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He spied Tony in a hammock from the leaded casement windows of the morning room and stepped into the small walled garden. As he looked at the sleeping figure, a trick of the light made him blink his eyes. Dark lashes lay upon pink cheeks in delicate crescents. One slender hand lay curled upon his chest. Savage frowned at the youth’s feminine features.
At that moment Tony opened her eyes and scowled, annoyed that Adam had found her sleeping. She jumped up, thrust one hand into her trouser pocket, and picked up the scattered pages. “Welcome to Blackwater. You need look no farther. This place is absolutely perfect. It was originally an abbey and it was King John who erected the original castle. Think of it … King John! Come and look at the banqueting hall,” she urged enthusiastically.
Adam Savage stared hard, thinking Tony could easily pass for a female. His eyelashes curled and his lips were full, almost sensual. As Tony led the way to the banqueting hall, Adam’s eyes swept down the tall figure in front of him. Tony’s clubbed-back hair was growing very long and the posterior before him was quite well rounded. Was it possible that Tony was a female? No, the thought was preposterous! He dismissed it immediately.
Savage glanced about the beautiful old hall, but his eyes kept returning to Tony. He wished he could see through the cambric shirt. Perhaps it was his imagination, but he thought he had glimpsed the outline of a breast.
“Look at this,” Tony urged.
Savage’s glances suddenly became furtive. He watched Tony’s hand as it lovingly caressed the carved mantel.He touches things the way a woman would,thought Savage, unable to dismiss the suspicion that had stolen into his mind. His hand itched to pull the leather thong from the long dark hair and quickly searched his mind for a plausible reason to do so. “There’s not enough light in here to read what is carved.” He took the thong from his own hair to tie back one side of the drapes. “Give me your thong.”
Tony hesitated. She lifted her hand to her hair, then dropped it, not wanting him to see her with her hair about her shoulders. Then decisively she pulled off the thong and handed it to him.
Savage clearly saw the blush that tinged Tony’s cheeks as their fingers touched. With his hair falling about his shoulders, the lad was positively beautiful. If he was a lad! Savage told himself his suspicions were ridiculous as his mind went back over the months they’d known each other.
“There’s even a billiard room. Come and see,” Tony urged. She had never known a more magnetic man in her life. His black hair curled about his neck and she remembered threading her fingers through its crispness. Black-water’s romantic atmosphere was playing hell with her emotions. She longed for Adam to take her in his arms, ached for his mouth to swoop down and capture hers. If she could have only one wish it would be for this man to make love to her, here in his baronial castle.
“No, I want to go down to the river first.” Savage knew he must confirm or dispel the notion that Tony was a female and there was only one way to do it. He’d have to get him out of his clothes.
Tony followed Adam, chattering all the way. “The river’s full of salmon. If you had a long enough line you could fish from the drawing-room window!”
As they stood on the bank, looking into the black-green water, Savage said, “I’m hot and dusty from the ride, let’s have a swim.”
Tony took a few steps back. “No, you go ahead. The water’s probably cold even though the sun’s out.”
“Don’t be a coward, cold water never hurt a man.” Savage took a purposeful step toward her and too late she discerned his intent. He took Tony’s wrists in a firm grip and pulled her toward the water.
Tony pulled back with all her strength, but it was useless to resist against one as powerfully built as Savage. All her instincts cried out to her that Adam was about to undress her. When his hands took hold of her shirt, she struggled wildly, then she felt a strong palm cup her breast.
Savage was stunned. His hand was holding one of the firmest globes it had ever encountered. Before he was totally convinced, he knew his eye would have to confirm what his senses and his fingers told him was true. He took hold of her shirt to pull it from her. It tore as she in turn yanked the fabric from his hands.
Savage found himself holding a half-naked female. With the cloud of black, disheveled hair, the fiery green eyes, and the sulky mouth that looked ready to bite him, she looked like an exotic wildcat from the jungle.
Tony’s heart beat rapidly as she realized his penetrating gaze had finally uncovered her secret. Her breasts were revealed to his icy stare.
“Who the hell are you?” Savage demanded.
“Antonia Lamb, who the hell do you think I am?” she said on a sob, and fled up the hill, back to the castle.
Chapter 33
Antonia was trembling by the time she reached her tower room. A storm had been brewing between them since that first day when Adam Savage had looked at Lord Anthony Lamb with open contempt. They had weathered a few squalls when the clash of their personalities had dangerously disturbed the atmosphere, but Antonia knew the cataclysm that was about to be unleashed would be more than thunderous. She had seen his face. There was no other word for it, it wassavage.He was daunting and intimidating at the best of times but when his temper was about to lash into fury, he was terrifying!
She tore off the ripped shirt and reached for a dress. Her hair had come undone and cascaded about her shoulders in wild disarray. The door crashed open. Savage strode in. She whirled about, clutching the green gown to her nakedness, and took a step back from the black rage that blazed from his dark face. He was the devil incarnate. She felt the fire and smelled the brimstone!
Savage checked his stride and tried to leash his fury as he dimly realized he was no longer at liberty to burst into her bedchamber.
“Downstairs, mistress, when you have removed those scandalous trousers.” He spun on his heel and again crashed the door, making the candle brackets dance on the walls.
Antonia slumped back against the wardrobe door, her eyes awash with tears. She took a great gulp of air in an effort to compose herself. She would have to make herself feminine and appealing before she went down. When she explained her impossible predicament to him, he would understand everything. How remorseful he would be for his savage temper. It was just as well he had found out the truth. Now he would protect her from the danger of her evil cousin.
Antonia put on a shift and drawers, then sat down on the edge of the bed to pull on her stockings with shaky hands. She slipped on the pale green gown and fastened the ribbons on the sleeves. As she brushed out the tangled mass of black silk curls she assessed the damage of her face. The tears had made her lashes spiky, but her lips were bloodlessly pale. She took out pink lip rouge and applied it to her mouth, emphasizing its feminine fullness. She wondered if she should thread a ribbon through her curls. God, better not overdo it! Her high-heeled slippers made her taller and gave her the confidence she needed to go downstairs to him. By now his temper would have cooled.
Savage stood before the massive mantel in the large banqueting hall. Transversing the entire length of the room took a great deal of courage. Savage’s powerful frame almost blocked out the fireplace as she came slowly forward. His face looked as if it had been carved from black oak. The scar that marred his mouth stood out in livid relief.
“What game are you playing?” His voice cracked like a whip.
She caught her lip between her teeth, then plunged in breathlessly. “It’s very simple. It was Anthony, not Antonia, who was lost at sea in that terrible storm. I took my twin’s place so that I wouldn’t lose Lamb Hall.”
