“Suspicious,” he countered back.
She scoffed. “What does your suspicion have to do with me? Handle it on your own time, and don’t interfere with mine.”
He suddenly laughed. “How are you so bold all of a sudden?”
“Haven’t I been bold all this time?”
“Yes,” he conceded. “How did you know about the fake fight I set up?” His smile turned positively evil. “Well, you wouldn’t have known it was fake, now, would you?”
She lifted her chin. Madness. This conversation. Here, no less. Amidst all the pounding flesh and shouts. Could he not have had it on the horse? Where she at least didn’t have to look at his handsome face? “Like I said, by chance.”
“And yet you moved through the dark like someone who’s done it before.” He let those words stretch before he added, “More than once.”
Well, when a woman had to avoid a drunken brother almost every night, she learned a thing or two. “As you might have noticed, I am a woman who lives alone. It’s prudent to possess a certain practical sense.”
“Was it prudent to be skulking about cloaked at night? Just what were you doing that you unwittingly stepped into my trap?”
“That’s private.”
“Does this private matter have anything to do with me?” His eyes bore into hers. “You see, I believe that it does.”
“I assure you,” she said, forcing her voice steady, “you’re mistaken.”
“I’m usually not with these things, and you,” his gaze swept her face, “are running out of ways to deny it.”
“Oh, there are still plenty of synonyms for ‘entirely by happenstance.’”
“Then make a list for me.”
Alist? I beg thy pardon? Before she could summon a response, the brute reached for the hem of his shirt and removed it with one smooth motion, exposing his heavily muscled body. And Lord, every inch of him seemed carved from the same uncompromising strength.
Her eyes flew wide. “What are you doing?” she hissed, voice strangled. She darted a panicked glance at the crowd. “Put your shirt back on! People are looking!”
“What do you think I’m doing?” he asked unbothered, as though stripping half-naked in front of a roaring audience was the most natural thing in the world.
“I have no possible way to imagine what might be running through the mind of a man such as yourself!”
He tossed the shirt at her. She caught it, which was frankly impressive given that every coherent thought had just evacuated her mind entirely. The man flexed those sculpted slabs of strength dusted faintly with dark hair.
Saints preserve her.
Her mouth went inexplicably dry. Who would have thought the first time she saw the naked chest of a man, it would be in public? Utterly tragic! Truly breathtaking...
Violet nearly choked. “Are you serious?”
“You came here that night for a fight, did you not, Violet? Here I am giving you one.” His gaze swept the crowd, and the onlookers parted for him at once. “That’s why we are here.”
“How do you know I won’t just slip away when your attention shifts?”
“You won’t.”
So confident. She arched a brow and crossed her arms. “You can’t know that.”
“I know,” he murmured with a ridiculous smirk. “When I step into that ring, little spitfire, your eyes will not be anywhere else.”
Cocky brute.
“And if Idoleave?” she challenged.
