“It’s necessary.”
Her waist was tiny. Her presence loomed so large for him that he could forget what a small woman she was.
“Now, one…two…three…hop.”
In unison, she hopped and he lifted and she was perched onto the saddle, staring down at him. Again, knowledge shone in her eyes.
Juliet clicked her tongue, and her mount jolted into a walk.
As he watched Valentina ride away with Delilah and Juliet, he thought she must be wondering what she’d gotten herself into.
He might be wondering the same.
The initial goal remained unchanged. He would secure justice and recompense for her and her family. He was determined.
But, first, he needed to stop touching her.
Then he needed to stop sharing heated looks with her.
And he absolutely needed to stop kissing her.
He mounted his horse and glanced down at Oliver Quincy who looked lost for words for the first time in his life. Archie gave the man a silent farewell tip of the hat and set out for a cooling ride.
He may have been soaked and drenched in river muck, but he wasn’t cold in the least.
In fact, he was hot.
Too hot.
Summoning his sense of self-preservation, he rode in the opposite direction of its source.
Chapter Nine
Night
Archie shouldn’t be in this room.
He understood that.
It was the hour of night when all was silent and the air had gone crisp and he should be in his own bedroom.
Sitting before the piano in it.
Except, tonight, when he’d sat to the instrument, the notes had refused to flow. Hands poised above the keyboard, he’d waited and waited for new notes to come. He’d thought there yet remained plenty of momentum from last night to carry him through to the end of the composition.
But one element was missing.
Valentina.
At first, he’d resisted the notion as he banged through the piece several times in the wild hope that the note beyond the last one scribbled onto the music sheet would make itself known.
But it refused.
It wanted Valentina.
So, here he was.
In her bedroom.
