“With rooms to let by the hour,” the third one finished. “’Tis a bit early for doxys to be wandering about, but we doona mind.” He looked to the other two men. “Do we?”
“Nae,” they said in unison and started walking toward her.
Annie willed her feet to move. Her shoes felt like they were filled with lead. “Ye doona understand—”
“Nothin’ to understand,” one man said. “We’ll just flip a coin to see who is first.”
“The first to die.”
Annie jumped at the sound of Niall’s voice. Before she could turn, he was beside her, one of his knives in each hand. The blades flashed as he flicked the handles, ready to throw.
“Any takers?” he asked.
All three men shook their heads as they backed up. “We dinnae mean nae harm,” one said.
Another added, “We thought she was a doxy.”
“She is nae a doxy.” Niall barked, his voice as sharp as his knives. “I am itching for a wee bit of practice with my blades, so unless ye want to be targets—”
“We’re leavin’,” the third man said and nearly knocked over the other two as they all turned at once and proceeded to run in the other direction.
Niall watched them go and then flicked the knives again with a deft motion that had each in its boot sheath before Annie could do more than blink. Slowly, she looked up at him. His face could have been chiseled out of stone. No doubt she was in for a lecture.
“That was impressive,” she said to avoid the scolding. “I had nae idea ye could handle knives like that.”
Niall shrugged.
“Ye must teach me.”
He raised a brow.
“Really. I…I could defend myself.”
The other brow went up.
Annie shifted her weight from one foot to the other. Niall wasn’t standing that close, but she could feel heat steaming off him. Anger? “For someone who is so glib with words, ye certainly are nae saying much,” she said, a shade too brightly. “I was on my way to tea—”
“Ye dinnaewait.” The words came out, hard as stones tumbling down a crag. “Ye dinnae wait for me.”
Hewasangry. “One of the ladies I normally read to had a visitor, so I thought—”
“Ye dinnaewait.”
Her own temper began to flare. “Ye doona have to sound like a parrot. I heard ye the first time.”
His mouth tightened. “Ye promised to wait for me.”
Annie frowned. “I dinnaepromise.”
“Ye agreed with me. Ye said ‘if ye wish.’ ’Tis the same.” His gray eyes penetrated hers. “Or does your word mean nothing?”
Oooh. That was too much. “Ye doona have the right to say such a thing. When I make a vow I keep it!”
One black brow rose again, and Annie willed herself not to fidget beneath Niall’s steady stare. “I just dinnae see any reason to wait for ye. ’Twas nae that long a walk to Tolbooth.”
“It was a long enough walk to place ye in danger, lass.”
She glanced away. “That was a fluke. Bad timing. I’ve walked Argyle Street a hundred times by myself. The chances of something like that happening again—”
