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It was late before Angel heard Duke enter the bedroom after his shower. Sitting on the patio once again, comfortably curled into the chaise longue, the bottle of whiskey beside her, she enjoyed the last of the cigarro she’d begun the night before.
“Wench,” he murmured, taking a seat on the lounger at her knees and reaching for the smoke. “I was dying for one of these while dealing with those damned cousins of mine today.”
She relinquished it, almost grinning at the gripe in his tone, not to mention the fact that he was shirtless and all that gorgeous muscle was on display for her viewing pleasure. Barefoot, wearing nothing but a towel, and completely unashamed.
“Which cousins?” she asked, letting the man and the night begin to soothe the ragged edge of emotion that had scraped her nerves raw over the day.
“All of them,” he snorted. “Sometimes I think the ones I was raised with are just as damned hardheaded and stubborn as Dawg, Rowdy, and Natches ever were.”
And that was saying something.
“Have they found anything new?” she asked.
“Nothing yet. Thankfully, DNA collected from Bliss’s hands is due sometime tomorrow, as is that from the two assailants from the safe house.” He inhaled the fragrant smoke of the cigarro; his eyes narrowed as he seemed to glare at the patio doors before exhaling. “Did you get the picture I sent you earlier of the guy the security cameras picked up across from the safe house? He was watching it the night it was attacked. The way he was hunkered down in that car trying to avoid the cameras . . . There’s no way he was unaware of them.”
“I didn’t recognize him.” Laying her head back on the lounger she gazed up through the weaved, ivy-covered hardwood crossbeams that made the roof of the patio.
“I was hoping someone would.” He sighed, handing her the tobacco back when she reached for it. “How’s Bliss doing today?”
“She’s hanging in there,” Angel assured him, thinking of the conversation she had with her sister about Bran. “She’s incredibly resilient.”
She gave him the last of the cigarro, watched as he finished it then tapped the fire out in the ashtray she’d placed on the table next to her.
She liked this, she thought. The antibiotic injection Ethan had given her was working. Tonight, she was relaxed, mellow. And she’d missed Duke.
“She’s not the only one,” he murmured. “I know someone else in the family that’s very resilient.”
“Yeah, Natches bounces back pretty fast, too,” she agreed with a straight face. “Amazes me how well that man adapts to new situations.”
Before she could guess his intention, he bent, lifted her, and a second later tossed her over his shoulder.
“Duke Mackay, you’re a dead man.” She gripped his hard hips as he strode into the bedroom, one arm holding the backs of her thighs as she giggled—good Lord, he had her giggling.
His hand landed lightly against her rear, the material of the shirt all that separated their skin. The little sting and resulting pleasure of the caress wasn’t hampered in any way, though. Damn his hide.
“Neanderthal,” she gasped when he patted her bare butt before tossing her to the bed.
Coming to her elbows as he whipped the towel from his lean hips, she found herself having to fight to breathe.
Tanned muscle, his chest rising and falling as quick and as hard as her own, the green of his eyes gleaming with carnal intent, wicked and hot.
“Unbutton the shirt,” he demanded with a quick upward tilt of his head. “Slow.”
Now this was interesting.
Working on the first button she watched his expression, the way his lashes lowered, giving him a sexy, erotically brooding look as a flush tinted his sun-bronzed cheeks.
“I’ve thought about this all day.” The darker, deeper rasp of his voice caused her lower body to clench as pleasure tightened her sex.
“What have you thought about it?” Releasing the buttons slowly, she could feel her sex growing wetter, slicker.
“Watching you unwrap all that soft, silky flesh.” The anticipation in his expression was intensely exciting. “You have the softest skin, all flushed and warm like a summer peach.”
Heat flushed not just her face but her entire body. She released the final button but left the shirt as it lay against her.
His gaze dropped down her body, sliding along the bare skin between the open edges of the material.
