“No, sir.”
“Then why are you bothering me with this?”
Dobson could feel the heat rising under his collar. “For permission to force her out the door, sir. She won’t leave of her own accord.”
“By all means,” Anthony replied dryly. “Use one of the footmen if you don’t think you can manage on your own, but get rid of her before I come down.”
The heat crept up Dobson’s cheeks. “Thank you, sir. I will get help, I think. I don’t care to confront that Scot’s temper again on my own.”
“What was that?” Anthony asked so forcefully, Dobson’s color washed clean away.
“I—I—”
“Did you say she’s Scottish?”
“No, no, she only sounded—”
“Blister it, man, why didn’t you say so? Show her up here and hurry, before she decides to leave.”
“Before she—” Dodson’s mouth dropped open, but a glance about the room prompted a “Here, sir?”
“Now, Dobson.”
Chapter Seventeen
Anthony couldn’t believe it. Even when she walked through the door, tossed Dobson a withering look, then turned the same lethal glare on Anthony, he still couldn’t believe it.
“That’s a very rude mon you have for a butler, Sir Anthony.”
He simply grinned at her, standing there with her foot tapping and her arms crossed over her chest. “When I gave you my address, sweetheart, it was so you could send me a message if the need arose, not for you to show up on my doorstep. You do realize the impropriety? This is strictly a bachelor’s residence. I even have my brother and nephew staying with me—”
“Well, if they’re here, then I’m no’ alone wi’ you, am I now?”
“I hate to disappoint you, my dear, but they are out for the evening and you are in fact very much alone with me. As you can see, I was preparing to go out myself, which is why Dobson was so reluctant to admit you.”
What she saw, when she got a good look at him through the fumes of her anger, was that he looked more as if he were prepared for bed. He wore a short quilted robe of silver-blue satin over trousers, and nothing else. The robe he was just now belting, but not before she had had a glimpse of his bare chest and the sparse mat of black curls there. His hair was damp, hand-combed back from his forehead, withdrying tendrils beginning to curl over each temple. He looked more sensual than she had ever seen him, and it was all she could do to tear her eyes away and even remember why she was here.
The trouble was, her eyes lit next on a bed, and it struck her with the force of a blow where he had received her. Hisbedroom. Hell’s teeth!
“Did you know it was me—no, you couldna,” she answered herself, her eyes flying back to his. “Do you receive all your callers up here?”
Anthony chuckled at this. “Only when I’m in a hurry, my dear.”
She frowned, not at all amused, but made a concerted effort to pull herself together. To do that, she had to look away from him again.
“I won’t keep you long, Sir Anthony. I haven’t the time to waste myself. Something happened—well, that needn’t concern you. Suffice it to say, I’ve run out of time. I need a name from you, and I need it now.”
His humor fled. He was afraid he knew exactly what she was talking about, and that certainty produced a tightening in his belly that was most uncomfortable. His being her confidant had been no more than an excuse to get close to her. Not bloody likely would he defeat his own purpose by helping to get her married. He had meant to delay that eventuality indefinitely and seduce her before it ever became a fact. Now here she was demanding a name from him, which he should have if he had actually done what he had told her he would do, which he hadn’t. Obviously, her need for a confidant was at an end. If he didn’t give her a name, she would make her own choice, good or bad. He had no doubt a-tall.
“What the bloody hell happened?”
She blinked at his harsh tone, coming so unexpectedly. “I told you, that doesn’t concern you.”
“Then humor me, and while you’re at it, you can tell me why you’re going about this marriage business in an either-or fashion, and why the rush.”
“It’s none of your business,” she insisted.
“If you want a name, my dear, you’d best make it my business.”
