Page 141 of The Boxing Baroness

“She is actually very pretty, once you get past all the knives,” Sin said.

“And her bird.”

They laughed.

“Yes, getting accustomed to Angus would be . . . challenging,” Sin agreed.

“Does Elliot have a mistress in London?” she asked.

Sin frowned at the question. “I don’t know. He is a man who keeps such matters very private.”

“Hmm.” She twisted her finger in the hairs on his chest.

Sin winced and laid a staying hand over hers. “What is wrong? You have become full of fidgets suddenly.”

“Do you keep a mistress in London?” She swallowed. “Or a lover?”

“Not at the moment,” he said, his mind flickering back to his last, very unpleasant, conversation with Alanna.

“But you have in the past.”

“Yes, in the past.”

“How long in the past?”

Sin took her chin and tilted her face to his. “I think this is not a very productive subject.”

“Don’t you wonder about me and Dominic?”

“I try not to think about it.”

“But you have thought about it.”

Sin sighed. “What is this really about, Marianne?”

“I was just wondering.”

“Yes?”

“When you marry—”

“You mean when we marry,” he corrected.

She didn’t argue, but neither did she agree. That was fine. Sin still had plenty of time to convince her.

“What did you want to ask?” he prodded.

“When you marry will you keep a mistress?”

He pushed up onto his elbows. “Don’t you know me well enough to answer that?”

She winced at his sharp tone.

“I’m sorry,” he apologized. “I should not have been short with you. But I am . . . offended.”

She pulled him back down. He resisted for only a moment, before lying beside her again. She laid her head on his chest. “I’m horridly jealous,” she admitted, the confession surprising him.

“Well, I hope I never give you any reason to be jealous.” He smoothed a hand over her hair and held her tight to his chest. “I am like one of those birds who mate for life.”