Her eyes rounded. “Don’t be absurd.”
“Only one of us is being absurd, and, alas, Miss Kent, it is not I. Here’s the rub. Your brother strikes me as a fellow who disdains hypocrisy. If you tell him I belong in a madhouse because you saw me behaving like a healthy, red-blooded man, well,”—he shrugged—“he’s going to have to check into Bedlam, too.”
“Ambrose would never… how dare you accuse him of…” She gaped at him, her cheeks afire.
He reached out and casually chucked her under the chin. “You can thank me later,” he said in a kindly, superior tone, “for educating you about the facts of life.”
“I don’t need anyeducatingfrom the likes of you! Why, you’re worse than a… a tomcat! You couldn’t keep your trousers buttoned if you tried.”
He gave her a sardonic smile. “I wouldn’t know. I haven’t tried.”
He could see her struggling to come up with a rejoinder, and, in spite of his irritation, he found himself entertained. She was like a kitten, spitting mad and boldly swiping her claws at a panther; she seemed to have no idea that she wasn’t his match, not by a long shot. Yet he had to admit that her spitfire attitude was adorable. Her flashing eyes and heaving bosom didn’t hurt matters either.
She suddenly stilled, those lush, gold-tipped lashes blinking at him. “You’re enjoying yourself? You find meamusing?” she said incredulously.
He did, actually. It almost made up for how much she’d provoked him. But he’d allowed this little minx to get too far under his skin. Time to dig her out and make nice: he had to stay on her brother’s good side after all. His future depended upon it.
Before he could establish a truce, she choked out, “You think I’m naïve, too much of a ninny to see what you really are?”
“I never said that.” He had thought it, though.
“You’re a heartlessbastard.” At her scathing words, his humor evaporated, leaving the fine grit of annoyance behind. “You think that because you’re a top-of-the-trees fellow you can get away with anything. You ridicule others, amuse yourself at their expense. You rakes—you’re all the same.”
Her unjust indictments flared his anger. “You don’t know a goddamned thing about me.”
“Don’t I?” Her eyes narrowed, and their alert focus caused a prickle of unease again. ’Twas as if she could see past his surface to all his ugly secrets. “With the life you’ve led, I wouldn’t be surprised if your misdeeds are catching up to you.”
He controlled a flinch. Hers was merely a good guess. Since she knew that he’d consulted with her brother, it wouldn’t take much to surmise that he was in some sort of difficulty.
“One man’s misdeed is another man’s pleasure,” he said nonchalantly.
“Your devil-may-care façade doesn’t fool me. I know how you feel. You’re ashamed, desperate… andscared.”
Her words landed with the surety of arrows.Thunk, thunk, thunk, they tore through the chinks in his armor, plunging into his unguarded self. How in blazes had she managed to guess…?
Heart thudding, he managed a derisive tone. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Don’t I?” Her chin lifted. “Then why are you evenmorescared now?”
“I am not bloody scared,” he snapped.
God’s teeth, why was the chit pushing him? Baiting him? Was theentirebloody world out to get him? Memories gathered: Nicoletta’s bruised face, the man’s voice, the strait-waistcoat. Fear was a squall inside him, threatening the barriers of his self-control.
You’re not a lunatic. You’re in control. You answer to no one.
She took a step closer, her red-cheeked, apple-scented outrage inflaming his senses. A vein throbbed at his temple. His fingers curled as invisible threads of energy spun tautly around them.
“You’re right. You’re not scared.” She had the audacity to jab a finger at him. “Whatyouare, my lord, is terrified.”
“You’re dreaming, sweeting, because it’s past your bedtime,” he bit out.
Her eyes flashed. “Do not treat me like I’m a child, you bounder!”
“You wish to be treated as a woman? I’ll oblige you, then.”
He yanked her into his arms and slammed his mouth over hers.
Chapter Ten
