Page 24 of This Haunted Heart

“Your wife went inside some time ago,” Eva said gently, her cheeks turning pink. “Probably to check on your room. It should be ready for you. Upstairs, third door on the right.”

I stuffed a hand in my pocket and groaned. My folding knife was missing. The little vixen had picked it right off me, and I hadn’t even felt it.

Boots sloshing in the damp grass, I marched for the front door and nearly barreled into the husband in the entryway. He made polite apologies. I ignored him, shouldering by.

“Something the matter?” he called to his wife.

“They’re newly married, I think,” Eva replied, chortlingknowingly. The rest of their conversation continued in Dutch.

The cottage was a maze of small rooms. I wound up in the dining area before I finally found the stairs. I took them two at a time, hustling for our bedroom. The door was unlocked. I threw it open with enough force it clattered against the opposing wall.

Rynn sat on the edge of a wooden chair, waiting for me, flanked in bright lantern lights. Twinkling stars and fireflies lit the night sky through the window at her back. My traveling trunk was open, the lock scratched up like a bobcat had taken offense to it before setting dynamite off inside it. Clothing was everywhere.

She’d undressed down to the chemise I enjoyed, boots off and jet hair curling around her shoulders. Her black silk stockings were embroidered in an open design that revealed patterned segments of her fawn skin from ankle to . . . I didn’t know how far up the design went, but my mind enjoyed imagining the possibilities. It was an even more alluring sight than when her legs had been completely bare that morning.

She twirled my knife between her fingers.

“You stole from me.”Again, I resisted adding.

“Ha. If that isn’t the pot calling the kettle black.” She tossed the folding blade onto the bed. It disappeared amongst the billowy blankets. “You can have it back. Where’s my money?”

I closed the door behind me and locked it. “Not in my trunk.”

“Obviously,” she snarled.

I threw my hat onto the bed beside my knife, removed my coat, then worked off the buttons of my waistcoat and the fastenings of my suspenders. I felt her eyes on me as I undressed, but I ignored her, eager to get free of my layers to wash the hours of travel from my body.

I trod over my favorite morning coat. Lifting it between my fingers, I inspected the ripped seams and destroyed pockets. “Was this really necessary?”

“Yes,” she said. “I had to make sure you hadn’t hidden my cash in the lining, didn’t I?”

I held up a pair of shredded drawers next, brows raised.

“That was just spite,” she admitted, her smile smug.

“You’re a menace,” I told her.

“I am. You should give me back what’s mine now and send me on my way before I do worse.”

“Not a chance, hellcat.” Knowing she would enjoy any display of irritation from me, I deprived her of one. Calmly, I ambled over to the pitcher and basin in the corner of the room, stepping over more of my destroyed clothing. I removed my collar and cuffs and rolled my sleeves to the elbows.

She watched me wash my neck and face intently. As I finished rinsing my hair, the water in the basin turned filthy with the dirt of travel.

“It’s easier to do that with your underthings off, you know,” she said.

“If you were hoping for a show, then get used to disappointment,” I told her.

Her returning smile was perfectly villainous. “I see no reason why you’re behaving with decorum now. Not after you’ve been such a pirate. This sudden shyness from you has made me curious, is all.”

Decorum had nothing to do with it. I didn’t take off my shirt because there were scars on my back she’d likely recognize since she’d been the one to dress my wounds, just like I’d been the ones to treat hers. I knew the marks on her body even better than my own.

“I wouldn’t dare let my guard down completely around you,” I said because that was true, too.

When I finished, she brought me a towel to dry with. I eyed it suspiciously.

“It’s not going to bite you,” she said, laughter in her voice. This sudden playful mood from her put me instantly on my guard. Whatever mischief she was up to, I was determined not to get sucked in.

When I didn’t take the terrycloth from her, she dried my face and neck for me, blotting the moisture, bringing her tempting body closer. Her position gave me a perfect view down the front of her chemise—a dangerous view. My eyes lifted from the curves of her ripe breasts to her dark gaze. Hers smoldered with some unknown emotion I couldn’t place.

---