Right after he relocked her cage for speaking with the rogue.
“Och, I thought we had decided tae forgo formalities between ourselves? Friends, remember?” Mr. Penn-Leith bent toward her, a scented cloud of sandalwood and heather following and nearly causing Allie’s eyes to roll into the back of her head.
Must he prove so lethal?
“We decided no such thing,” she countered, looking to see if Kendall were nearby.
“I cannot call ye Allie, then?” He said her given name as if it were a bonbon on his tongue, honey-sweet.
She merely stared at him, too stunned to speak for the space of two heartbeats.
Thump. Thump.
The man was at risk of immediate death or dismemberment the moment Kendall sighted him, andthiswas the question he asked?
Mr. Penn-Leith continued to regard her with that breath-stealing smile, his green eyes crinkling at the corners, hair poking out from the brim of his top hat and tempting her to right it with her fingers. He wore no kilt today, but a blue coat clung to his broad shoulders with all the attention of a lover’s caress.
In short, he lookeddelizioso.
And cavalierly unaware of the imminent danger in which he found himself.
Ignoring his question, Allie leaned to the side, scanning the deck more thoroughly for Kendall.
“What are you doing here?” she hissed. “Kendall made me swear off all contact with you. And you swore an oath to my brother that you would never speak with me again.”
“Ah! But if ye will recall the scene, I didn’t actually swear as much. Kendall sent me packing before I could give my oath.”
Madonna, this dear, sweet, obtuse man.
Kendall was going to use his bloodied body as shark bait.
“Such pedantry will hardly matter to Tristan Gilbert, Duke of Kendall.”
Without thinking, Allie took Mr. Penn-Leith’s arm and tugged him into the space between the paddle wheel and a high stack of rope, attempting to shield him from her brother’s eagle eye. The ship lurched as it settled into the river lock, waiting for the water to equalize before sailing into the Thames proper.
“Why would you be so idiotic as to board my brother’s ship?” she continued. “If he finds you here, Kendall will have you pitched into the river.”
Instead of showing the least bit of alarm, Mr. Penn-Leith merely grinned wider. “Your concern for my person is delightfully touching.” He shot a bemused look at her hand wrapped around his upper arm. “Very much so.”
Allie released him with a slight flinch. Though, for the record, not before noting how firmly muscled his arm was. How did a poet come by such a honed physique? Didn’t he merely sit with a feathered plume in his hand all day? Was all of him similarly brawny? And if they traversed the narrow corridors of the ship together, could a rough sea assist her in finding out?
She shook her head, tossing the maudlin questions aside.
Mr. Penn-Leith continued to look at her with an unconcerned, bemused gaze. “Ye know ye can place your wee hands on my person whenever you would like, aye? No excuses necessary. Consider it a privilege between friends.”
Allie’s eyes narrowed, her mind whirring to make sense of the Scot’s nonchalant presence aboard her brother’s ship.
Idiota.
Of course.
“Kendall knows you’re here,” she said flatly.
Uffa.Speaking of men who would soon be shark bait.
Her twin topped the list.
A heated look lit up Mr. Penn-Leith’s face. “Is it inappropriate of me tae express how much I admire your singular intelligence?”
