He watched as his small avenging angel sprang into the room, her pistols—his pistols, actually—cocked and ready. She looked flushed and tense and beautiful. Her hair was starting to slip out of the knot he so disliked, and the most kissable mouth in the world was pushed forward in a belligerent pout he found enchanting. And infuriating. One long, silky tendril drifted down over her nose. She blew it aside and glared fiercely around the room.
“Aim for the heart,” he told her and strolled forward. She met his gaze and the pistols wavered. She glanced around the room again and her hands dropped to her sides.
“Oh,” she said. “You managed without us.” She sounded almost disappointed.
“Yes, as you see, I managed without you.” He removed the pistols from her far-too-lax-for-his-comfort grasp and laid them aside. “Where is Nicky?”
“With the Barrows. He’ll be safe back at the Grange by now.”
“As you should be,” he ground out. All he could think about was what if he hadn’t managed. She would have walked in here to a room full of thugs. Pistols or not, she wouldn’t have stood a chance.
“Pooh,” she said. “I had the pistols and you were unarmed and outnumbered.”
He wanted to throttle her.
He wanted to kiss her.
He stepped back, forcing himself to take several deep breaths. She became aware of his expression and bit her lower lip in sudden doubt. Gabe stared at her mouth. It was red and soft and luscious and he hadn’t been able to get the taste of her out of his mind all day.
He still wanted to throttle her.
He wanted more than ever to kiss her.
Most of all, he wanted to bed her.
He dragged his gaze off her. Behind her stood a small, thin woman brandishing a spade over her head. She, too looked around the room, and the spade fell, along with her face. “My house!” she cried. “All my things!”
Everybody looked. For the first time Gabe took in the wreckage of the room. Furniture overturned, china smashed and scattered across the floor, pictures askew, some damaged beyond repair…
Her gaze fell on the tightly trussed men and sharpened. “I suppose you had to use my new sheets for that.”
“Oops,” Ethan murmured. “It’s not as bad as it looks,” he began. “Why don’t I—”
She shot him a glance that would have felled a lesser man. “Oh, just make yourselfa nice cup of tea,” she snapped, and began to straighten the room with brisk movements.
“You don’t have time for that,” Ethan said. He turned to Gabe. “She says there were seven men originally, so there are at least three others out there.”
“Then they could return at any moment,” Gabe said. “Miss Tibthorpe, you have three minutes to pack a bag, then you two ladies will leave this place. It is not safe for you.”
“I would prefer to stay here and defend my home,” Miss Tibthorpe told him in a crisp voice. “Forewarned is forearmed.”
“Yes and I will help.” Callie stepped forward.
“No, you won’t,” Gabe informed her. “Miss Tibthorpe is too sensible a woman not to realize the danger she would be putting you in. She wouldn’t want that, I’m sure.”
“But I’m the reason there is danger in the first place. Those men are after me.”
“Exactly,” Gabe said. “Which is why both of you must disappear from this place immediately!”
Tibby considered his words then looked at her friend. “He’s right,” she said. “Your safety is more important than my things.” She hurried upstairs.
Gabe turned to his green-eyed thorn. “You will go straight to the Grange, you will not return for any reason whatsoever, and you will take the pistols with you. That is an order, understand?”
“Yes, but—” She opened the adorable mouth and Gabe could think of only one way to shut it. And it was neither the time nor the place.
“Do not argue with me, woman,” he roared. “It is anorder!”
“Yes, but I am not in your army, and I take orders from no man,” she said sweetly. But before he had time to say anything she added, “I will do it, because it seems to me the most sensible thing to do, but what I wanted to say is—”
