Duty Bound: Bound and Tied, Book 2 (14 page)

Side by side, they burn the midnight oil making new discoveries, and re-learning old ones about each other. As an ocean storm rises with their desire, though, skullduggery is afoot. A thief watches and waits for the moment they make a discovery that could be their last.

Warning: Reading this book may stimulate an interest in the principles of physics, aerodynamics and the science of sexual arousal. The author is not responsible for any injury incurred while investigating all three topics simultaneously.

Enjoy the following excerpt for
Flavia’s Flying Corset:

Harland prided himself on the efficiency of his unique home, in fact he’d put several years worth of thought into the additional design elements. Thus he was able to provide a suitable meal to start the day. At least he thought it was suitable. Tea, of course. Toast, not too badly burned. Some marmalade Mountjoy had recommended and he’d approved. Of course, he had a suspicion that Mountjoy was walking out with the marmalade maker, but that was his business, not Harland’s.

The butter was cool, as was the milk for tea. Harland’s icebox system was one of his many accomplishments. The use of the largest local resource—the ocean and its salty water—combined with an ingenious extraction and circulation pump, well it worked quite well. He was proud of it.

Setting the dishes on the table in front of the windows, he wondered what Flavia would think about it. Then she walked in and he forgot everything he’d planned on asking her.

Glowing skin, hair soft and falling down a little here and there—she was a vision from his dreams. Her smile lit a fire in his breeches, an occurrence that seemed to be part of his every waking minute since she’d stepped onto Roman Rock and back into his life. Even in the more casual attire she’d chosen, she was the answer to his every sensual dream.

He had a very difficult time not going to her, stripping her free of those clothes and taking her all over again on the Axminster rug. Perhaps from behind again, her buttocks white and round, begging for the touch of his hand, his mouth, his teeth—

“Oh, lovely. Tea. Just what I need.”

Well, it wasn’t exactly a rousing endorsement for sex on the carpet. He gave himself a mental smack and just smiled. “I’m glad. We need to discuss some matters.”

“Yes. The plan.” She seated herself and glanced out of the window. “It’s very thick, isn’t it? The fog?”

He didn’t even bother looking, just set the toast rack near enough for her to reach and popped a small spoon into the marmalade jar. “Not unusual for this time of year. It may clear later, if the wind picks up a bit.”

Such mundane conversation, he mused. As if they hadn’t been naked and intimate such a short time ago.

“So tell me.” She bit down on a slice of toast. “You want to recreate Icarus.”

He nodded. “I do. That’s the first part of the plan. Simultaneously, I want to spread the word of what we’re doing.”

She tilted her head and watched him as he poured the tea. “How? Why?”

“The how is easy.” He gestured to the communications machine. “I’ll simply send a message to a few friends that you’ve honored me with your presence and that we’re working together on an exciting project you’ve developed.”

“And rumors will spread.”

“I hope so.” He nodded again. “The only person whose attention will be thoroughly intrigued should be the person who knows what
you’ve
been creating. Anybody else will simply think it’s just another scientific collaboration and not devote much interest to it.”

“It’s bait, isn’t it? Designed to lure the thief here perhaps?”

Approvingly, Harland smiled. “Yes. You’re quick to grasp the implications. Whoever stole your Icarus sample will wonder if we’re making more.”

She held up a hand. “There’s more to it than that. Whoever stole it has a piece roughly an ounce or so in size. He’ll try and duplicate it, of course. And that will be a futile endeavor.”

“Why?”

“Because I can’t remember the
exact
measurements. My discovery of Icarus was—how can I put this—serendipitous?”

“You mean it was an accident?”

She sighed deeply. “Yes. Completely by accident. I wasn’t paying much attention since my attempts to create a wax additive weren’t paying off. I recall stirring in a little cedarwood essence to add a fragrance. Then I wiped off my worktable and probably got a little more dust and scrapings into it than I’d originally planned. I did sneeze too.”

“Oh good God. Don’t tell me that nasal effluvia is essential.”

She grinned. “No. But my sneeze lifted some vaporous dust, drifted it around and into the mixing dish I was using at the time. All these circumstances combined together and when I looked back at my compound, it was congealing into the form you saw.” She rubbed a hand over her nose in frustration at the memories. “Even then, it wasn’t until I had it in my hand…I was staring at it and wondering what on earth had gone wrong. I sighed and—”

“It elevated.”

“It did.” She shrugged. “I can’t begin to describe my surprise.”

“The exhalations. The contents of your breath. Gases caused a reaction.”

“That was my assumption, yes.”

“Good. I probably have the ingredients we’ll need.” He nearly rubbed his hands together in enthusiasm, but managed to restrain the impulse.

“Don’t get too excited. I’ve tried for so long to duplicate it. I’ve had no success whatsoever.” Her mouth turned down.

“Never underestimate the power of two heads, which is, as they like to say, sometimes better than one.”

She flicked him a mildly irritated glance over the rim of her teacup. “I made the damn stuff. If I can’t do it again, I’m not sure how having you hovering over me is going to help matters.”

“Testy.” He grinned.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to be. But you’ve arrived at the point where my frustration knows no bounds.”

“We’ll take it step by step. I’ll sneeze if I have to.”

“Gracious. Why didn’t I think of that?” She raised an eyebrow dryly.

“Trust me, Flavia. Between the two of us, we should be able to succeed.”

“And if we do, then what?”

“Then…
then
we hope the lure of more Icarus, or perhaps the idea of a written formula, will be sufficient to entice your thief.”

Duty Bound

Myla Jackson

The man won the hand, but the women changed the rules.

Bound and Tied, Book 2

Cowgirl KC Matheson is fresh out of ideas. Thanks to her father’s unlucky poker hand, her family is about to lose their ranch. Desperate to entice the winner to let her family keep their home, KC appeals to a sensual stranger, Rosalyn, to help awaken her inner vixen. A vixen with the womanly skills to make a deal with the devil.

Sent to fetch a companion for his partner’s pregnant wife, miner Jake Thompson never thought luck could change this fast. First, his royal flush lands him a ranch. Then a punch in the face. Now the rancher’s daughter, a woman with a body made for sin, is trying to seduce him into giving up his winnings. Jake has a better idea: her for the ranch. And to ensure she makes good on the bargain, there’s a catch—she has to keep his interest, or the deal is off.

The three set off on the two-day trek to Jake’s claim, experiencing wondrous delights in the cool mountain air. Then reality sets in, leaving Jake saddled with a mail-order bride, a deflowered virgin, and an unexpected desire to make things right with KC…forever.

Warning: This title contains hot ménage a trois scenes, girl-on-girl action, bondage, and two determined women—double the heat for one sexy miner. To settle a debt right proper only takes some female know-how, a willing student and a length of rope!

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This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations is entirely coincidental.

Samhain Publishing, Ltd.

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Duty Bound

Copyright © 2011 by Myla Jackson

ISBN: 978-1-60928-331-5

Edited by Sasha Knight

Cover by Natalie Winters

All Rights Are Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

First
Samhain Publishing, Ltd.
electronic publication: January 2011

www.samhainpublishing.com