Page 104 of Savage Don

Just as my heart is about to drop against the inevitability of my caged fate, Ray slips his hand around my neck. His searing fingers dig into the tender flesh of my throat, and I gasp as he presses his big, throbbing bulge against the small of my back.

My dropping heart perks right back up. If I’m going to be trapped, it could be under a worse master…

“Is that what tonight is about?” I rasp, lifting my chin to make room for Ray’s giant hand. “Teaching me another lesson?”

“No, kitten” Ray whispers, his hot breath washing against the back of my ear. My toes curl into the soft carpet below my feet as his grip tightens around my throat. “Tonight will not be a lesson. It will be a test.”

22

Francesca

Our dinner arrangements are far less private than I expected.

“Aren’t we supposed to be keeping this from my father?” I ask, spreading a napkin over my lap. My eyes have been darting around this fancy restaurant ever since we entered through the kitchen. There must be twenty other tables on this floor, and they are all taken.

The place is packed.

“Who said that?” Ray smirks, leaning back in his chair.

I have to admit, the beast cleans up nicely. He’s wearing a dark green suit that fits his body so well that I can practically see his rippling muscles. If it weren’t for the dark tattoos flickering up from his collar and out from beneath his cufflinks, one might even mistake Ray Byrne for a gentleman.

Under any other circumstances, I might feel like a princess being wooed by a charming king. Instead, I’m paranoid, and only half distracted by his dark elegance.

“You said that,” I remind him. “As far as Father knows, you didn’t steal me away from my home to take me out to dinner. You took me for questioning. If someone sees us here and tells my father, the jig is up.”

“The jig will be far from up,” Ray teases, lifting his glass of wine. “You forget who I am, Francesca. You always seem to. Your father works for me. What he knows hardly matters.”

“Then why are we still going along with this charade? Why not tell him what really happened?”

“Because your father doesn’t deserve the truth.”

“Do I?”

That makes Ray smile. Before he answers, the royal monster takes a short sip of red wine. “You deserve the world,” he says, placing his glass back down on the table. “Now, have a drink and try to relax. This wine is expensive. Let’s not let it go to waste.”

Staring at my untouched glass, I desperately want to just sink into the moment and let go. But so much is holding me back.

“I’ve never been able to relax before a test,” I whisper.

“Then, you’re in luck,” Ray says. “Because the test has already begun.”

Looking up from my glass, I stare at the dashing older man sitting across from me. His deep brown eyes are blazing.

He’s having fun.

“How am I doing?” I ask, shifting in my seat, wishing that I could have some fun, too.

Ray obviously knows me well enough to understand how competitive I get when it comes to tests.

“You’re failing.”

His words are like a slap to the cheek.

“How? I don’t even know what the test is!”

A deep chuckle escapes from Ray’s thick red lips. “The test is to see how you blend into my world, kitten. You’ve already passed the bedroom exam—with flying colors, I might add. And I have little doubt that you’ll be able to handle the violence of my profession—you grew up in it, after all. But this is where I think you might struggle.”

“In a fancy restaurant?” I ask, raising my brow.