An Unexpected Earl (Lords of the Armory #2) - Anna Harrington Page 0,51
shoulders sagged with relief. “You won’t be disappointed, I promise you.”
“Something tells me you’re right.” Then he nodded toward the door. “I’ll return to the party in a moment.” He grinned. “Rumors say that Devonshire keeps a bottle of forty-year-old Kopke port in this closet, and you can’t blame an old army officer for ransacking the place to find it.”
The joke broke the tension. Somewhat. Howard laughed stiltedly, but Pearce could still sense his desperation.
“Close the door when you leave, will you?”
Howard did as ordered, without another word.
Glad that conversation was over, Pearce leaned back against a side table positioned between the two tall windows, crossed his arms, and kicked one ankle over the other. The pose of a man completely at ease.
Until he called out, “All clear, Amelia. You can come out from hiding now.”
She stepped out from behind the paneled screen in the corner near the door and glared at him, hands on hips and chin lifted high into the air, eyes blazing. A fighting stance if ever he’d seen one.
The battle was about to begin.
* * *
“You agreed to give him an answer by tomorrow noon?” Amelia demanded, her hands clenching into fists against her hips. Because if she didn’t let anger overtake her, then she’d most likely break down in tears. Already her nose and throat were burning.
“Howard was demanding an answer, and I had to tell him something,” he explained calmly. “I bought us more time.”
She almost laughed. “Little more than twelve hours!”
“During which I’ll have thought of another way to stall him. Besides,” he reminded her grimly, “he’s already introduced the bill. The wheels have been set in motion, whether we like it or not.”
“And the rest of it?” she pressed. “The part about not going ahead with this unless I willingly agree?”
“I meant every word.” His blue eyes softened. “I would never betray you.”
Her shoulders deflated, the anger slowly easing out of her. She wanted to believe him, so very much…but could she?
“Perhaps it’s time that we stop arguing,” he suggested, “and start working together.”
A ball of heat formed at the base of her spine. “What do you mean?”
He shrugged, and the rakish movement started a liquid burn twisting up her spine, coiling its way through her and replacing all residual traces of her anger with tingling warmth. “You want to save your charity, and we both want to find out who’s been blackmailing your brother. Working separately has gotten us nowhere except speeding up the creation of the turnpike trust.”
“I know.” But together… Could she truly do it? Warily, she asked, “What do you propose?”
“A compromise. You tell me everything you know about your brother and his blackmailer.”
When he didn’t continue with the second half of his terms, she prompted, “How is that a compromise?”
“I didn’t say it was a compromise for me.”
She folded her arms across her bosom and coolly arched a brow.
“But it will work to keep you safe.” His eyes twinkled in amusement. “And out from behind screens.”
Oh, that devil! Before she could give him the setdown he deserved, he shoved himself away from the table, took her upper arms in his hands, and placed a kiss to her forehead, very effectively silencing her in surprise.
“Wouldn’t it be so much better if we were working together rather than at odds?” he murmured against her temple before returning to his perch on the table, in that same raffish pose as before. “Think of all the war widows we could help then.”
With a capitulating sigh, she dropped her hands to her sides. The rascal knew exactly how to attack her defenses to get what he wanted. Always had. Apparently, some things never changed.
“All right,” she agreed cautiously. “We’ll work together. I’ll tell you everything I know about the blackmail and what Freddie’s been doing with those appointments.” She wagged a finger at him. “But in return, you promise not to agree to anything else regarding the turnpike until you talk to me first.” She had no choice but to add, “And you’ll understand that other parts of my life are out of bounds, that you won’t try to pry if I don’t tell you everything about them.”
“And how is that working together if you keep secrets from me?”
She tossed his words back at him. “I didn’t say it was a compromise for me.”
A slow grin crossed his face at her cheekiness, one that stole her breath away. “All right, I agree. You?”
An excited tingle began to lick at her toes. “Agreed.”