He smiled then, robbing her mind of all capacity for reason. The smile was slow and bold and knowing. Good heavens. She felt the full effect of it in her belly, between her legs, down to her toes.
Everywhere.
If Beast had been handsome before when he was cold and menacing, he was beautiful when his sinfully formed lips curved upward.
“Which is it, Marchioness?”
His tone was not light, and yet, she imagined that it was the way he might speak to a lady he was courting. A voice he would use in the ballroom beneath the glitter of blazing chandeliers. She swallowed hard against a powerful flood of attraction and pure, unadulterated lust.
Lust? How mortifying. How shameful. She had to gather what remained of her dignity and flee.
“You are insolent, sir,” she told him, summoning all the cutting coldness that had served her well these last few years as she had resumed her role in society.
Pamela rose then to her full height, so quickly that she was almost lightheaded. Or perhaps that was merely the effect of this seductive man’s nearness. His words. His smile. She shook her head as he rose to his feet as well, towering over her with ease.
“And you like it,” he told her boldly, his gaze sweeping over her form and making fire lick through her veins. “Good day, Lady Deering.”
Another bow, and then he was gone, leaving her standing alone on the path, more shaken than she’d ever been.
Because he was not wrong. She did like his brazenness, his touch, his kiss. She liked everything about him far too much. He tempted her. Melted her. And she could never allow whatever this nonsense was between them to progress any farther than it already had.
* * *
“Haveyou anything new to report, Beast?” the Duke of Ridgely asked with a calm Theo wouldn’t have expected from a man who had nearly been attacked in his bed two nights before.
Dressed in evening finery, he was, from head to well-polished toe, the consummate English gentleman. He possessed a congenial air of perpetual amusement, as if he were so jaded with the world that he had decided to regard the entire affair as one big joke solely for his entertainment. Theo had liked him from the moment they had met, even when the other man had been clearly shaken by the events that had led to Theo and his men being hired.
He knew a stab of guilt that he had kissed the duke’s sister. Repeatedly. That he had been alone with her in her chamber the night before. That he knew the sounds of surrender she made, the soft, breathy sighs. What she tasted like, the sweet, seductive weight of her breast in his palm.
He cleared his throat, struggling to maintain his composure for the third time that day, which was precisely three times too damned many. “Nothing new as of yet, Your Grace. I have thoroughly inspected the perimeter of Hunt House, and I’ve stationed my men at all areas I’ve deemed most vulnerable.”
Ridgely gave him a wry look. “We’ve vulnerabilities? I confess, I rather thought my sire had commissioned a fortress. An homage to his colossal sense of self-importance, as it were.”
It wasn’t for Theo to investigate Ridgely’s relationship with the previous duke, but he could relate to the apathy he heard in the other man’s voice, tinged with a hint of all-too-human bitterness. One undeniable truth was that, regardless of anyone’s station in life, every man, woman, and child was every bit as capable of feeling the same emotions that plagued the classes above and below them. He had learned that lesson in most brutal fashion.
“The garden presents an opportunity, particularly for someone with nefarious purposes to hide and then gain entry through another means under the cover of darkness,” he said instead of offering solace or commiseration, as he might have done a lifetime ago when he would have outranked the Duke of Ridgely. “The entrance from the mews is quite vulnerable as well, as there are many who come and go from it, and the stables are not as secure as they ought to be. Then, there are the doors beneath the terrace on the western façade. I’ve seen to it that guards have been posted at each of these locations.”
“Hell.” The duke’s devil-may-care mask slipped, and he appeared, for the first time, incredibly weary as he raked a hand through his hair. “I hadn’t thought of any of those places. Little wonder someone nearly killed me in my bed. Too much time as a duke makes a man mutton-headed. I must present a fine, fat goose for the plucking.”
“Perhaps not a fat goose, Your Grace,” he allowed, unsmiling. “But a goose, nonetheless.”
The duke’s gaze narrowed. “You’re an odd one, aren’t you? Not one to mince words. I rather like that. Sincerity is a rarity in society these days.”
He inclined his head. “I wouldn’t know.”
“Of course you wouldn’t. Not the sort of chap to gad about at balls, are you?” Ridgely gave him an appraising look. “You seem as if you’d be more at home with a dagger in your hand than a walking stick.”
“I’ll not deny it.” Theo felt a small smile tug at his lips that the duke had taken his measure so easily. He prided himself on his ability to remain mysterious and impenetrable. The less anyone knew or thought about him, the better. Which was why his preoccupation with the widowed Marchioness of Deering was fast becoming a problem.
Not the only reason, however. The list, it seemed, could carry on for miles, wrapping itself about all the thoroughfares of London before turning north.
“Tierney says you’re the best, and I’ve never known him to be wrong,” Ridgely said. “Would you care for a brandy? God knows I need one after the last two days, and I hate to drink alone unless I haven’t a choice.”
“No brandy, thank you, Your Grace,” he denied, for he scarcely ever imbibed now.
There had been a time when he had drowned himself in liquor and indolence. When he had allowed his guard to fall because he had been too deep in his cups to know the difference between a snake and a blade of grass. But he knew the difference now, and he wasn’t going to repeat the mistake. Once had almost been deadly.
“Blast,” Ridgely muttered. “Good fellow. I suppose you’ve more important matters to attend to this evening. Do you sleep, Beast? I swear I’ve seen you prowling the halls at all hours of the day and night.”
