Seducing the Ruthless Rogue by Tammy Jo Burns

 

Seducing the Ruthless Rogue by Tammy Jo Burns The Rogue Agents #2 

Publication Date: October 19, 2014 

Also in this series: Taming the Wicked Wulfe 

Genres: Historical, Romance

As Director of The War Office, Stuart McKenzie, has proven himself capable of making difficult decisions in times of crisis and keeping government secrets safe. When he walks in on someone ransacking his study he quickly moves to apprehend them, only to be tossed on his back as the burglar escapes into the night. Cassie’s father has become a pawn in the fight against Napoleon. When the enemy kidnaps him, she will do anything it takes to get him back – including stealing government secrets from Stuart McKenzie, the Director of the War Office. When Cassie is caught, she reluctantly agrees to Mack’s assistance as there is something far more sinister going on. As Mack embarks on his mission, he will find that enemies are often closer than one would think and that sometimes your ally will come in the least likely form. When passion erupts between Mack and Cassie, they find their lives forever altered. But just as they believe their lives to be free of danger, a new threat is lurking about, promising to rip their happiness away from them. Will they be able to trust each other enough to defeat this new threat, or will they be torn apart for all eternity?

 Never in his life had Mack been more angry than when he heard Cassie slam that bolt

into place. Not when his father had disowned him. Not even when Cassie had called him a

bastard. No, when he had heard that telling snick, he had seen red. Before he knew what he was

doing, he had raised his booted foot and slammed it into the door near the doorknob. Mack had

felt great satisfaction when the door flew open, and even more when he witnessed the stunned

expression on his wife’s face.

“You’re not going to get away from me,” he stalked her across the room.

“Don’t make me hurt you,” she threatened.

“I have studied your moves, Cassie darlin’. You’ll not be hurting me anymore.”

Cassie made a sharp move and found it countered. She tried another one and found the

same. He moved on her like a jungle cat. He pinned her against the wall, her hands above her

head. He felt her breathing grow fast and labored and knew she was not unaffected by his touch.

Mack forced her legs wide so he could wedge himself between them. At first he did it to keep

her from attempting to unman him, but as he settled against her, he felt some relief as his

throbbing erection pressed against the span of softness between her pelvis.

“Do you feel what you do to me?” he whispered. He placed a soft kiss on her forehead.

Mack pulled back and saw that her eyes were tightly closed, and her lips were pursed shut. He

dropped gentle kisses over each of her eyes, then her cheeks, and finally the upturned tip of her

nose. His lips caressed hers, lightly, teasingly, but she remained the same, trying to block out

what he did to her. Mack let the tip of his tongue glide against the seam of her lips and though

her eyes flew open, her delectable mouth remained tightly shut against his invasion. She left him

no choice. “Forgive me, darlin’,” he said before crushing his lips roughly against hers.

***

“Ow!” Cassie managed to get out before she found Mack exploring the recesses of her

mouth. Her lips throbbed where he had ground them against her teeth, but somehow he seemed

to soothe even that small injury. She felt her heart beating heavily in her chest. Cassie would be

lying if she said she was not the least excited about what her husband was doing to her.

Husband, she thought. She had never thought she would find herself married. The boys in the

village had always thought her much too strange and learned for them. Then when their little

family had moved to London after her mother’s death, she had not gone about looking for a

husband or friends.

“Where are you?” he asked, resting his forehead against hers.

Cassie found herself staring into a pair of smokey silver eyes, rimmed with dark lashes.

Dark brows formed a ‘V’ from the way he scrutinized her. Cassie flexed her hands that were still

pinned above her head because her fingers ached to rake through his short, dark hair. She

wanted to test the texture. Was it silky or coarse? “Do you know you have flecks of silver in

your hair?” she asked curiously.

“I would say half of them have been caused by you.”

“Me? We haven’t even known each other that long. How dare you accuse me…”

“Did you know your eyes flash when you’re angry? They look like they are lit from

within.”

“Let go of me.”

“Not on your life,” he said.

Cassie didn’t fight him as he plundered her mouth like a marauding pirate. This time

there was no way her mind drifted. The things he was doing to her were making her insides

melt. She began to respond, and she heard a deep groan.

“That’s it,” he said before returning to her mouth once more. This time he nibbled at her

lips as if they were a fine delicacy. “You look so bloody beautiful,” he whispered as he moved to

nibble on her right earlobe.

“No, I don’t,” she replied breathily. “I’m just plain.”

“Whoever told you that was a liar.” Mack bent down and lifted her up in his arms.

“What are you doing?”

“Taking you to bed.”

She started wiggling in his arms. “Put me down. You were going to sleep elsewhere.

Besides it’s afternoon, you said so.”

“You put paid to me staying in another room when you bolted that door.” He held her

tight in his arms. “As for the time of day, I can see you better this way.”

“That’s improper!” Cassie was flabbergasted at what he proposed. She knew what

happened between a man and woman, but assumed it happened in the dark of night.

“Nothing is improper between a husband and wife.”

He sounded almost wicked and shivers ran up and down her spine. She found herself

placed on her feet next to the bed and spun around so that her back was to Mack. Cool air hit her

heated skin as buttons were slipped free.

“I don’t know whether to thank Mikala or murder her.”

“Why’s that?” Cassie licked her dry lips, her breath raspy.

“Because she picked the most exquisite dress, but it also has too many bloody buttons.”

Cassie giggled.

“Did you just giggle? The staid and always serious Cassiopeia Elizabeth Graham

McKenzie giggled?”

“No,” she denied, attempting to keep a straight face. She jumped when she felt his lips

brush her nape, and then lower until he reached the edge of her chemise. She tried to take a step

away from him, but he just followed her.

“You’re not going to escape me, Cassie.”

She felt his lips brushing along one shoulder, then her nape again, and finally her other

shoulder. His hand brushed along her spine, only the fine cloth of her chemise keeping her from

fully feeling his touch on her heated skin. “Copulating will not erase the issues between us.”

“I agree, but it will ease some of this tension we feel around one another.”

From a young age I could always be found carrying around books to read while watching my grandmother's soap operas with her. I read anything and everything I could get my hands on and even made up skits and stories for my friends and me to act out. Once I outgrew the children's and YA books, my mom introduced me to an entirely new world - contemporary romance. Upon discovering I had a love for history I began devouring historical romances. One day, sitting in a college British History class, something the professor said made me think, I wonder. I quickly called mom (also a writer) and ran the idea by her. After being told, "Of course you can do it, you're my daughter," the rest, as they say, is history. I currently share my love of reading with the next generation as a high school librarian, and share my personal life with my demanding dog trapped in a cat's body, Ajax.

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