him, and in the gaze that stared at her lurked something dangerous. Her stomach flipped alarmingly. “I have never heard anything so silly! My brother is the best of men!”
“To others he might be a villain.”
That word caught against the discomfort of her thought. “You said might. How certain are you?”
“About thirty percent of surety,” he murmured.
“You are odd,” she said, feeling an unexpected spurt of humor. “To deny oneself pleasure because of such an improbable possibility.”
She gasped when he suddenly reached for her and dragged her onto his lap. The feel of the firm power of his thigh under her buttocks had her blushing, and with a hated sense of shyness she folded her hands beneath her bosom. Oh God, I am sitting on him!
“An improbable possibility?” he asked.
She was intensely mindful of his hand, strong and warm, on her lower back. “Of course. My brother is the best of gentlemen. It is not possible for him to do anything that might make him the enemy of anyone.”
“If he did, your brother would have been a lad of seventeen.”
“You do know how to hold a grudge,” she cried, thumping his shoulder lightly, before quickly folding back her arms. I am still sitting on his thigh! Are we not going to mention that at all?
“You make light of a matter of which you are ignorant.”
“Then enlighten me.”
He grunted but remained silent.
Maryann peered at him from beneath her lashes. “Are you worried I will want to skewer you for my brother?”
“Should I come for him and you know it, you will stand between us like an avenging angel with your rapier—or a shovel.”
“I agree,” she said softly, pushing a few curls behind her ears.
“Your brother might indeed be the man I am looking for.”
Her heart lurched uncomfortably. “He cannot be, I am certain of it,” she whispered, suddenly realizing that if the marquess was her brother’s enemy, Crispin’s life was in danger.
“Ah, I see the understanding in your eyes finally. Should you decide to avenge your brother against me when I am finished with him, that would be a travesty. Imagine us enemies—a truly frightening prospect, especially as I believe you might win.”
The look in his eyes was a frightening thing to behold—it hinted at a cunning and a strength of restrained power.
“I am astonished you think I might win against you.”
His gaze lowered to her mouth and she could feel his want. The need to taste his kiss…to feel the press of his lips against hers, the yearning to feel desired rose up inside like a great hunger…or thirst. Her throat felt parched and need quivered through her.
I’ve never been kissed, she wanted to say, but the words were trapped in her aching throat.
“You have powers that you do not yet understand how to wield. And I must make every allowance for your sweet fierceness.”
At her silence, he arched a brow. “Got your tongue, did I?”
“I admit I was stuck on sweet fierceness, wondering at the possibility of it. Are you saying that you find my manners and oddities sweet? I really must know of which you speak, my charming personality or the place between my thighs that you tasted with your tongue?”
He jerked, the motion dropping her on her arse upon the soft carpet.
Nicolas quickly stood. “Hell!”
Sprawled on the carpet, Maryann looked up at him, and the hilarity of the moment struck her. She laughed, scrambling to stand, taking the hand he held out to her for him to pull her up. Still chuckling, she peered up at him only to falter, her breath shortening. The raw hunger in his eyes was almost intimidating. A precise urging stirred low in her stomach, more potent than anything she’d ever felt. “Nicolas?” she asked tremulously.
“There is a distinct possibility your accident today was deliberate,” he said a bit hoarsely.
“What?” That was the last thing she’d expect him to say given how he was staring at her. “No, that is not a sensible assumption to make. It was an accident. Going out was an impulse. Surely something like that would be methodically planned.”
“If someone is determined and powerful enough, it could be done.”
“Upon my word, you are entirely serious.”
“That accident was possibly a test to see how important you are to me, if at all.”
A frightening sensation dropped in her belly. What sort of man would have made such violent enemies? “What…who are your enemies?”
“A few. But there is someone on the board I am not familiar with, and that has me