“You cannot tell anyone about this,” she said, her eyes luminous. “The rumors alone could get me killed.”
His thumb trailed across her lips. He loved how her eyes darkened at that. She might be an innocent, but she wasn’t cold inside. And if the pulse in her throat was any indication, she was responding to him on a very primal level. Then they were a pair, because he was already throbbing with interest.
“Offer me something, Miss Spalding, but choose it well.”
“I don’t have anything,” she cried.
“That’s unfortunate because my silence is very, very expensive.”
“What do you want?” she whispered. “I’ll give you anything.”
He chuckled and felt her shiver. “Imagine that,” he drawled as he snaked a hand behind her. “Anythingis exactly what I want.”
He thought she’d collapse then in a weeping mess. That’s what virgins usually did. They got overwhelmed and broke such that he could take whatever he wanted from the shattered girl. Unless she was a saucy girl who melted against him and offered everything but her virginity. He was prepared for that, too.
She didn’t do either. She turned her gaze back up to him, her eyes wet with tears, as she pushed the tip of her dirk into his chin. Or she tried to.
He caught her arm at the last second, holding the blade away from a lethal plunge into his brainpan. It was easy to do. She’d had little force behind the movement, which told him she hadn’t intended to kill him. Yet steely anger flashed in her eyes.
“Do you know how many times I have been threatened in my life?”
Plenty, obviously.
“Enough that they aggravate me as so much noise.”
He still had one arm around her back, holding her close enough to feel the tension in her body while the other kept her head back. It was a balance of a sort where she stood like a vibrating string on a fiddle.
He really needed to decide how to play her.
“Shall I tell you what I want?” he asked. Rare for him to give up his wants first. Bad choice in a negotiation, but she deserved something for being unusual.
“That would be lovely,” she said. Was there a purr in her voice? More likely her Scottish burr, but his cock liked it nonetheless.
“You attend the Finley ball tomorrow night.”
She didn’t react to his statement, but then again, she didn’t need to. He already knew her schedule.
“I should like you to reserve a dance for me. The second waltz, I think.”
“The countess will have my head. She insists she must approve—”
“Do not insult my intelligence.” Stupid lies set him off. They wasted time and energy. “You have gotten around her all season.”
“I haven’t,” she said with a sniff. “Sadie is the one who takes risks.”
Sadie was the third Scotswoman in this house. Well, the second one now that Miss MacAdaidh was off to become a duchess. Apparently, Sadie was the bold one. Of course, she wasn’t the one who tried to shove a dirk up his chin. “Then Sadie will happily dance a set with me as well. The one after you, I think.”
“I can’t force her to dance with you,” she said.
“I think you can.” And then, so she understood a little more of who she was bantering with, he pressed his fingers hard into her wrist. She needed to drop that weapon now.
She tried to fight him, but her slender wrist was no match for his strength. Eventually her fingers weakened, and the knife dropped heavily to the floor. He covered it with his boot and slid it just beneath his heel. It was a good weapon, and he intended to keep it.
With the dirk gone from her, she tried to jerk back. He didn’t want to release her, so he pulled her flush against him. He knew she would fight him, but he wanted to measure her skill. Just how many tricks did this lady have up her Scottish sleeves?
Several, it appeared. She fought like one who had been taught close combat, but there was a panic in her movements that undermined her training. He subdued her easily, but her fear touched him. He did not need to terrify her to get what he wanted. Once he had her pinned against him, her breath coming fast and her cheeks smudged with tears, he whispered in her ear.
“I’m releasing you now, Iseabail.” He stretched out her name to taste every letter in it. “Don’t attack me again. You won’t like the result.”
