your teeth chattering all the way over here.”
Damn those shivers! She sniffed dismissively. “You are mistaken.”
Answering that obvious lie with a sharp glance of chastisement, he squatted onto his heels at the fireplace and set to starting a fire.
“You don’t need to worry about me, Pearce. I’m not your concern.”
“I told you before.” He chucked in several logs and stuffed a handful of kindling beneath them, then struck a spark with the tinderbox. Carefully, he coaxed out a flame until it caught on the kindling and bit hold onto the wood, then turned to look at her over his shoulder. “I’m in the business of rescuing women.”
What she wouldn’t have given to allow him to do just that—to give herself over to him to be protected, to be held safe and sound in his arms.
But she knew better. Because it wouldn’t stop with simply being held in his arms.
“And I told you,” she reminded him, “that I don’t need to be rescued.”
Laughing at that, he jabbed at the fire with the iron poker to stir up the flames. “Amelia, I’ve rarely seen a woman in more need of rescue than you.”
She scowled. “I am quite capable of taking care of myself.” She shoved herself off the bed. “I’m not some silly girl or one of those society misses who suffers from the vapors and faints at the drop of a hat. I’m nothing at all like those women who are part of your world now.”
“Believe me,” he murmured with conviction, “I certainly realize that.”
The heated look he sent her seared over her. He returned the poker to its holder, then pulled up to his full height as he turned to face her.
“But right now, you’re soaked through and freezing because of me. I can’t stop you from putting yourself unnecessarily at risk the way you did at the masquerade and tonight at Devonshire House when you eavesdropped on your brother.” When she opened her mouth to protest that, he cut her off. “But I can save you from catching your death of cold.” He put his hands on his hips in a commanding pose that showed him as the no-nonsense brigadier he’d become. “Now, take off that dress.”
She refused to move and silently returned his stare. To be honest, the thought of taking off her wet clothes and finding something dry to put on tempted her. Greatly. Especially since an icy puddle was spreading around her feet at that very moment. But she’d never give him the pleasure of admitting he was right about—
A violent shiver shuddered through her so hard that her teeth chattered.
Pearce leveled an I-told-you-so gaze on her that had surely made his subordinates quake in their boots.
“Fine.” With no other choice, Amelia grudgingly turned her back to him. “But I have no maid here.” She tried to inject as much irritation into her voice as possible, so he wouldn’t suspect how the thought of undressing in front of him twisted her belly into an aching tangle of desire. “So if you want me out of this dress, then you’re going to have to help me.”
Her wet hair had tumbled down from the chase, and she lifted it off her back. Her hands trembled as she smoothed it over her shoulder, out of his way.
When he reached for the row of tiny buttons on her back, she closed her eyes, willing her breath to remain steady, her pulse calm. One by one, the buttons slipped free, and her bodice loosened.
“This is necessary,” he explained, misreading her protests. “You’ll never warm up as long as you’re in this wet thing.”
She bit back a distressed laugh. “And here I thought you were simply attempting to see me naked.”
She could almost hear the rueful twist of his lips. “I’ve undressed you before, you know.”
“When I was nine.” A strained quality laced through her suddenly hoarse voice. “We’ve changed since then. If you persist in this folly, then we’ll both find out exactly how much.”
“It isn’t folly.” He lowered his mouth over her shoulder. “And believe me, Amelia,” he murmured, his breath tickling her ear, “I know exactly how much.”
Foolish longing ached at the back of her weakening knees.
“All done.” The last button slipped free, and her bodice drooped low down her front.
She grabbed at it with both hands to keep it in place as she whirled around to face him. “This isn’t at all prop—”
Her chastisement died beneath his stare. Instantly, her anger was replaced by something else just as