsters.”

“Monsters like Le Diable?” She watched his eyes. “Or monsters like Peter Laroque?”

He came close to her, very close, and he lowered his voice to a soft murmur near her ear. “What if I am like him, Emma?”

Heat began to burn low in her belly. But she didn’t shy away from the penetrating intensity in his eyes, or from his closeness. “That’s your fear, isn’t it?” Her voice came out a whisper. “You’re afraid that deep down somewhere you are like him. But I don’t believe it.” And she didn’t. She was going on a raw gut feel here, taking one hell of a gamble. “Let me stay, Your Excellency,” she said gently. “Give me the interview time. Please.”

A muscle pulsed under his eye.

He leaned down farther, his mouth coming very close to hers. “What do you really want from me, Emma Sanford?”

She shivered at the sensation of his breath, warm against her skin, and for a nanosecond she wasn’t sure what she wanted. Her heart began to race so fast she could barely breathe. She tried to moisten her lips. “Just…the interview time.”

He studied her in silence that vibrated like electricity between their bodies, his eyes probing hers, searching for something. Emily felt herself begin to burn from the inside out.

“I need to know something first, Emma,” he said softly, his eyes lancing hers. “Do you understand just how dangerous things are in Ubasi right now?”

Oh, boy, did she ever. In more ways than one. She was in trouble. Every warning bell in her system was clanging for her to step away from him. Right now. Run. Flee! This was a man who could convince a woman to cross the line into sin with one little crook of his finger. This was exactly the kind of man she must avoid, the kind of man who got her into personal trouble.

Except this time she couldn’t flee. This time the man she feared on a very personal level was her professional mission. And this time, her life might be on the line.

Whether he was like his father or not, Emily had little doubt Le Diable would kill her if he learned she had come to destroy him.

“I do,” she whispered, eyes burning from the effort of sustaining his gaze without blinking. “I know exactly how dangerous.”

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