He grinned at her. “If you cared about something like that, you shouldn’t have stepped foot into my house.”
“Fine,” she said tightly. “Then what is thisfunyou’re dragging me to?”
Drake would be an idiot not to hear the thin, buried edge of worry she thought she’d tucked neatly away. He bent his head toward her. “A surprise.”
Her brows drew together. “I don’t like surprises.”
“Not to worry, Miss Sharpe. No harm will befall you while you are with me.”
She stared up at him, assessing, weighing. A soft breeze tugged at a strand of her hair from beneath her cap, but she didn’t bother to tuck it back.
His fingers twitched.
Why the devil did she have to be so tempting?
“Bloody hell.”
“What now?” she muttered, her brows drawing together.
“You are both hellfire and holy water, woman.”
Chapter Nine
Lo and behold,the surprise destination was the same abandoned building where he’d set the trap she’d stepped into a few nights ago!
Violet just wanted this “surprise” to be over.
This blackguard.
If she harbored any doubt that she might have been mistaken that he knew it had been her, even a little sliver, it vanished the moment they dismounted and stepped into the building. But this time, everything was different. This time, men milled about and cigar smoke thoroughly infused the air. And just what had the man meant about her being both his hellfire and holy water?
Was that good or bad?
Goodandbad?
Was he mocking her hair? Her temper? It couldn’t be the latter, since, according to her friends, she had a rather good temper. The former? She inwardly snorted.
She loved her hair.
He could return to his underworld throne if he didn’t.
The words did, unreasonably, stir a tiny, extremely tiny, thrill in her. In any event, she still didn’t know how he had recognized her that night. She’d worn a cloak. Unless...the hair. Entirely plausible. However, she couldn’t be the only woman in Brighton with this shade. She wasn’t any sort of rarity.
Be that as it may, she intended to escape as soon as possible. He might call it running, but what did that matter? He knew where she lived. Had a blasted key! So, in essence, she wasn’t running or even escaping. She was simply departing.
She peeked at the big man beside her.
His thighs had once again enveloped her on their way here. Blazes, she didn’t rightly know how to feel in that moment. Enjoy being cocooned in this oaf’s arms and legs or resent the fact that she’d once again been left with little choice but to obey.
Still, his obey is better than your brother’s obey.
What was she even thinking... Did that not make it even worse?
Violet decided she truly had to reflect on the direction of her wayward thoughts. No woman should be pondering a man’s muscles while being willingly kidnapped. And yes, she would still attach the word kidnap even after the word willing! She’d been left without much of a choice. Again. Though if she had to be honest, which she absolutely refused to be, her curiosity in their lair had been piqued. And dashed the moment they arrived here. Now all she wanted to do was leave.
They stepped into the open space where she’d had her first run-in with Drake to the exact opposite of what she’d found before. A fight raged at the center, bodies moving with brutal grace from what she could see through the cracks of the men, women, and the occasional boys circling them, cheering the combatants on with wild enthusiasm.
A real fight.
