08

"No!" she exclaimed almost in a plea, her hand hovering between them as if to ward him off.

His brow furrowed and his face darkened almost angrily.

She dropped her hand to quell the tremor that rushed up her arm. Her mouth suddenly went dry with the unmasked anger that teemed from the impact of that lucid stare.

You're doing a phenomenal job in ensuring your safety, Kate. Her subconscious warned.

"Thank you." She blurted in an attempt to patch up this intense, emotionally-riddled moment. Her eyes moved warily to where she'd been a moment ago. She'd nearly plummeted to her death.

Her eyes wavered back to her savior, twice now, she realized.

She forced a smile, a pitiful one at that, still noticeably shaken and decided now was a good time as any to leave. Turning and unconsciously clutching her ribs, she started in the direction towards home.

She hadn't heard or sensed him move, just as before and suddenly he was there, grabbing her arm and turning her about.

An exhilarating rush of heat spun from his fingertips, sweeping up her arm in a tingling formation until spreading like an enraptured flame.

She gasped, caught unaware by the unexpected surge of warmth that flourished from his touch. She would have taken a step back, something he obviously anticipated for his fingers tightened.

Her heart turned over with a fleeting and delirious alarm for she felt the strength in that iron-grip.

His countenance was impenetrable and she could detect nothing of emotion within but realized his grip wasn't threatening, merely firm.

He was silent, watching her with that unsettling stare. She felt the heat of his incredibly muscled body, wrapping around her already befuddled senses, recalling that warmth and brawn that had enveloped her a moment ago.

When she raised her eyes to his she was startled to see that they had fastened intently on her ribs.

She peered at him cautiously, incapable of moving, completely listless by the presence of this man, though her mind demanded she flee.

It was when his hand gingerly and quite boldly spanned that aching spot beneath her breast that she was jarred from her momentary trance.

She jerked from him with an outraged gasp, her eyes widening at the audacity and nerve, not to mention his touch that frighteningly stirred unexplained and unwanted feelings in her.

His eyes darkened considerably, that vivid gleam deepening to a slate-gray as his mouth turned grim.

"Are you prone to touching women so brazenly?" she snapped, her face flushed red with anger and for a moment she thought she detected a hint of startled humor in that slate stare.

Some of the severity left his face as his mouth curved into a grin, "Only the pretty ones I can assure you."

She blanched at his response, clearly taken aback and somewhat speechless.

Pretty? He was being callous.

She could hear Danny's mocking tone now – There isn't a man on earth that would find you attractive.

Her features furrowed as if struck with that mental remembrance and she unknowingly pressed her hand over her ribs.

Her eyes focused sharply on the man in front of her.

"It was untoward. Forgive me." He said, his manner of speaking somewhat surprising her, considering the appeal of danger he presented, "I was merely confirming an assumption."

At this, she squared her shoulders, some of her anger returning, "Which you've managed barbarically."

She eyed him indignantly, "Are you naturally impulsive or just ignorant in judging a woman's reaction to being affronted?" she immediately regretted the retort as it slipped from her mouth, realizing the potential danger this man presented.

This time Ronan couldn't stifle his grin. It broadened his perfectly sculpted mouth, noticing the pull of those green eyes as they settled there.

"Perhaps if you tell me your name, I won't be so inclined again in doing something rash?"

Kate was startled. He was actually amused! She had clearly insulted him, though that hadn't been her intention she'd merely stated the remark out of anger.

She wasn't sure what had compelled her to give him her name but it slipped from her lips unconsciously, and afterwards she bit her lip regrettably.

Those gray eyes flared with a fire unbeknownst to her.

He then said, "Have dinner with me, Kate."

Her stomach fluttered uncontrollably, her heart doing a sudden somersault in her chest as a small breath hastened from her lips, "No."

He appeared unaffected by her outright rejection. She had expected anger, not an insufferable calm that all but puzzled her.

Danny would have slapped her around a bit.

Those unworldly gray eyes took on a challenging gleam, leveling intently upon her flushed face, "Am I not deserving of a reward, having rescued you twice?"

She should have known he'd use that to his defense.

He had rescued her twice.

And she had repaid him with an insult.

If you play with fire, you will surely get burned. A little voice warned from afar.

And this man was the epitome of fire.

There was just something insanely menacing about him, aside from his wickedly good-looking face and incredibly impressive brawn. She had a deep and assertive instinct that this man was every bit dangerous.

What's one dinner? Her sub-conscious attested.

"Alright." She said a bit hesitantly, "One dinner."

He arched a brow at this. "One dinner compared to two damsel-in-distress bits?'

"Considering how you practically manhandled me a moment ago, you shorted yourself."

He chuckled then, a sound that rippled through her in a deliriously distracting way, "Alright then, one dinner."

He stepped closer to her and every nerve ending came alive with the proximity of him, "Tonight, nine o'clock."

Kate blinked and realized horribly her mistake.

She just agreed to go to dinner with a man notoriously known for a bad temper.

**********