Page 10 of Wicked Highland Heroes

Fury blazed in her eyes. “You prefer a baron’s daughter to me?” This time she squeezed his member—hard.

He bit back a wince and managed a cold smile. “Yes.” Erroll saw the wheels turning in her mind and he seized the wrist of the hand that still gripped him. “Release me, my dear, before you do something you regret.”

Indecision flickered across her face before she jerked free of his hold and shoved to her feet. Erroll gripped the edges of the tub and pushed up, easing his wounded leg to the floor. He’d banged the damned thing against the tub when she’d startled him awake. The wound wasn’t bad, but it pounded like the devil as blood flowed through the muscle. He stood, then took one step nearer to the chair beside the hearth and snatched up the silk robe draped over the cushion. He stuck an arm in one sleeve and turned as he shoved the other arm into the remaining sleeve.

“What are you doing here?”

Her gaze dropped to his erection, which still demanded its reward. “You should have stayed asleep another moment, darling. You didn’t take your pleasure. You were close, though, by your reactions.”

He was, and with a great deal of help from her as it turned out.

Erroll closed the robe and cinched the belt. “How did you get in here?”

“The clerk was very helpful.”

He remembered the innkeeper who had given him the key to Miss Crenshaw’s room. It seemed clerks and innkeepers were too free with information concerning their guests.

He crossed to the small sideboard near the window and poured a glass of brandy. “Laura, I am in no mood.”

“I beg to differ.”

Erroll reached for the glass, then thought better of it and faced her. He leaned his backside against the sideboard. “I have never known you to venture farther from London than Coventry, and then only when a certain young duke was sowing his wild oats.”

She waved a hand. “You are as worthy as the duke.”

“More so, but your time is wasted on me, just as it was with him.”

“Erroll, we have shared much. Do you not miss me?”

“I have not missed you for over a week.”

Her mouth pinched, but she said in a bright voice, “It is all over Town that you were shot by your latest paramour. I didn’t believe it, but there is the proof.”

Erroll didn’t look at his leg. “A lovers’ quarrel. You know how that is.”

“I never shot you.”

“Only because you lacked the nerve.”

“Is shooting you how a lady keeps your attention?” She glided across the room to him. “Really, darling, are you going to stay angry at me forever?” She pressed her full lips into a pout and placed her palms on his chest.

“I am not angry,” he said.

She slipped her hands inside his robe to his chest. Erroll caught her wrists and her head snapped up.

“We are finished, Laura. I assumed you understood that last week.”

“So you are still angry. That is unfair.”

He released her and straightened, forcing her back. “I am not angry. I simply have no interest in a woman who will pit me against another of her lovers—and a jealous one at that. But I suspect that was what you had in mind.”

“You know how I get,” she sulked. “I never meant for you to get caught in that squabble. I said I was sorry.”

“And I accepted your apology. Now, if you will excuse me, I have an appointment.” She opened her mouth, but he cut her off, “You are not to interfere with my current situation.”

Ire flashed across her face. “How could I possibly interfere?”

“By putting it about that you visited me in my hotel room and had your pretty hands around my cock.”