Her Rival's Touch Read online

  Her Rival’s Touch

  An Island of Ys Novel

  Katee Robert

  Copyright © 2019 by Katee Robert

  All rights reserved.

  Cover art by Oliviaprodesigns

  Ebook ISBN: 978-1-5323-9804-9

  Print ISBN: 978-1-5323-9805-6

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book without permission is a theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like permission to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), please contact [email protected]. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.

  Created with Vellum

  To all the Liam fans out there.

  This one is for you.

  Contents

  Also by Katee Robert

  Content Warning

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Also by Katee Robert

  The Island of Ys

  Book 1: His Forbidden Desire

  Book 2: Her Rival’s Touch

  * * *

  The Thalanian Dynasty Series (MMF)

  Book 1: Theirs for the Night

  Book 2: Forever Theirs

  Book 3: Theirs Ever After

  Book 4: Their Second Chance

  * * *

  The Kings Series

  Book 1: The Last King

  Book 2: The Fearless King

  * * *

  The Hidden Sins Series

  Book 1: The Devil’s Daughter

  Book 2: The Hunting Grounds

  Book 3: The Surviving Girls

  * * *

  The Make Me Series

  Book 1: Make Me Want

  Book 2: Make Me Crave

  Book 3: Make Me Yours

  Book 4: Make Me Need

  * * *

  The O’Malley Series

  Book 1: The Marriage Contract

  Book 2: The Wedding Pact

  Book 3: An Indecent Proposal

  Book 4: Forbidden Promises

  Book 5: Undercover Attraction

  Book 6: The Bastard’s Bargain

  * * *

  The Hot in Hollywood Series

  Book 1: Ties that Bind

  Book 2: Animal Attraction

  * * *

  The Foolproof Love Series

  Book 1: A Foolproof Love

  Book 2: Fool Me Once

  Book 3: A Fool for You

  * * *

  Out of Uniform Series

  Book 1: In Bed with Mr. Wrong

  Book 1.5: His to Keep

  Book 2: Falling for His Best Friend

  Book 3: His Lover to Protect

  Book 3.5: His to Take

  * * *

  Serve Series

  Book 1: Mistaken by Fate

  Book 2: Betting on Fate

  Book 3: Protecting Fate

  * * *

  Come Undone Series

  Book 1: Wrong Bed, Right Guy

  Book 2: Chasing Mrs. Right

  Book 3: Two Wrongs, One Right

  Book 3.5: Seducing Mr. Right

  * * *

  Other Books

  Seducing the Bridesmaid

  Meeting His Match

  Prom Queen

  The Siren’s Curse

  Content Warning

  This book contains characters with a history of childhood abuse (that is not described in graphic detail in the story), violence, and the threat of sexual assault.

  * * *

  It also contains light BDSM, a dirty talking hero, and a whole lot of sexy betting.

  Chapter 1

  When the Island of Ys was created and the Horsemen chose their monikers, there was no doubt in anyone’s mind that Kenzie should be War. Hers, least of all. She was the fighter, the one who went balls to the wall in any confrontation—and usually came out on top.

  She was also the one currently hiding in the staff kitchen of their casino, Pleasure.

  The various cooks and servers cast her curious looks, but they knew better than to ask actual questions about why she was lurking there instead of literally anywhere else in Pleasure. The casino had passageways built in a warren through it so the Horsemen could move about as they pleased, and if she wanted to avoid a certain person, those passageways would be a better option.

  Or they would be if they didn’t house her siblings.

  Kenzie sighed and poked at the plate the head chef had slammed in front of her a few minutes ago. She couldn’t keep going on like this. There were things in motion that required her presence, things she should be happy to finally put to bed. Vengeance. Justice. The term didn’t matter. What did matter was punishing the people responsible for hurting her, her siblings, and hundreds of other innocent children.

  That’s what she should be focused on.

  Not the man currently stalking her through Pleasure’s floors.

  She sighed again and bumped her head against the wall. She should just talk to him. It would dispel any notions he had about her. Liam Neale might have come to this island to… Well, she still wasn’t quite sure why he’d come to compete in the Wild Hunt, but it didn’t matter. He lost. End of story.

  Or at least it should have been.

  The phone on the wall next to her head rang and she cursed. No point in ignoring it. He’d just keep calling. With a third, much more dramatic sigh, she yanked the receiver down. “What?”

  “Come back to the hub. You’re making the kitchen staff nervous by lurking down there.” Ryu. Her brother in everything but blood.

  “I tried that. Amarante told me to stop hiding and deal with Liam.”

  Ryu paused, probably to let her think about the stupidity of the situation she now found herself in. “And yet you’re still hiding, and Liam still hasn’t been dealt with.”

  “Mmmhmm.”

  “Kenzie, since when do you avoid a confrontation?”

  That was the question, wasn’t it? If Liam was any other person, he’d have long since been hog-tied and put on a boat or helicopter off the island. But in the single conversation they’d had, she hadn’t come out on top. In fact, she hadn’t even been sure which way was up when she walked away from it. “Something’s off about him.”

  “About him?”

  “Shut it, Ryu.”

  He made a sound that might have been a muffled laugh. “If you don’t handle him, Amarante will.”

  Their sister wouldn’t be gentle. Not when the thing they’d worked fifteen long years to accomplish was finally in motion. The initial stage of their plan worked. They’d acquired the Bookkeeper who ran the money funneled into that hellhole of a camp back in the day. The woman had given them three names. Not the top of the power structure—no one seemed to know who that was—but three people who had actually run the day to day tortures. One of them would know the party ultimately responsible. One of them had to.

  In the meantime, they would remove those three blights from the world.

  As soon as they tracked them down.

  They couldn’t do that with Liam hanging around, sticking his n
ose where it didn’t belong. He wasn’t like the other patrons. He wasn’t here to gamble or relax or indulge in the best fantasies money could buy. He stalked around like a beast in a cage, and it didn’t seem to matter to him that he’d chosen to be there.

  Ryu apparently got tired of her waffling and said, “He’s making the other guests nervous, and that’s bad for business. You have to get rid of him. Today.”

  Or Amarante would do it herself. If Liam decided to be difficult in the process, she might even do it in a more permanent way. Given the man’s short track record on the island, difficult was his middle name.

  Amarante hadn’t chosen Death’s role without good reason.

  “Fine. I’ll take care of it.” She hung up and stood. Kenzie never held off once she’d decided on a course, and now was no exception. No matter how nervous he made her for reasons she refused to acknowledge, at the end of the day, Liam was just a man, and Kenzie had dealt with men before.

  She adjusted her dress—red and hugging her body in a way that made her feel ten feet tall and invincible. She paused to thank the head chef for the meal and then strode out of the kitchen and down the hall to the main casino floor. Unlike their second casino on the south half of the island, Pain, this one was set up the same way casinos were around the world. Slots lined the walls and created walkways through the floor, broken up only by various other games—roulette and blackjack and craps. Several bars ensured alcohol was never too far away.

  It was only window dressing, of course. People didn’t travel all the way to the Island of Ys to gamble. They could do that in any other casino on the planet.

  No, they came there to have their every fantasy played out.

  Kenzie stopped in the middle of the floor and turned a slow circle. He was here somewhere. He was always here. Her skin prickled with awareness at the same moment her attention snagged on the single pool of stillness in the middle of the frenzy.

  Lord, but he was something else. She could admit that to herself, if she could admit it to no one else. Liam Neale might have actually won the Wild Hunt if they hadn’t hedged their bets and cheated the tiniest bit to ensure he didn’t. Or, rather, to ensure the right person did.

  He was watching her. He always seemed to be watching her, those dark eyes holding mysteries she told herself she had no interest in discovering. Dark eyes and dark hair, with skin that was more tan than when he’d arrived on the island. When he stood and started for her, he moved with a lethal kind of grace that her body responded to even as her mind called her seven different kinds of an idiot. No matter how attractive the flame, dangerous men had a habit of burning those around them.

  She knew that, being a dangerous woman.

  The only people she’d managed to retain were her siblings, and their relationship was forged by trauma stronger than any inferno. There was nothing she could do that would make them turn their backs on her, and that knowledge kept her warm most nights. That was love.

  Fucking, no matter how good, couldn’t compare.

  Not that she was thinking about fucking Liam. She certainly wasn’t. Especially with him currently bearing down on her like a predator scenting blood in the water. Damn it, Kenzie.

  She barely waited for him to get close enough to hear her over the jaunty music of the machines around them. “You have to leave.”

  “I haven’t got what I came for yet.” Even his voice was sinful, low, and rough.

  “That’s a shame, because you aren’t going to get whatever you came for. You’re leaving. Today. Now.”

  “No.” Just that. As if he really had a say.

  Kenzie propped a hand on her hip, not bothering to strive for patience. She had none. “You either do this the easy way or the hard way, but you’re leaving the island.”

  He leaned down, just a little. Not enough to really get in her space, but enough to let her know he most definitely could if he was so inclined. “No.”

  “For fuck’s sake, what do you want? It’s not to gamble and it’s not to fuck or any of the other things we offer here. If you’re still licking your wounds over losing the Wild Hunt, sorry, not sorry, I don’t care about your manly pride. I care about my bottom line, and you’re affecting it. Move or I will move you.”

  Liam shrugged, letting that threat roll right off his broad shoulders. “You can try.”

  That was it. He was going to drive her to break her own rules and just flat out murder him. “What. Do. You. Want?”

  For the first time since he’d arrived on the island, he actually looked less than fully in control. Surprise flickered over his expression. “You really don’t remember me, do you?”

  Liam had known the truth even before he saw it reflected in Kenzie’s hazel eyes. She had no memory of him. None. The night eight years ago might have been imprinted beneath his skin, but she’d walked and never spared him a second thought. Fuck, he was an idiot.

  It didn’t change his reason for being here.

  He might have entered the Wild Hunt with the intention of securing Death’s favor to find the woman who haunted his dreams all these years, but he honestly hadn’t expected to arrive on the island and see her. What were the odds? Too impossible to put a number to.

  And yet here she was.

  She flipped her blond hair off her shoulder and glared up at him. “What are you on about?”

  “Boston. Eight years ago. We shared a bottle of top shelf whiskey in a little hole in the wall bar and then fucked on every surface of your hotel room. And then you robbed me.”

  She looked at him as if seeing him for the first time, and he found himself holding his breath while he waited. That flicker of recognition in her hazel eyes died. “Sorry, you’ve got the wrong girl.”

  She does remember me.

  I fucking knew it.

  “No, I don’t.” He leaned forward. He couldn’t help himself. The siren call of her was too strong to deny. Liam lowered his voice and delivered his knockout punch. “Kenzie.”

  She jerked as if he’d hooked her up to a live wire. “What did you just call me?”

  It proved his theory that she didn’t just randomly give out her name to people—publicly she was known as War and only that—which, in turn, supported the fact that that night had meant as much to her as it had to him. “You’re name. The one you told me.” He should have left it there, but frustration boiled beneath his skin, a product of too many days spent inactive, within touching distance of his goal but unable to close the space between them. “While you were riding my cock for the third time.”

  She paled, but recovered almost instantly and cast a look at the front of his slacks. “Maybe if I saw your cock, I’d actually remember you.”

  Stupid to let the cut land. He’d known that it wouldn’t be easy to find the mystery woman, let alone to convince her to give him a shot. She had all the information she needed in the wallet she’d stolen from him. If she wanted to find him after that, she could have.

  “A conversation, Kenzie.”

  “Stop saying that name,” she hissed.

  “A conversation,” he repeated. “Surely that’s not too much to ask.”

  She frowned. “A conversation and then you leave.”

  “Sure,” he lied easily. Now that he’d found her, he wasn’t leaving until he saw this through one way or another. His best friend, Aiden, had called him an idiot for hunting the idea of a woman he’d met once, but that night was a fever in his blood that he couldn’t ease. He needed to know if there was something there, or at least get some fucking closure so he could move on with his life. There had never been time for selfish pursuits, not when the O’Malley family teetered on the verge of war and needed every soldier on alert. Now they were finally at peace, which meant now he was free to pursue his dream.

  To pursue Kenzie.

  She finally shrugged. “Fine. I can spare five minutes.”

  Fuck, but this woman was harder to pin down than smoke. Even when he’d failed to win the Wild Hunt, he hadn’t lost
hope because now he knew where she was. Except he couldn’t get to her. Every time he caught sight of her blond wave of hair, or the red she seemed to wear like a banner of war, she’d disappear before he could reach her. Like some kind of living nightmare where Liam was always a step behind and too slow to do anything about it.

  This place had to be riddled with back doors and hallways the public didn’t know about, because he’d never had someone slip his grasp so many times. The frustration had him going out of his skin.

  He followed her through the cascade of sound the slot machines emitted. It was wasn’t smoky in here like in some casinos, and the air had the faintest tinge of salt as a reminder that they weren’t far from the water. A temptation to leave the four walls of this place and walk outside. Liam shook it off. He wasn’t there for the same reason the other patrons were.

  He was there for Kenzie.

  She finally pulled open an unassuming-looking door that led into an honest to god boardroom. Liam pulled up short. “Ah.”

  “Not everyone comes here to play,” she said. She dropped into one of the plush chairs and steepled her fingers in front of her red lips as if she was an old school mob boss about to hear a business proposal.

  The irony was not lost on Liam.

  He weighed his choices and finally took the chair across the table from her. From what he’d seen of Kenzie, crowding her was a good way to end up laid out. She struck out in violence as easily as she laughed, her threats interchangeable with her jokes. If he was back home in Boston, he never would have let her anywhere near the family he worked as protection for. She was too much of a threat.