Pushher…
And test where her limits lay.
“You think I won’t have you arrested because you’re a lady?” He had to ask.
She didn’t flinch. “I don’t know what you’re capable of, Mr. Deverill.” She’d found her voice, but behind all that bravado, he detected a telltale wobble. “You did try to run me down with your horse.”
Her spark had certainly returned. “Are your ankle and wrist recovered?”
He hoped so. He didn’t like the echo of guilt he felt when he recalled her injuries.
“Quite.”
As if she would have said anything else.
He returned to the main subject. “I believe the law would find the case against you compelling, to say the least.”
Her eyes flashed gray steel.
“You’re guilty of both trespassing in my rooms and of spoiling what was promising to be a very pleasurable interlude with Lady Standish.”
She crossed her arms over her chest. A defensive stance. “I got carried away was all.”
“Carried away?”
The woman had nerve. He would give her that.
“It happens.”
In that instant, Dev saw something. Something a man like him was especially attuned to.
Opportunity.
And he understood something else.
Now wasn’t the time to push it. Going at this skirmish head-on with an adversary like Lady Beatrix wouldn’t get him anywhere—especially when it wasn’t yet clear wherewherewas.
A pivot was necessary—for the moment.
“How did you know this was my suite?”
A natural enough question, given the circumstances.
She shifted from one foot to the other, indicating a distinct and new discomfort. “Isn’t it known you have rooms here?”
“Likely.” He would give her that. “But how did you getinsidemy rooms?”
Her lips remained firmly pressed together.
“This suite occupies the top floor,” he continued. “And the door wasn’t forced. Unless you possess untold talents of the magical variety, you didn’t scale the walls or fly.”
A slow, silent second ticked past, then another, as his words hung in the air like a lead weight. Just when he thought she wouldn’t respond, she heaved a resigned sigh. “I overheard you.”
“Overheardme?”
She gave a brusque nod.
“You’ll have to do better than that.”
