AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Fortunately, she regained some of her combativeness at his words, and she fumed silently even as she let Hawk guide her out the door to the parlor without protest. She was headed in that direction anyway and there was no use making a scene in front of his sister.
Once in the hall, however, she pulled away from Hawk’s loose hold. “If you would summon your butler or majordomo, or whatever you call him, for my coat, I’ll be on my way and we’ll put an end to this charade of an interview.”
“No,” Hawk
responded, pulling shut the parlor door.
“No?” The gall…the utter nerve.
Hawk smiled grimly. “Why pass up the chance to tell me, again, what you think of me? Or better yet, say it with finger food?” He nodded toward the room they’d just exited. “I noticed at least a few good scones in there.”
“I’ll permit Lucy to enjoy them.”
“What a relief.”
Her gaze clashed with his.
“It seems we’re at an impasse,” Hawk said dryly. “I refuse to let you leave with your coat until we’ve spoken, and you’re—” he looked at a nearby window and the steady drizzle coming down “—determined to get wet.”
“You’re all wet,” she retorted. “And for your information, I have a compact umbrella with me in my handbag.”
Hawk sighed. “We can do this the hard way, and perhaps make a scene that Lucy will overhear, or we can retire to somewhere with a bit more privacy.”
“You leave me little choice,” Pia tossed back, her chin set at a mutinous angle.
Without waiting for a further invitation, Hawk steered her into a room across the hall.
As Hawk shut the door behind them, Pia noted that this room was unmistakably a library or study. It had built-in bookshelves, a marble mantel as impressive as the one in the parlor, and a large desk set in front of high windows. With plenty of dark, leather-upholstered furniture, the room was clearly Hawk’s domain.
Pia turned back to confront Hawk. “I had no idea Lucy was related to you. She gave her name as Lucy Montgomery. Otherwise—”
“—you’d never have come?” he finished for her, his tone sardonic.
“Naturally.”
“Montgomery is the stage name that Lucy adopted. It is, however, also a surname that appears in our family tree.”
Pia raised her eyebrows. “Do all you Carsdales operate under a variety of names?”
“When it suits.”
“And I suppose it suits when you’re intent on seduction?”
She’d intended the comment as a sharp riposte, but he had the audacity to give her a slow, sensuous smile.
“Is that what it was—seduction?” he murmured. “To which you fell victim?”
“Through foul means.”
“But still you were seduced by the man…not the title.”
Pia detected a note of naked honesty in Hawk’s banter, but she didn’t let herself dwell on it. She didn’t let herself dwell on anything—including the fact that they were in his library alone together—except holding on to her outrage.
“You masterminded this,” she accused, looking around them. “You arranged to have me come here when you knew I was not suspecting…not ex-expecting…”
Words deserted her.
“It’s not a charade, however,” Hawk countered. “How could it be? My sister needs to move up her wedding date, and you’re a wedding consultant, last I heard.”
