Like that one, Ellie thought grimly.
“That’d make a hell of a mess.”Adam’s tone was deceptively light, but Ellie could feel the ready tension in him as he held her arm.“Lots of stained towels.Probably a whole lot of people out looking for whoever’d done the shooting.”
Jacobs’ jaw tightened.“Out in the hall, Professor,” he ordered.
Dawson inched around Jacobs as though loath to approach the man, then scurried through the door like a startled pill bug.
“You’ve almost got my sympathy for being saddled with that guy,” Adam commented.“Almost.”
Jacobs’ smile was thin.“I’ll say hello to Dr.Fairfax and Miss Tyrrell for you.”
He stepped back and slammed the door.
Adam raced over, immediately rattling the knob.It didn’t budge.
“He’s locked us in?”Ellie surmised.
“Bastard,” Adam cursed, thumping the door with his fist.
“Could we break it down?”
Adam’s mouth curved into a smirk.“I do have a bit of a knack for kicking through doors.”
Ellie’s cheeks flushed as she recalled how Adam had burst into her washroom back in British Honduras, covered in muck and waving his machete.At the time, she had been only peripherally aware of just how nicely his muddy shirt had conformed to the contours of his physique, being more concerned with removing him from the premises.In memory, the incident took on a rather different tone.
Adam cheerfully shucked off his dinner jacket and tossed it aside.His bow tie and collar followed.
He opened the buttons at the top of his shirt, rolled up his sleeves, and ran a careless hand through his hair, disheveling the sun-kissed waves of it.
The changes shattered the illusion of a proper gentleman, leaving something deliciously disreputable in its place.
Ellie’s skin flushed.“Do you know,” she offered, carefully picking out each word.“It has only just occurred to me that there is no one else here.”
Adam stilled.His look shifted over her—allover her—and darkened with heat.
He took a step closer.Ellie could feel the warmth of his body through the fabric of her dress.
Three weeks, she thought wildly.It had been three torturous weeks since she had last put her hands on him.
Which was far too bloody long.
He lowered his head, his breath dancing over the sensitive skin of Ellie’s cheek.His hands clenched reflexively where they hovered just over her silk-wrapped hips.“He’s going after Constance and Neil.”
“Constance is extremely capable,” Ellie reasonably pointed out.
Her fingers itched to reach for the front of his trousers.
“Ellie…” Adam groaned.
Ellie’s moral compass warred with the lust raging through her veins as she gripped the front of Adam’s shirt.
“I’m gonna try to bust the door,” Adam declared, staring down at the curve of Ellie’s décolletage.
“Yes, I suppose that would be sensible,” Ellie returned.
“You’re probably gonna have to let go of my shirt.”
Ellie forced her hands to unclench.She faced Adam, blood pulsing hotly, breath short.
