Wrexley saw at once he’d hit a tender spot and was quick to follow up his advantage with another blow. “I suppose it’s difficult for a controlling man like you to find such a prize has slipped through your fingers, but I must say I’m relieved, for Miss Somerset’s sake. What a pity it would be for such a passionate lady to be wasted on someone as cold and emotionless as you. I wonder, do you think she knows how narrow her escape was?”
Wrexley’s smiled widened when Finn didn’t answer. “I daresay you wouldn’t have known what to do with her, but perhaps it will comfort you to know, Huntington, I intend to keep her very much in hand when she’s mine, and I can think of quite a few things I’ll do to her, and even more I’ll have her do tome.”
Things happened quickly after that.
A roar echoed in Finn’s ears, and he grabbed Wrexley by his coat and yanked him off the ground. “She may not be mine, but she’ll never beyours, either. You’re very much mistaken if you think I won’t look out for Miss Somerset’s interests. I’ll be damned if I stand by while she falls victim to a scoundrel like you.”
“Take your bloody hands off me, Huntington.” Wrexley tried to pry Finn’s fingers loose from his coat, but Finn tightened his grip until his knuckles were white. Wrexley kicked and squirmed, his face and neck flushing a dull, angry red, but there was nothing he could do except dangle like a ragdoll until Finn chose to let him loose.
Finn took his time.
When he dropped Wrexley to the ground at last, he shoved past him without another glance, and strode to the back of the stables, forcing himself to smile at Lady Honora as he approached. “Will the chestnut mare your cousin chose for Miss Somerset do for you, my lady?”
Lady Honora was still pale, and she gave him a blank look. “The chestnut—oh, yes. Of course. She’ll do very well.”
“Fine. Your cousin will have the groom saddle her and bring her out to the yard for you. I’ll join you in a moment.”
“All right.” Lady Honora cast one last worried look at Miss Somerset and the dark gray stallion; then she followed her cousin out into the yard without further argument.
Lady Honora never argued.
Finn doubted he’d be as fortunate with Miss Somerset. It seemed incredible he ever could have overlooked the obstinate thrust of that chin, or the dark blue flash of temper in her eyes.
Christ, what a fool he was.
Chapter Twelve
Finn had meant to take her arm at once and move her away from the horse before Chaos tried to knock her over or bite her, but he stilled when he caught sight of her leaning over the edge of the stall, her bright hair illuminated by a beam of sunlight.
Her head was bent toward the horse, one of her hands curled around the stall door, the other caressing the horse’s neck with slow, easy strokes. She was murmuring to him, and the horse’s ears were twitching with pleasure at the sound of her low, sweet voice.
Finn leaned a hip against the door of the stall and crossed his arms over his chest. She was so preoccupied with the stallion she didn’t seem to realize he was there, and the scene was so tranquil he couldn’t bring himself to interrupt them.
He’d watch her for a moment only, and then he’d—
“Oh, just look at you, you beauty.” She let out a soft laugh when Chaos butted his nose roughly into her shoulder. “Oh no, indeed. There will be none of that. When I ride you, you’ll act the gentleman, sir.”
She continued to stroke the horse with long, steady sweeps of her hand, again and again, slow and rhythmic, crooning to him all the while. Finn couldn’t hear all of what she said, but it didn’t matter.
She could be saying anything, or nothing at all.
His eyes slid half-closed as he let himself fall deeper under the spell of her hypnotic voice, but even as his brain was lulled into quiet the rest of his body surged with awareness. She didn’t look at him, but it was as if he were taking her inside him, each syllable sinking in and becoming invisible, like water disappearing into sand.
“There. That’s it, Chaos. You can be sweet when you choose, can’t you?”
She laughed again when the stallion nosed her cheek, and Finn’s own lips curved in response. Had he never heard her laugh before? Or was it another thing he’d failed to notice about her? Her laugh, the stubborn lift of her chin, her voice like the stroke of a hand over him, a lullaby and a seduction at once.
He would have stood there all day and listened to her.
“You’re both sweet and wicked, aren’t you? Ah, such a soft mouth, like velvet.”
Finn’s breath grew short, his chest heaving with each inhale. Even here, in the stables, with Lady Honora and Wrexley right outside the door, every inch of him strained toward her, his cock rising and pressing against the front of his falls, his body desperate for more of her voice, her fingers stroking his lips. What would it be like to lie next to her, with her mouth pressed to his ear as she whispered to him, each word no more than a warm breath of air?
“No, I can’t believe you’re truly wicked, not with that mouth.”
And the horse—damned if the horse wasn’t just as fascinated with her as Finn was. Chaos was a devil. One look into those black eyes and anyone could see it, but she seemed to know just the right way to touch him and just how to speak to him.
“There now, Chaos. Shall we go for a ride?”
