Page 27 of Devil in Her Details

Allie’s hands settled on her hips. “Why not?”

“Would that not spoil your fun? I’ll dress by myself.”

Lilly bit back a grin, moving to lean against the door. A quick escape if she needed one. She hadn’t planned to stay in the first place, merely be close at hand if any adjustments were still required. But she was confident that wouldn’t be the case.

Allie, with an exasperated sigh, flopped onto the bed. “How devastatingly boring you are, my love.”

Leo disappeared behind the dressing screen, and a moment later the unmistakable rustle of clothing filled the room. A few seconds later, Leo’s pained voice drifted out from behind the screen. “How did I even lose this wager?”

“Because,” Allie replied patiently, “women are always right.”

“I dispute the premise.”

Lilly grinned. “Of course he would.”

There was a pause, followed by the soft thump of something landing on the floor. Leo cursed. “Allie?”

Lilly bit back a smile while Allie sent her an arch look.

Her friend’s grin was pure evil. “Yes, my love?”

“I believe I have reached the stage of this ordeal where my dignity has entirely abandoned me.”

Lilly chuckled. “Then you shall have to find ways to recover it then.”

“I agree,” Allie exclaimed. “After all, you wanted to dress by yourself.”

Leo sighed. “Allie, love of mine . . .”

Lilly’s attention was stolen by a faint sound brushing against the door behind her at her back, her friends’ teasing slipping to distant murmurs. Her whole body froze. Even her heart seemed to stop beating for a moment. She didn’t know why, but her mind instantly leaped to the panther that had taken up residence in the public room of the inn.

She could not shake the sudden, foreboding possibility that the man whose dark gaze had unsettled her moments ago might very well be standing just beyond the door.

You’ve gone mad, Lilly.

Why would he be standing behind the door? It was probably nothing. An errant footstep in the corridor. A servant passing by. The creak of old hinges somewhere along the hall.

The inn was hardly empty.

“What do you think, Lilly?” Allie’s voice floated toward her, light and amused.

Lilly blinked her friend back into focus. What did she think? She had completely lost track of the conversation! “I, er, think I should leave you two lovebirds to your shenanigans and step outside.” And relieve the sudden urge to confirm that her imagination was indeed running about madly.

“Good idea,” Leo muttered. “One less witness to my humiliation.”

“Oh, don’t be so sure of that,” Lilly said, turning. “I might be out of earshot, but I still know.”

Allie burst out laughing while Leo groaned.

Lilly seized the moment to slip outside and found the hallway . . .

Empty.

She let out a sigh of relief.

So it had been just her imagination. Shutting the door behind her, she stepped up to the far wall to rest against it. Ah, yes. Madness had completely taken her over. What, on this blazing earth, was it about the man that made her thoughts return to him again and again? And in such a short time. One glance at him had told her everything she needed to know. Big, bad, and entirely improper. Not that she wanted him proper, but the fact that she was even thinking in those terms was concerning, was it not?

She found herself intrigued. Attracted to his mysteriousness. And she had only met him once. Was such a thing possible? To nurture such a deep fascination after a single meeting? She thought of her friends. Yes. Those two had been rather obsessed with each other since the moment they met.