She scoffed. “If you think I can’t manage that coxcomb, you are much mistaken.”
“Have you forgotten this is the man who pushed your brother off a cliff?”
“No, but rest assured that if necessary I would be the one doing the pushing, not Morgan.”
Kade pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to throttle back his temper and his worry. But every instinct he possessed cried out that Morgan could be dangerous.
“Look, Charlie,” he said, trying for a more reasonable tone. “You are strong and incredibly capable. But Morgan will not be as easily handled as Richard. So if we need to get him away from Johnny, I will do it.”
When she crossed her arms under her breasts, plumping them up over the top of her bodice, it was a distraction he didn’t need at the moment.
“Kade, I realize that you are trying to protect me, and I’m grateful. But I do not need protection. If Sir Leslie tried anything, he would bequitesorry. I’m faster, smarter, and I suspect my left hook is better, too.”
That failed to reassure him. “Charlotte, while I am well aware of your abilities, bad people, male or female, are adept at getting the jump on others. The woman who stabbed me in Paris barely came up to my chin and only weighed eight stone soaking wet.”
That gave her pause. “But you weren’t anticipating an attack, were you?”
“That is exactly my point,” he replied, exasperated.
Charlie tapped her chest. “I, however, would be expecting one and would be on my guard, because we already know Sir Leslie could be dangerous.”
Again, he tried to throttle back his temper and failed. When he pointed a finger at the tip of her nose, her eyes momentarily crossed.
“Charlotte Stewart, I forbid you to go anywhere near Morgan,” he growled. “Is that clear?”
Charlie jumped up from the sofa and strode to the piano. She stood there for a few moments before turning around and jabbing a finger at him. “You’re not to tell me what I can and cannot do, Kade Kendrick. And stop acting like a Highland oaf.”
Little red sparks seemed to dart around in his brain. Kade couldn’t believe they were even having this conversation.
He got up and stalked over to join her at the piano, looming over her. She had to crane her head back to meet his gaze.
“Charlie, if you will just—”
“Stop trying to intimidate me,” she interrupted. “It won’t work.”
“I’m not trying to intimidate you. I’m trying to keep you safe.”
She poked him in the chest. “No, you’re trying to control me. There’s a difference.”
Kade wrapped his hands around her shoulders, bringing her up on her toes. “You are the most exasperating woman I’ve ever met, do you know that?”
“And you are the most annoying man I’ve ever met.”
“I highly doubt that.”
For several long seconds, they glared at each other. Charlie’s color was high, and her velvet gaze crackled with anger. And she was so bloody enticing that he was tempted to drag her over to the sofa and have his way with her.
Moron.
He started to lower her back down when Charlie blew out an angry little huff.
“Hell and damnation,” she muttered.
She reached up and clamped her hands around his head, pulled him down, and planted a kiss on his mouth that almost knocked him out of his boots. Nearly staggering, he braced his hands on the piano behind her. With Charlie all but wrapping herself around him, pressing her body to his, Kade quickly found himself at the very limits of his self-control.
When she slipped her tongue between his lips, all hell broke loose inside him.
He gripped the piano, fighting the urge to sweep her up into his arms—to lay her flat out on the sofa and make love to her. It was utter madness, but the temptation to claim her swept through him like a summer storm on a Highland peak.
