“Both,” she burst out, locking her eyes with Fitzroy’s and marveling, even in the midst of this terrible situation, at how very blue they were.
“What else do you do for fun?” Fitzroy asked softly, the innuendo hanging in the air. He then looked past her, holding his gaze on Hux. She felt the crackle of awareness hanging in the air between the two men, as much as she felt it between herself and their captor. Despite the danger.
“What do you mean?” she asked, even though she knew. She wanted him to spell it out, almost to see if he would dare.
Fitzroy tilted his head. “You pretend not to know? Why do you think I invited you here, Zara?”
She blinked. “I-I’m not sure. We thought we were coming to hunt, but it’s clear you are the hunter. Clear you wanted us to do something that would put us under your power.”
For a moment a look of pure horror crossed Fitzroy’s face and then he slowly shook his head. “I don’t care about the brooch, Zara.” He tossed the emerald toward Hux and he reached up one hand to catch it, even as he stared in confusion at Fitzroy. “I have no intention of calling the authorities and reporting this. Nor of reporting what happened at the ball. If you comeunderme in any way, it won’t be because you were forced to do so.”
“What the fuck are you about?” Hux growled.
“I invited you here because I was intrigued by you at the ball. By the way you two so effortlessly controlled a place where you so clearly did not belong. And by that energy between you that I described earlier. There was such life to it and I have not felt entirely connected to life in a very long time. I invited you here because I want you.”
“No,” Hux breathed.
Zara jumped at the tone and glanced at him. There he was, scooted to the edge of the chair, coiled like he would lose control at any moment. Her partner, her lover, her…her everything, even though she never dared say it, even after all this time. Even though Fitzroy was claiming he wasn’t going to bring them to harm, it was clear Hux didn’t believe him. He still thought this was an attempt at coercion.
And perhaps he was right, but when Zara stared into Fitzroy’s eyes, she didn’t see threat. Or at least not the kind Hux feared and would sacrifice everything to protect her from.
“Whether or not you tried to steal something from me, whether or not I caught you, I always intended to make a very specific type of proposal. Perhaps the most indecent one I’ve ever made, but also the most tempting.”
“No!” Hux snapped again, and now he was on his feet. He rushed past Zara and right into Fitzroy’s space. Fitzroy didn’t move, even when their chests touched. He merely looked up into Hux’s face with an almost impassive expression.
Almost. Zara saw the flare of heat in the other man’s eyes and it didn’t seem to be anger or aggression. Still, the good will of a gentleman could quickly shift to ill intent, she knew that better than most. She stepped up next to Hux and took his hand.
“Hux,” she said softly. “Look at me.”
He glared hard at Richard and then slowly shifted his gaze to Zara. His expression softened. Became pained. “Zara—”
She shook her head. “Stop. Please.”
He didn’t finish whatever he would say, but she still saw his worry. “You don’t do this anymore,” he said after a long pause. “Not this way.”
“I believe him when he says he isn’t trying to use this against me,” she said. “You are trying to protect me, as you always protect me. But I want to know what Mr. Fitzroy is offering before I decide what is in my own best interest.”
“You think a man like this cares about your best interest? He claims he won’t harm you, harm us, but you know better than to trust—”
“Yes,” she interrupted. “I know better. So you can trust me to be intelligent. Can’t you?”
He held her stare for a long moment and then shook her head. “Don’t make some bargain to save me when it turns out this fop is a liar, Zara. I’m not bloody worth it.”
He turned them and left the room. Left her alone with a man who now knew at least some of her secrets. Whether he could truly be trusted with them was another story entirely.
* * *
Richard
The way Zara bent her head, her breath coming in harsh heaves, Richard wondered if he’d gone too far. Had he thought the brooch might be a trap for them? Certainly. After all, he knew they were thieves. He wanted to see when and how they’d make a move because they were so bloody interesting to him. However, the fact that he’d caught them was now so tangled up with the proposal he’d hoped to make to the pair about becoming his lovers was unfortunate, indeed.
He couldn’t blame Hux for not believing his motives, even if Richard knew they were true. Why would someone streetwise and certain like Huxley have any trust for a, as he had so eloquently put it…afop? Richard knew full well that men of his ilk were often untrustworthy and used their privilege to destroy and coerce and harm.
He would have to be very careful in how he proceeded.
“He is fiery,” he said as mildly as he could manage when his own heart was throbbing with anticipation.
She stared off at the door where Huxley had stormed a moment before. “He is…protective,” she corrected.
