Page 81 of Devil in Her Details

Astonishment poured out of those honey eyes. “You were awake?”

Dagger leaned over, pinching a loose lock of hair between his fingers as he held her gaze. “Love, a moth landing on the windowsill will wake me. You sneaking off was practically a cannon blasting in my ears.”

Her cheeks turned a pretty pink.

“I wasn’t sneaking,” she said with the conviction of a woman who had absolutely been sneaking. “I simply rose early.”

Dagger chuckled. Lilly Trenton had exactly one reliable crack in her composure. This lynx could face down a marquess without flinching. She could walk into a room full of rough men and introduce herself by name. She could hold her own. But a single moment of unexpected intimacy and the color flared along the column of her neck. He found himself wanting to tease out all the different shades. “At dawn.”

“I’m an early riser.”

He let the lock fall and traced his thumb over her lower lip. “I missed you beside me. The bed turned cold so quickly after you left.”

Her mouth opened. Closed. The pink deepened considerably.

He straightened. “Now the rules.”

Her gaze flashed with challenge. “Is that really necessary?”

“Yes, if we go, we go by my rules.” He held up a finger before she could object. “Not negotiable. You want to go to your shop, these are the terms. Take them or leave them.” He wasn’t taking any chances.

She rolled her eyes. “Fine. What are these rules?”

“I only have two. Stay tucked sweetly by my side, and do everything I say.”

She stared at him flatly. “Two, you say. Well, aren’t you the tyrant.”

“Believe me, love, you haven’t met the tyrant me yet.” If Calvington made another move, there would be very little civilized left in him.

“Something to look forward to.”

Sarcastic lynx. She had no idea what she was provoking. “So you agree to my rules?”

“I agree that I’ll most certainly try.” She was entirely unrepentant, staring at him with her chin up.

He paused, mildly suspicious at how easy that had been. “Trying is not good enough.” Not nearly.

“Trying is the best I can do.”

“Lilly.”

“Fine. I’ll do my utmost to try to follow your rules. Are you sure you don’t have any more rules to set?”

He wasn’t, actually. There was a third rule forming somewhere in the back of his mind that had less to do with tactics and more to do with the fact that she was sitting close enough that he could smell the soft scent of her person.

“For now,” he said.

She held out her hand. “Shall we shake on it?”

What was this? He looked at the hand. The same hand that had been wrapped around him last night. Little Dagger thickened.

Not the damn time.

Going on a mission half-cocked was even worse than being half-foxed.

He took her hand in his and brought it up his lips, leaving a soft kiss on her wrist. Her flush spread. Dagger traced a slow path from her palm to the inside of her elbow.

Her breath hitched, and he drank in the sound.