Master No (Masters and Mercenaries, #9)(129)

“Your vitals are all back to normal. You’ve fully recovered. I wouldn’t have thought it would happen so quickly. After all, I did perform open-heart surgery on you in pretty horrible conditions. I’m kind of a rock star.”

He’d woken up on a plane, his body horrifically scarred. He’d been sure he would die, and all he’d been able to think about was that red-haired girl.

He wished he could remember her name.

The doctor frowned at him. “Are you going to give me trouble today? You nearly killed the guard yesterday. I had to reset his leg and bring in another man. I adore you, but if you try that again, you’ll have to be punished.”

His eyes drifted over to the door. There were two guards there, both heavily armed, and despite what she said, he was still weak. He should have been able to take that guard easily, but it had been a fight.

“Don’t worry about it. You’re still my perfect guy, and once the training really kicks in, you’ll know it. Once you give over, everything will be easier.”

She measured out the dose and there was nothing he could do. He’d fought the few times he’d been out of the bindings, and the guards had started carrying dart guns filled with tranquilizers.

You are a Taggart and you will survive this.

There were times when he heard voices in his head. Strong, male voices that urged him to survive. They often reminded him that he was a Taggart. Theo Taggart. He tried to hold on as the drugs began to course through his veins.

After a few moments, all the voices drifted away until all he could hear was her. The blonde shark he’d been caught by.

She talked, telling him things that made no sense.

He closed his eyes and dreamed of a red-haired beauty.





AUTHOR’S NOTE

I’m often asked by generous readers how they can help get the word out about a book they enjoyed. There are so many ways to help an author you like. Leave a review. If your e-reader allows you to lend a book to a friend, please share it. Go to Goodreads and connect with others. Recommend the books you love because stories are meant to be shared. Thank you so much for reading this book and for supporting all the authors you love!





Sign up for Lexi Blake’s newsletter

and be entered to win a $25 gift certificate

to the bookseller of your choice.



Join us for news, fun, and exclusive content

including free short stories.



There's a new contest every month!



Click here to subscribe.





In the tradition of Masters and Mercenaries comes the next great brotherhood…





SCANDAL NEVER SLEEPS


The Perfect Gentlemen, Book 1

By Shayla Black and Lexi Blake

Coming August 18, 2015

Click here to pre-order!




They are the Perfect Gentlemen of Creighton Academy: privileged, wealthy, powerful friends with a wild side. But a deadly scandal is about to tear down their seemingly ideal lives...



Maddox Crawford’s sudden death sends Gabriel Bond reeling. Not only is he burying his best friend, he’s cleaning up Mad’s messes, including his troubled company. Grieving and restless, Gabe escapes his worries in the arms of a beautiful stranger. But his mind-blowing one-night stand is about to come back to haunt him...



Mad groomed Everly Parker to be a rising star in the executive world. Now that he’s gone, she’s sure her job will be the next thing she mourns, especially after she ends up accidentally sleeping with her new boss. If only their night together hadn’t been so incendiary—or Gabe like a fantasy come true...



As Gabe and Everly struggle to control the heated tension between them, they discover evidence that Mad’s death was no accident. Now they must bank their smoldering passions to hunt down a murderer—because Mad had secrets that someone was willing to kill for, and Gabe or Everly could be the next target...





“I want to see you.”

Even in the low light, he noticed her breath hitch. “You want me to turn on the lights?”

“That’s not what I meant.” He never took his burning gaze from her. “I want to see you naked. Take off your dress. Show me your breasts.”

“I’ll close the curtains.” She started to turn to the windows.

He caught her elbow, gently restraining her. “Don’t. We’re high up. No one can see in. Take off your dress. Let me see you in the moonlight.”

Her gaze tangled with his, and he could see a hint of her trepidation. A gentleman might have backed down. But he knew what he wanted. She must want him too or she wouldn’t have agreed to spend the night with him. He wasn’t giving Eve the easy way out.

Finally, she turned her back to him and lifted her arms, struggling to reach the metal tab. “There’s a zipper down the back.”

He moved closer. “Let me.”

Gabe ran his hands up her spine before finding the zipper. She lifted her curls out of his way, exposing the graceful column of her neck. Her skin looked pale, almost incandescent in the low light. He couldn’t help himself. He leaned over and kissed her nape, feeling her shiver under his touch.

Slowly, he eased the zipper down, his fingertips brushing her spine. Once he passed her neck, she let her hair fall free, the strawberry-blond mass tumbling well past her shoulders, gliding over her skin. Her tresses were soft, too. Not severely flat-ironed. Different, like the woman herself. Fuck, he could lose himself in Eve.