“What do you know of the devil lord, My Lady?”
Finally, she dipped her head, ringing her hands together until the paper she held was crumpled. When she looked at him again, her eyes were once more filled with determination. “Enough.”
“Then you know that he is not the kind of man to simply be summoned… on a whim,” the final words came as little more than a breathless whisper and Alex closed the distance between them again.
Lady Moreau was forced to tilt her head up to continue to look him in the eye.
“I am afraid my situation is dire, Your Grace,” the lady said, “My father has fallen gravely ill upon receiving word of a lost investment. He cannot pay the debt he owes.”
“Is that not your father's problem?” Alex asked, his chest tightening at the words. He did not wish to appear heartless but what kind of man allowed his daughter to do his bidding?
Lady Moreau dipped her head again. “He is being hounded around by physicians as we speak, Your Grace. I have come to offer myself to the devil lord.”
Alex's insides twisted. He furrowed his brow. “To offer yourself in what means, My Lady?”
“I… I… it was my research and interest which led to my father's investing in the latest India voyage,” she explained, blinking as if she were struggling to meet his gaze. She did, however, and Alex could not look away. “His loss is my loss. I am here to find a way to repay it. I am a smart woman, Your Grace. You may not think a woman capable of such things, but my father has taught me all he knows, and I am quite, quite capable, I assure you.”
Alex stepped close then and raised his hand, brushing a stray golden-brown curl from the lady's face behind her ear. There was the smell of orange blossom again, wafting into his nostrils in an intoxicating manner that left him unable to move away again.
“Forgive me, My Lady, but as you have admitted you are at fault for your father's failed investment, why should the devil lord take you up on your offer of service?”
The lady looked up at him with her lips pursed. Her curl still clamped between his fingers, Alex paused, breathless.
The green fire that burned in her gaze threatened to burn him to an unrecognizable husk.
“Nobody could have known the shipment would be lost to a storm,” she said through a clenched jaw and again, Alex admired her bravery.
“I do believe you are the bravest, most outspoken young lady I have ever had the pleasure of meeting,” Alex said, as he watched the way she quivered beneath his gaze. “Perhaps, I might talk to him on your behalf as I do know the man?”
He stepped away swiftly then and Lady Moreau stumbled forward as if his sudden departure had dragged her with him.
She lowered her chin and cleared her throat. Alex felt the urge to step close again, to touch her face just to see if her skin was as soft as it looked, but he refrained and shoved his hands into the pockets of his breeches instead.
“I would appreciate a word with him myself, Your Grace,” Lady Moreau said, defiant to the last.
Alex's throat constricted. Were she a man, he would have threatened her, made her leave cowering with her tail between her legs.
But she was most definitely no man and if she was smart enough to have seen such an investment in the India shipment then she was certainly one to get to know better, even if that small voice in the back of his mind continued to whisper that it was a terrible thing to mix business with pleasure.
When he said nothing, only regarding her silently, she continued, “I can keep my ears to the ground for future investments. I am good at accounting and organization. My father truly has taught me everything, Your Grace. But we have fallen on hard times and if I do not do something, I fear for my family's survival.”
It was one thing to have a nobleman on his knees groveling at his feet but to see this beautiful woman stooped so low, Alex could hardly bear it.
He looked away and through gritted teeth, he said, “My Lady, I fear that would not be enough to sway the devil.”
“Your grace?” she asked questioningly.
Biting the inside of his lip, Alex breathed deep into his nose and dared to look at her. “I will speak to him for you and see if we can come to some arrangement.”
“With all due respect, Your Grace, I do not know you and I would appreciate the chance to conduct my own business with the lord himself,” she said, her gaze darkening.
Heavens, she was even more breathtaking when growing frustrated.How would she look after a little sexual teasing?He wondered, his loins burning to find out. He imagined all too easily the other frustrations he might cause her to endure with his words, his tongue, his manhood. Oh, how he longed to hear her breathless, begging, screaming his name.
If it had been possible, he might have struck himself for the thought but instead, he tried hard to push it away. “As I have said, My Lady, he is only in residence in the late evening, and I fear it is not the kind of place that—”
She cut him off firmly, “Then I shall return this evening to speak with him myself.”
With that, she dipped a curtsy and half-turned to leave.
