“Love.” Devlin eased up beside her, quickly taking in the light burns on her exposed forearms. He hoped he wouldn’t have to get physical to intervene. Only an idiot got between two women in a blue. “Elle was getting back at you for putting on airs. Let her go now. She didn’t know you had a sun allergy.”
“I’ll be happy to give all your money back if you take you and your mob elsewhere.” Elle spat it out. Dev had seen Elle take an indifferent attitude toward foreigners before, but this was active dislike, tinged with the stink of fear. What the bloody hell is going on here? “I’d even lend you transport, but it won’t have those nice dark windows. It’d be a shame if the engine died right before dawn.”
He realized he wasn’t disrupting a possibly entertaining brawl of hair pulling and female slaps. His own hackle-raising intuition, as well as the tense reaction of her men, told him that Lady D’s level of violence could be anything but entertaining. Another piece of the puzzle, one he was sure keyed in to both the aborigine’s and Elle’s not-so-subtle hint that he was playing with fire. And it was likely he was going to get sensitive bits of himself scorched.
“Elle, leave off.” As he reached out, Devlin judged Lady Danny’s temperament much as he’d gauge a croc’s appetite before he knelt by a creek to refill his water supply. When he put a hand carefully on her wrist, she flicked him a glance. “My lady, let her go.
Look, the sun’s said its final farewell for the day. You know how it is here. Sunset and then boom, it’s night. And just to be sure . .
.”
Determining that it was reasonably safe to step away a moment, and glad Joe wasn’t around to mix things up further, he turned, scanned the bar and found what he sought. Going to that corner, shouldering past the few men watching, he procured the paper parasol that Elle had as one of the decorations for the place. “I’ll bring it back,” he promised, before Elle’s scowl got any darker.
He gave it a twirl, drawing the lady Danny’s attention.
“A parasol to shade you, my lady. It’s even got this pretty picture of a Japanese lady on the outside, sitting beneath a bamboo tree.” He cocked a brow and won a quirk of Danny’s lips, though her eyes were still shooting sparks. Lord help him if her temper didn’t make her even more breathtaking.
“Dev, not for a million quid would I go anywhere with her and this lot. She’s not right. She—”
“Neither am I, Elle.” It was a gentle reminder, but he gave her a hard glance that said he wouldn’t be dissuaded. “And I don’t need a million quid, do I?”
Lady Daniela abruptly let Elle go, giving her a scathing look. “I paid for the room, and I’ll be staying. But that’s the last time you annoy me.” Her gaze flickered over Devlin in a way that made his skin tingle and his cock jump to new life, brainless appendage that it was.
“He’s mine for tonight. And he appears more than willing. Don’t interfere again.”
/p>
He gave it a twirl, drawing the lady Danny’s attention.
“A parasol to shade you, my lady. It’s even got this pretty picture of a Japanese lady on the outside, sitting beneath a bamboo tree.” He cocked a brow and won a quirk of Danny’s lips, though her eyes were still shooting sparks. Lord help him if her temper didn’t make her even more breathtaking.
“Dev, not for a million quid would I go anywhere with her and this lot. She’s not right. She—”
“Neither am I, Elle.” It was a gentle reminder, but he gave her a hard glance that said he wouldn’t be dissuaded. “And I don’t need a million quid, do I?”
Lady Daniela abruptly let Elle go, giving her a scathing look. “I paid for the room, and I’ll be staying. But that’s the last time you annoy me.” Her gaze flickered over Devlin in a way that made his skin tingle and his cock jump to new life, brainless appendage that it was.
“He’s mine for tonight. And he appears more than willing. Don’t interfere again.”
HE’D never thought of himself as belonging to anyone, but as for the rest . . . well, there was no arguing with the simple truth.
Devlin stepped out into the night, offering his companion a hand down the rickety back steps this time. He’d brought the parasol, but as soon as he verified the sun was truly gone, he left it inside the door. He’d recovered his belongings, so they sat comfortably on his back again, a weighted reminder of reality he needed right now.
“The sun just said its final farewell? A bit poetic for a bushman.”