A flash of raw, naked desire…pointed directly at her.
“Old enough to know better than to go wandering about where you shouldn’t be,” he said huskily, and even though wolves had been driven to extinction in Great Britain some centuries before, Daisy imagined this was what it must have felt like to be cornered by one.
“Maybe I…” She swallowed nervously. “Maybe I should go.”
The corner of his mouth curled; a wolf baring its fangs. “Maybe you should.”
But she didn’t move, and neither did he, except to raise his hand to idly grasp an auburn curl clinging to the side of her neck. He rubbed it between his thumb and index finger, knuckles brushing lightly against her collarbone.
“Soft,” he murmured.
“M-my hair?” she asked breathlessly. “Or my s-skin?”
His grin was dazzlingly seductive. “Both.”
Her heart began to pound inside the wall of her chest.
Thump, thump.
He leaned in close.
Thump, thump, thump.
His lips a breadth from her ear.
Thump, thump, thump, thump.
“Run away, Daisy White,” he whispered. “While you still can.”
Thump, THUMP. Thump, THUMP. Thump, THUMP.
Wrenching herself away from him, she bolted out of the tack room.
Chapter Three
In the Stables With a Scoundrel
“I need to leave,” Everett announced without preamble as he walked into Hollibrook’s private study and threw himself into the closest chair. “What was the name of that inn you suggested?”
“That ship has sailed, I’m afraid.” Having been reviewing ledgers at his desk, Hollibrook carefully marked his spot before he removed the spectacles he wore for reading, rubbed the bridge of his nose, and regarded his friend with a sort of weary resignation. “More guests have arrived. The house party has officially started. You cannot leave now.”
“The ship can’t sail without me on it,” Everett scowled. “Bloody call it back to port.”
“My wife, bless her planning heart, was quite specific. We’ve sixteen seats at our dining table, and after accounting for our immediate family of five, that leaves eleven remaining. Eleven seats that have now been filled with a last minute addition after Lord and Lady Hanover had to bow out due to his gout acting up.”
“If I have to stay here,mygout is going to start acting up.”
Hollibrook sighed. “You don’t have gout. Even if you did, it wouldn’t matter, because you’re our sixth seat and preparations have already begun for tonight’s welcoming reception on the south lawn.”
“I’m allergic to welcoming receptions.”
But not to fetching redheads with eyes the color of cornflowers and a plump bottom lip just begging to be kissed,a voice interceded before he could silence it.
Everett’s jaw clenched.
Buggering hell.
For once he was trying to do therightthing, which was to remove himself from temptation before he committed an act that would be frowned upon. Like, but not limited to, deflowering an innocent at the house party of the Marquess and Marchioness of Hollibrook.
