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The dogs sat. Their tongues were a mile long and dangled lazily while they waited to do more of Landon’s bidding.
“See?”
He still had not let go of her. She angled her head just a fraction, and their noses almost bumped. “A dog bit me when I was little,” she confessed, for some reason thinking it appropriate to whisper. As though she were in a church or a library. “I’ve had a healthy respect for them ever since.”
“Yet you still married one?” He smiled.
“I married a snake—it’s an entirely different species.”
When he continued to smile that almost-there smile, she could almost feel it against her lips. At this close distance, Beth spotted the darker silver rim around his irises spreading like smoke across his eyes. Her knees went weak. He really was gorgeous.
Was he seducing her? God, it was working. His touch, his voice, the heat in his eyes.
“These two are a bit heavy to roll over,” he said quietly, clenching her shoulders a bit, “but you can ask them to shake your hand if you’d like.”
“Later,” she said, blushing because she began to see a little complication. This man had an effect on her. A huge effect. He didn’t even have to kiss her for that. His presence was an open, blatant call to all things feminine inside her which she shouldn’t, for the love of God, embrace right now.
“Good doggies,” she said, staying clear of the intimidating pair while at the same time putting distance between her and Landon.
After commanding, “Release”—a word which sent the dogs plopping back down before the fireplace—he led her up the sweeping limestone staircase.
The bedroom they entered at the far end of the hall was spacious, sparsely furnished, decorated in a black-and-white palette that went heavy on the black and sparse on the white. A guest room, she supposed.
But a string of unexpected words popped into her head.
“If you want to sleep with someone, you’ll sleep with me.”
Her stomach twisted as though she’d just taken a plunge on a roller coaster, and she had trouble shaking off the thought of sharing that very big bed with the very big man standing to her right.
There was no denying there had been some serious vibes going on between the two of them back in the conference room. But Beth had to concentrate on what was important: getting David back.
Her life was a mess and she’d taken fretting to a whole new art form. She didn’t need more worries.
Hopefully, Landon wasn’t getting any bed-sharing ideas.
She peered up at his hard profile. Of course he wasn’t. Landon was in it for the little black book, and for what she could tell him about Hector.
He’d entered the room first and pulled off his jacket as she followed. “This is your room.” His jacket fell with a thud atop a corner chair. “Unless you want to sleep in mine.”
She wasn’t sure if he was kidding or not and didn’t have time to decide. “I’ll keep this one, thank you.”
His white cotton shirt pulled attractively across his shoulders as he calmly held out his hand. “The book? Do you mind if I have a look now?”
“Yes, I do mind, actually.”
He wiggled his fingers. “Come on. Give it over, Bethany.”
She frowned. “I said you could read it when you married me, didn’t I?”
His eyes sparkled in amusement. “We’re more than halfway there—the sooner I see what that bastard’s after the sooner I can skin his ass on a platter.”
The thought of Hector laid out like a dead pig on a tray was too lovely to deny. It brought butterflies to her stomach. “All right, but only the first two pages. You can read the rest after the wedding.”
She waited for Thomas to bring up her sui
tcase, then extracted the black book from the outside zippered compartment. “Okay, so let’s talk about our plan. I want Hector to be left with nothing. Absolutely nothing.”
Landon’s lips twitched, and when she noticed she felt herself respond. Damn, how did he do that? Every time he smiled she found herself smiling back like a dope.
