And though Cezar hadn’t seen fit to mention the incident that night, Narcise couldn’t banish it from her thoughts and dreams. Even now, she felt her veins pulsing and surging with desire and unfinished need.
She became dimly aware of voices behind her, voices from the dais, and the low rumble that she recognized as Cale’s…followed by a short laugh and then affirmation from Cezar.
“Narcise,” her brother said peremptorily.
She had no choice but to turn and face the audience. A quick scan identified three pairs of male eyes, filled with lust and determination—likely future opponents—and her brother’s bemused expression. Cale…he had stood and was movingtowardher.
“What do you wish to say?” she replied just as shortly.Don’t look at him.
“Monsieur Cale has expressed disappointment that he missed most of this evening’s entertainment. And he has made a special request.”
All at once, her body went cold, her stomach plummeting. Cale had a sword in his hand and he was examining the blade.
“He wishes to participate in a bout of entertainment himself.”
A flash of light clouded her vision, then receded. Two battles in one evening? Despite the fact that she’d been overmatched for her previous engagement didn’t mean that she could win a second one in the same night.
Particularly against the broad-shouldered man stripping off his coat in front of her.
Cale didn’t spare her a glance as he tossed it to the table, and commenced with unbuttoning his waistcoat. He flung that aside as well, then unfastened his cuffs and rolled his sleeves up to the elbows.
As she watched with rising trepidation, he glanced toward her bare feet and then pulled off his own buckled, heeled shoes…and then the stockings that went up to his knee breeches. Narcise glanced at his bare, muscular calves, then tore her eyes away.
She was to fight him?
And if he won, he would drag her off to The Chamber.
A knot in the pit of her stomach grew tighter and heavier.I cannot let him win.
“I wish to change weapons,” she announced. A double-sided broadsword would be heavier, but it would give her that much more of an advantage.
“I was just about to suggest the same,” Cale said, speaking to her for the first time.
She couldn’t help but look at him, and to her dismay, the heat was gone from his eyes to be replaced by cool determination. Her belly pitched sharply, for she would have preferred to see an emotion she could use against him. Like lust or desire.
“I propose a stake only for each of us, mademoiselle. You might remove the one from your hair, and also from the sleeve of your tunic, and choose only one of them.”
Narcise hid her consternation at the prospect of fighting in such close quarters, hand to hand. She was lighter, she told herself. Lithe and quick.
But then again…this was a man who’d somersaulted from a rooftop four stories down, merely for the entertainment of his friends. Or so she’d heard.
“If you suggest stakes, that implies a conflict to the death,” she said, keeping her eyes cool. “You are a brave man, Monsieur Cale, for you are no stranger to my abilities.”
The room was so quiet the only sound was the heartbeat in her ears and the crackle and snap in the fireplace on the dais.
“If that is what you wish, mademoiselle, by all means I am agreeable.” There was a flicker in his eyes, something almost soft, and then it was gone. “You,” he said, commanding one of Cezar’s servants as if it were his own. “A handkerchief or scarf.”
“What, will you fight blindfolded?” crowed one of the audience. “What a sight that will be.”
“No, I do not think that is what Cale has in his mind,” lisped Cezar, delight in his voice. “He means for their hands to be bound together. Narcise.”
This last was his order, and at first she simply couldn’t make herself move. They meant to tie their wrists together so that neither could retreat. Or leap or lunge.
She had no breath. Her mind turned blank and fear took over. Already, she could feel his body on top of hers, his hands tearing at her clothes, his mouth and fangs on her.
How badly she’d misjudged him.
That interlude at his place, when he’d been more than a gentleman, more kind and unassuming than she’d ever experienced…had been a lie.
