When Penny finally bustled in, our packed bag was leaned against the couch, and I was nursing a cup of coffee at the kitchen table.
“Kit?” he called as his boots thunked onto the mat by the door.
“In here.”
He came into view with a loaf of bread tucked under his arm. His cheeks and nose were pink from the cold, but he wasbeaming. His expression grew quizzical when I didn’t rise from where I was slumped over my mug. My smile must not have been as cheery as I intended.
He set the bread on the counter and lowered himself into the chair beside mine. “What’s happened?” he asked. “What’s wrong?”
I’d been mulling over how to explain it since I finished packing. There was no nice way to tell him what had gone on while he was at Rosie’s, so I decided to keep it short.
“Violette came by claiming to be afraid of Merrick, saying that he hit her.”
Penny’s brows scrunched, fully prepared to accept the lie.
I knew the half-brothers had their share of altercations, even a few physical ones, but this was a different situation. She didn’t deserve his concern. “I didn’t believe her,” I said, and his brows dipped a bit further. “If you knew Vi like I do, you’d realize it’s a more likely story told the other way around.”
Penny huffed an uneasy laugh, prompting a brief smile from me. I didn’t mind the thought of Violette putting her husband on his backside, but it logically led to the question Penny asked next.
“Why would she say it, then?”
I looked at the coffee gone lukewarm in my grasp. “Now that I think about it, I wonder if he put her up to the whole thing. I had a feeling it was an act, but I walked into her trap.” I chuckled bitterly. “I should have taken her to Levitt and let him handle it. He's the Right Hand. He’s her blood. These should behisproblems, not mine.”
Penny covered my hands where they were gripping my mug tightly enough that my fingertips were tingling. His brows drew down again as he asked, “What happened?”
I let out a heavy breath. “I thought I could handle her; I used to be able to, but she cornered me and she kissed me and I threw her out.”
Penny straightened in his seat, going stiff-backed and rigid. The color on his face deepened with more than the flush of windburn. His eyes darted away, and I expected some kind of outburst to follow. Instead, he stayed eerily quiet until he pushed back his chair and made to stand.
“Think I’ll pay Merrick a visit,” he said, his voice like ice.
I caught his wrist and held him in place, fighting down the sudden fear that it was me he was angry at, not Vi. That maybe he just wanted to get away fromme.
I knew better, but still the worry gnawed at my guts and made my words come out more desperate than I intended.
“Please don’t.”
He opened his mouth to protest, but I continued anyway.
“Pen, I don’t know what this is leading towards, but it can’t be good. I’ve made enemies of both MerrickandVi. I don’t want you involved in it.”
He snorted and braced his free hand on the tabletop so he could lean in. “Isn’t this a conversation we’ve had before? I’malreadyinvolved in it because you’re my beau, and I’m not going to let my conniving half-brother get away with this.”
It was still jarring to see my tender-hearted paramour’s sharper edge. It was a weapon he seemed to only wield for me, ready to fight first for my attention, and then for my honor. It concerned me just as much as it always had, but I was starting to see it as a manifestation of love. The protective shield I never had as a child remained unfamiliar as an adult and harder to accept because I still wasn’t sure I deserved it.
I scooted my chair back and tugged on his arm. “I appreciate that you want to defend me, but right now, you’re still in Vi’s good graces.”
His resolve cracked, and he let himself be pulled in to stand between my knees. I wound my arms around his waist and pressed my face into his chest. It was the contact I’d been craving since the moment everything went wrong, and I soaked it in.
“Kit…”
“I know it won’t last,” I mumbled against his shirt, “but we need to keep it that way for as long as possible. It might give us time to prepare for whatever she does next.”
I tipped my head to look up at him and remembered the rabbit fur cloak and how soft it would be tickling his bare neck.
A smile ghosted across my lips. We had better things to discuss than Violette’s impending retribution.
“Speaking of preparations,” I said, sliding my hands down to rest on his hips, “I’ve made a few.”
