In the Dark with the Duke by Christi Caldwell Page 0,33
see that,” he muttered. He’d wager the future he’d built himself here that there wasn’t a man who could tame her. “Third, if I have to deal with an irate husband or brother or father or any other damned angry male relative . . .” He let that dangle there for the threat it was intended to be.
Lila March stared at him expectantly, then shook her head. “What are the consequences?”
Damn, the Flittermouse had teeth. He clenched his jaw. “I’ll see them ruined,” he vowed, and the little color in her cheeks faded, leaving her whitewashed. Good. Before she entered into the arrangement, she’d better be prepared to know exactly what she was agreeing to. “They wouldn’t be the first.” And with what Hugh and his partners intended for Dooley and his cronies, they wouldn’t be the last.
And the lady must have seen some of that lethal rage in him, for she took a step away—a steady one, but a retreat nonetheless.
“Do you truly believe if there were an irate husband or brother or father,” she asked, her voice faintly tremulous, “that they’d ever dare make a public display about our being together?”
“I’m less worried about what they’d do to protect your reputation, as opposed to what they’d do to try and ruin me and my business,” he said flatly.
She chewed at her lower lip. “That is a fair point,” she conceded. “I assure you, H—Mr. Savage,” she corrected when he gave her a sharp look, “there is no one who’d seek vengeance. That is not who I or my family are.”
Who was she, and furthermore, who was her family that they’d either not know of her jaunts to the rookeries or, worse, would allow them? “Either way, I want it clear that if you’re wrong, or if you’re lying and you’ve vindictive kin, you’ll pay a price.”
A visible shudder racked her slender frame. “We’re clear.”
“Your lessons take place here, at five o’clock in the morning, daily.” She didn’t so much as flinch at that meeting time. One that would have had any respectable member of the peerage balking. The flittermouse proved the exception yet again. But then, given everything he’d gathered about her in the short time he’d known her, that detail shouldn’t have come as any manner of surprise. “We’ll begin with one-hour sessions.”
The young woman absently touched the center of her head, the place where her scar stood out, even in her pale face. Catching his attention on that telltale gesture, she let her arm fall quickly to her side. “And . . . how long do you anticipate my lessons will need to run before I’m . . .”
He quirked an eyebrow. “Sufficiently able to kill a man?”
If possible, she went ten shades whiter. “I was going to say sufficiently trained.”
Hugh scraped an eye over her; the enormous cloak hung upon her frame, giving her the look of a little girl playing dress-up. Painfully thin as she was—almost gaunt—and weak enough for a strong wind to snap, he didn’t have much confidence in her stamina or strength. “I don’t have much hope, Flittermouse.”
She edged her chin up and dared him with that mutinous expression. “Then you must not have much confidence in yourself as a fighter; for if I don’t learn, it won’t be my fault, Mr. Savage.”
And for the first time, there wasn’t annoyance with the flittermouse who didn’t know if she wanted to wilt or to be brave, but rather a stirring of appreciation. He grinned, the expression rusty, the muscles strained, and the smile altogether foreign and unfamiliar.
Lila eyed him warily.
Yes, mayhap she wasn’t so very stupid, after all.
“And lastly? You’re to come alone,” he added. “If you bring anyone else with you, we’re done here.”
“There is no one.”
That was it. By her own admission, there was a family that cared but was absent. An air of mystery continued to swirl about the peculiar creature. And if he’d been another man, he’d have some interest in having answers. Hugh was clever enough to know he didn’t want any baggage that came with another human being. It was all a man could do to handle his own demons and secrets.
He spread his palms out. “Those are the rules, Flittermouse.”
The lady gave a jerky nod. “Thank you. I will see you on the morrow, Mr. Savage.”
“Ah,” he said as she turned to go. “I said we’re done with my rules, but we’ve not yet discussed payment.”
She faced him with all the tangible excitement one might