How to Steal a Thief's Heart - Bree Wolf Page 0,99
into his arms.
Beside him, Kearsley snickered.
Furious, Caroline reminded herself not to make a scene. If she were discovered, all would be lost. Still…
Gritting her jaw, Caroline held the man’s gaze, then lifted her foot and brought her heel hard down onto his toes.
His hands went slack and he drew in a sharp breath, barely suppressing a growl of pain.
Freed from his grasp, Caroline did not hesitate. She spun around and fled in the opposite direction, her gaze immediately looking for Pierce.
Unfortunately, he no longer stood where she’d last seen him.
In the next moment, hands grasped her from behind, cutting short her escape.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
An Unexpected Sight
Pausing in his step, Pierce turned at the sounds of commotion nearby.
His gaze fell on two masked men as they reached for a woman in a dark red gown. She was clearly trying to get away when their hands grasped her, pulling her back.
A few people around them took notice, but instead of interfering, they merely chuckled at the woman’s efforts to free herself from her attackers.
Disgusted with his peers’ behavior, Pierce headed in their direction. Of course, it was foolish of the woman to attend such an event on her own. But that did not mean she was fair game.
“Unhand her!” he commanded, shoving the shorter of the two men aside before facing the one with his hands clasped around her wrists.
At Pierce’s interference, the man’s hands loosened and the woman immediately gave her own a sharp tug, freeing herself.
Moving in-between the men and the woman, Pierce glared down at the lowlifes of high society. “I suggest you find a willing companion,” he snarled, meeting the taller man’s angry glare. Behind him, he could hear the woman’s fast breathing, shock no doubt keeping her rooted to the spot.
“This is none of your concern!” the man snarled and Pierce felt the shock of the man’s voice all the way to his bones.
Coleridge!
Every fiber in his being urged him to wrap his hands around the man’s neck and squeeze the life from him, but then a small hand settled on his back between his shoulder blades and his thoughts immediately went to Caroline and the counsel she’d offered the night he’d nearly done something unwise.
Think of Daphne, she’d said, her blue eyes imploring, reminding him that he was no longer alone in this world. That there were people who depended on him, cared about him. People he would never harm by doing something foolish.
No, Daphne deserved better. She’d finally found a home, had learned to laugh and smile again. And with time, he hoped that her nightmares would become a thing of the past. Remembered, but no longer threatening.
Gritting his teeth, Pierce held himself in check. “Leave. Now.” His hard gaze drilled into the other man. From the way Coleridge pulled back, his eyes widening as they swept over him, Pierce could tell that the other man had seen behind his mask as well.
“We’ll leave,” the shorter man muttered, his gaze fearful as he pulled on Coleridge’s arm.
For a moment, Coleridge resisted, his gaze contemplative, before he gave in and the two men vanished in the crowd, which continued to dance and laugh, all but oblivious to the confrontation that had occurred in their midst.
Pierce closed his eyes and inhaled a deep breath, forcing himself to let go of the need for vengeance still pumping through his veins.
“Thank you,” the woman behind him whispered, her hand still resting on his back.
Pierce turned to look at her, relieved to see that she was far from hysterics. Instead, she was smiling at him, her deep blue eyes slightly misted as they looked at him from behind a dark red mask framed in tiny pearls, the same kind of pearls woven into her thick, dark hair.
She was beautiful. In fact, she looked like he’d imagined Caroline would look should she ever choose to…
Pierce’s thoughts jarred to a halt when his gaze fell on that slight curve of her lips, the way the left corner of her mouth drew upward before she briefly dropped her gaze. His own moved from her lips to her eyes, straining to see, looking closer as a familiar longing to reach for her teased him, urged him a step closer.
Awareness barreled into him then, and he saw what had eluded him before.
The tiny green flecks dancing in her blue eyes.
The soft glow of her skin, her cheeks slightly flushed.