She needed some air.The stifling nonsense circulating in this room at the moment was suddenly too much for her.She stood, and as she brushed past Archer toward the door, she paused.
“Your rescue is noted,” she whispered between clenched teeth.“Though thoroughly unrequested.”
Archer’s mouth curved.“Forgive me.I thought I was rescuing Hargrave.”
Bea tilted her head.“Ah, and here I was rather looking forward to his combustion.”
Archer chuckled under his breath and leaned in slightly, just enough for her to feel the whisper of heat from his body.“Perhaps next time I’ll let him burn.”
Her stomach flipped.And not in an unpleasant way.More like in a way that it should not in Archer’s presence.She hated that feeling.And more importantly, she hated that it wasn’t the first time it had happened.
She forced a tight smile.“I’ll hold you to it.”And with that, Bea excused herself from the group.
As she slipped into the adjoining chamber, her pulse still drumming in her ears, she realized something deeply unpleasant.
Nicholas Archer had just saved her.
And worse than the rescue itself was the certainty that he would consider it a debt.Archer was not a man who believed in charity…only leverage.
