they get close enough to reach out, flip it and slash their wrists or biceps. Hurts like the dickens and gives you time to beat it around the corner.”
Her pulse beat wildly against his fingertips still curled around her wrist. For a girl who’d bloodied an armed soldier the night before, her confidence came and went like the wind. Did she not realize the guts it had taken to do what she did in that alley? Or, for that matter, coming all the way to Paris when most expatriates had the common sense to get out while they could. Didn’t say much for him and for his own common sense, but then again, he had a debt to pay.
Had she become so accustomed to having her duties drilled into her head that she’d forgotten what it was like to do something for herself? Especially when the best thing was right at her fingertips.
Releasing her, he stepped back on the sagging mattress. “Now, come at me.” Uncertainty flitted across her face as if he’d asked her to conjure a snowman in the middle of July. “The only way to learn is to do it. You need to feel the movements.”
Screwing her face up with determination, she lunged forward. He stepped aside and knocked the knife from her hand. “I said strike like a snake, not a wet noodle.”
Snatching the knife from the mattress, she tried again. Barrett swung his forearm up to block her, stepped into her side while hooking his foot behind her heel, and levered her backward.
“If you were a real attacker I’d trip you completely and let you fall, but I’ll go easy since it’s your first time.” She wriggled in his arms. Soft curves pressed against him, triggering a pulse he hadn’t expected. And didn’t need. He righted her and let go. “And I’d hate to get your pretty dress dirty.”
Her pink cheeks puffed out. “Don’t worry about my dress.”
Laughing, he swung his arms wide and called out for the watchers to hear. “Don’t worry, she says. Is that supposed to intimidate me?”
Their audience guffawed and threw down their own colorful suggestions of what she could do with the dress. Barrett’s ear wasn’t the most skilled with languages, but according to the red creeping up Kat’s neck she understood every word.
Ever the polished blue blood, she waved away their calls with a flick of her hand before grasping a pleat of her skirt. “Not exactly dressed to kill.”
The woman was blind if she couldn’t see the way that flimsy material skimmed every curve like water over silk. He slowly circled her, appreciating the new view each step brought. “On the contrary. A woman in a dress is more dangerous than one in trousers. Better form of seduction, you see, and that is the greatest weapon of them all because the target will never know what hit them.”
“If I was going to hit you, I’d go ahead and do it and not hide behind fluttering lashes and silk.”
He should’ve seen it coming. He should’ve kept his eye on his footwork and not underestimated his opponent, like he instructed all of his recruits. But he didn’t and her stretched back foot caught his. He hit the mattress facedown.
“What were you saying about using my attributes to my advantage?” Delight danced in her eyes as she loomed over him with the gentle scent of lilacs. She flipped the blade over in her hand and grinned. “Dinna even need this wee one.”
Her spot-on mock brogue took the sting out of his red face, but jabbed harder into his pride. “Forgot to tell you something else. Just when you think you’ve got your opponent right where you want him, never underestimate his determination to win.”
Grabbing her ankle, he yanked her foot out from under her. She plopped next to him with a shriek.
“I dinna need the wee one either.” He snatched the knife from her hand before she could cut the lumpy mattress to pieces and moved to close it. It hesitated before folding in. Turning it upward, he ran a thumbnail to catch debris jamming the release mechanism. “While you’re catching your breath, I’ve got my fourth question for you.”
“If it has something to do with how gullible I am for that trick, then I’ll thank you to keep it to yourself.”
The questions rolled in his head like marbles, bouncing off one another to vie for attention. But there was one dreaded marble he needed to play sooner rather than later.