Page 28

Kiss her! He’d been trying to keep her from snapping his spine. She pushed off his thighs, scooting back so she could regain her dignity, stand on her own two feet. His thighs were rock hard, but the muscles leapt beneath her hands.

Hell, hell, hell, went the refrain in her mind. Bloody hell, Nina!

“If you’d be so kind . . .” His voice sounded strangled. “Please detach the monkey from my head.”

He’d raised his right arm and was tugging gently at Fritz, whose back was bowing, legs stretching longer and longer. Each of his paws was wound tight in De’Ath’s black hair.

“We might have to cut him out.” She hugged herself. Hell. “Once he got wrapped up in my hair, and my brother resorted to scissors. Your hair is bit long, isn’t it? You might look well with a shorter style.”

De’Ath made a sound of disbelief, extending his arm farther. Fritz twisted in his grip, gave a vicious yank. She heard a silky rip. Oh dear. A tuft of black hair floated down onto De’Ath shoulder.

“I’ll try, of course.” Nina inched forward and lowered herself delicately onto the love seat beside him. Ladylike. As though she hadn’t just flopped about in his lap. What a mercy it would be if the cushions sucked her down and swallowed her whole. She’d live out the rest of her days as a sofa. Worry-free. Sofas hadn’t a care in the world. They were comfortable by nature.

“While I still possess a portion of my hair, Miss Finch.”

She started, reaching up, but De’Ath was too tall, and the angle was wrong. She had to tuck a leg up under her, leaning into him. Her breast nudged his side.

“You’ll have to bend a bit.”

He complied. She was fully pressed against him now, his muscled bulk radiating heat. But his hair. His hair felt cool, cool and soft, faintly springy in its thickness.

Slowly she worked the strands from between Fritz’s claws.

“It’s like doffing your hat,” she suggested. To her gratification, he laughed. His breath blew hot against her ear. She shifted her eyes and looked at him.

Mistake. For the second time, the air left her lungs completely. His face was an inch away.

His color had returned. His olive-toned skin renewed the shock of those pale irises, extravagantly fringed with black lashes. It looked as though he’d lined his eyes with kohl.

“You laughed.” She tried to swallow. Her throat seemed to have shrunk with words stuck inside. “Does that mean . . . I’m not sacked?”

“Unfortunately.” His smile bared those flawless teeth.

Relief flooded her. Now that the danger had passed, she could imagine it: Jack’s reaction, the scene at the Knack if she’d slunk through the door, sacked, with nothing to offer but the assurance that De’Ath was hell-bent on flushing them out.

“Thank God,” she said fervently, and tried to focus on her detangling. One paw free. She squeezed it between her fingers, remonstrating. Fritz gave an unapologetic chirp.

She redoubled her efforts on the next paw.

Don’t ask, Nina. Concentrate on the task at hand. But it was too late. She was already shaping the words.

“Why . . . unfortunately?”

The silence vibrated.

“Ah,” he said. “Because of house rule three.”

She couldn’t help herself. She looked. His expression was complex, communicating amusement, irony, regret, resignation, all with the slant of his brow, the curl of his lips.

“Which is?”

“No dalliances. Not between me and my employees.”

“Oh.” She let go of Fritz’s paw. A moment passed before she realized her hand had dropped to De’Ath’s shoulder. She couldn’t blame herself for that. His shoulders were massive. They were everywhere. He was everywhere. This whole operation required extensive contact. She brushed at that stray tuft of hair, as though its removal had been her object. Grooming. Not groping.

Hell.

“No bribes, no Signorina Bonaccorso, no dalliances,” she repeated secretarially. “I’ve got them. The rules.” She gave a fractional nod. Too vigorous a motion and they might bump noses. “Are there more?”