Page 16 of Beautiful Vengeance

“I had nothing to do with it,” Marcus said coldly. “I came into town to take my dog to the vet. Would you like t’see the burns on her leg that your sons gave her? Because I can undo the bandages if you want. Or better yet, I can show you the video footage of them throwing the banger at her in the first place.”

The shorter man bristled and stepped forward, raising the bat.

Kiyomi took a lunging step forward, but she’d barely moved before Marcus swiveled and brought his cane up to block it. A loud clack of wood on wood sounded.

With a single, expert twist of his cane, in the blink of an eye Marcus disarmed the bastard and shoved him to the ground on his ass, using just enough force necessary and then stopping, when he could easily have killed or maimed the man with a single blow if he’d wanted to.

The taller man backed up with his palms out, eyes wide as he gaped at Marcus. “Whoa, pal. Whoa.”

Marcus turned his gaze on the one he’d just put on the ground, his bearing intimidating but not threatening as he towered over the piece of shit. “I give you my word that I had nothing to do with what happened to your sons. Now get outta here and leave me alone.” He turned away, giving them his back as he reached for the door of his vehicle.

Kiyomi grabbed her bags and hurried up the sidewalk just as the taller man bent to help his friend up. She stuck her foot out as she walked past, knocking them both off balance. She pretended to stumble as they hit the ground, whirling to face them as she babbled an apology to them in Japanese.

The men scowled, dismissed her and hurried away, muttering to each other and casting dark looks at Marcus. Assholes.

When she looked up, Marcus was staring at her through the windshield. She smiled at him, lowered her sunglasses to give him a wink, then pushed them back up the bridge of her nose and sauntered past his vehicle in case the men were still watching.

She continued down the sidewalk with all her bags. In the shop windows she followed Marcus’s progress as he drove toward her. When they were a block away from the main square, he pulled up to the curb and she angled across to meet him.

He leaned over to open her door for her, took the bags and set them on the seat. “Sorry about that,” he muttered, his expression tight.

“Nothing to apologize for. I know you couldn’t in public, but man, I’d have loved to see you lay that guy out instead of just bruising his ego.”

The side of his mouth pulled upward as he drove down the cobbled street. The town was so damn quaint, like something from a postcard. “So bloodthirsty.”

“Only when it comes to assholes.”

He was quiet a moment as they stopped in traffic to let some pedestrians cross the street. The narrow streets caused a lot of congestion with all the tourists flooding the town. “Sorry I didn’t get to show you around.”

“It’s fine. Maybe another time.”

He glanced over at her, the impact of his dark gaze like a touch. “After all this, it’s not safe here for all of you anymore.”

“I know.” It made her heart heavy. She’d become attached to Marcus and the others, and didn’t want to leave without forging certain memories for her to carry with her through whatever came next.

“So what did the vet say?” she asked to change the subject, swiveling in her seat to pet Karas, who had her snoot shoved between the front seats.

“She’ll be all right. Just needs a few days to heal up, and take her antibiotics.”

“You’re a good dog dad, Marcus.”

He aimed a grin at her that almost stopped her heart. “It’s my pleasure. She’s a good lass.”

The urge to lean across the seat and kiss him was so overwhelming she had to look away.

Pleasure.

That word, spoken in his deep voice, caused another frisson of warmth low in her belly. He was a reserved, disciplined man with high expectations of himself. But there was fire in him, hidden away beneath that calm exterior.

What was he like in bed? From what she’d seen he liked control, and she bet that extended into sex as well.

That gave her pause. She’d never let herself go and enjoyed sex with anyone before—only doing it as an act, always remaining physically and emotionally detached, her mind clear—yet the idea of doing it with Marcus was more and more tantalizing. He would never hurt or degrade her. And she got the sense that he would be an attentive, maybe even generous lover.

Combining all that with his quiet intensity, her mind had conjured up several fantasies about it lately. Her pulse beat faster, a flush of heat sweeping through her body as images of them together swirled in her head.

They drove back to the manor without speaking again. A large, intricate wrought iron gate bearing the Laidlaw coat of arms marked the entrance to the estate, the stone gatehouse sat at the end of the long, crushed gravel driveway.

At the other end of it, Laidlaw Hall stood perched on a rise in the middle of a small valley nestled between the surrounding rolling hills, a three-story mansion built of Cotswold limestone that glowed in the sun. Lush green lawn sloped away from it, the front of the house bordered by neatly trimmed boxwood and yew hedges, and the trees clustered around the house and on the deep green hillsides were afire with a gorgeous flush of scarlet, orange and gold.

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