bloody well could have. Where was everyone who’s meant to be protecting you, damn it?” Fury still emanated from him, but he did not pull away from her touch, and gradually, his hands relaxed, his fingers lacing through hers.
“Why were you in the private room?” she asked, needing to distract him as much as she needed to distract herself. “You never said.”
Color swept over his high cheekbones, and she realized it was the first time she had ever witnessed him flush. “I wanted to hear you sing, but I was too late. All I saw was that whoreson molesting you.”
He was so sweet, her Gavin. Even if he could never truly be hers. Could she not pretend? At least for this evening, while they still had time and each other?
“I will sing for you if you like,” she offered. “Come to my chamber again tonight.”
His gaze darkened to vibrant, emerald green, and heat flared in her belly. “That’s an invitation I can’t resist.”
And that was when she realized she wanted to give him more than a song. She wanted to give him herself, her body. He already owned her heart.
“Meet me there in an hour’s time?” She tried to smile past the sudden rush of yearning tearing through her.
That ought to be sufficient time to remove her revealing gown and don something of her own. She also didn’t dare any of her siblings or the guards catching sight of Gavin entering her chamber with her.
“There is nowhere I would rather be. But first, we are going to see your brother, Caro.”
He had not surrendered his need to speak with Jasper, it would seem. That was just as well, because she needed to speak to Jasper about Lord Derby’s conduct. She feared for Pen and for the ladies in their employ.
“We will go together,” she agreed, though she knew Jasper would be outraged when he discovered Gavin had been in the public rooms.
Facing her brother alone just now felt too daunting, and Gavin wore the expression of a man who would not be swayed.
“Together.” The smile Gavin bestowed upon her made her heart ache. “I like the sound of that.”
So did she.
Far, far too much.
But she did not say that, because she was going to revel in every moment she could still pretend Gavin Winter was hers.
He was beginning to dislike Jasper Sutton.
He was also beginning to dislike the guards at The Sinner’s Palace, one of whom was currently planted before the door to Sutton’s office and pinning him with a stern glare.
“We need to speak with Miss Sutton’s brother,” he repeated. “Hell, not necessarily even this one. Any of them. Someone needs to know what happened tonight.”
The guard looked distinctly unimpressed. “What ’appened?”
He scowled. “That is none of your affair. Bloody hell, man, will Sutton not make time for his own sister?”
“Aye. When ’e finishes with the lady visitor.”
A growl tore from him, and the desire to ram his fist into someone’s nose, which had been simmering beneath the surface of his tensions from the moment he had seen that despicable lord with Caro in his lap, rose to a crescendo. “Do you mean to tell me Sutton is in there bedding a ladybird when his own sister was being abused in the public rooms?”
Caro laid a staying hand on his arm, but the fires of his fury had ignited once more.
The guard shrugged, giving him an insolent grin. “Not my concern what Sutton does in ’is office or who with.”
“We can return later,” Caro offered.
“No,” he countered, still eying the smirking guard. “We won’t. We will wait.”
The guard remained where he was, apparently finding the situation amusing. “As you like.”
“My brother is…” Caro paused as she sought the proper words. “He can become distracted by feminine companionship.”
He was not the only one suffering from such a malady. But he had a feeling his distraction was one hell of a lot more innocent than Jasper Sutton’s.
“He deserves a cuff to the head,” he told her, meaning every word and intending to deliver upon the threat, too. “On your behalf. He is meant to be protecting you, and he is not doing his duty.”
“Someone would have found me,” she said quietly, in the same tone of voice she had used when he had been an invalid, out of his mind with fever, and she had attempted to calm him.
Soothing, dulcet tones. They had lulled him into tranquility before, but he would not be swayed now. This was too damned important. She