Page 28 of The Rancher's Vengeful Heart

"Time's up," Lucius murmured.

They flipped their papers to reveal their answers at the same time.

'Walt'was written in bold block latters on Lucius' paper.

But on Tassy's paper, on the other hand...were a lot of crossed-out names until finally, she had written down...INNOCENT.

Tassy's words burst out in a defensive rush as soon as she saw Lucius start to smirk. "I'm just being true to my principles! Suspects must be presumed innocent until—-"

The billionaire cut her off, saying in a pained voice, "I never thought someone could be so smart—-"

Tassy didn't know how to react to this. If his words were a compliment, why didn't it sound like it?

"—-and unbelievably naïve at that same time."

Oh, so that's why.

Because it was really an insult disguised as a compliment...or was it the other way around and he was complimenting her by way of—-

Aaargh!

Who knew she could be so darn indecisive...that she ended up annoying herself?

"You had it right the first time," Lucius was telling her with a dark look on his handsome face. "And aside from erroneously citing Monet, Walt also took pains to describe the arrangement of the books in hopes of bolstering his alibi. Unfortunately for him, the arrangement he had described was based on the Dewey Decimal System, and that - like Monet - had only existedyearsafter the Regency period."

Tassy only had two words after listening to Lucius' deductive reasoning.

Oh dear.

She had never taken the time to think about what turned her on...until now.

Lucius frowned when he saw the way Tassy was staring at him. "What is it? Do you disagree?"

She quickly shook her head.

"Then..."

Tassy bit her lip. She didn't want to lie, but she was too shy to tell him the truth.

"It's alright," Lucius said gently.

"It's just..."

"You can tell me anything." A wolf in sheep's clothing he once again was, and the disguise was starting to feel like second skin to him.

"It's when you talk like that," she finally said. "It reminds me of the first time I listened to you speak..."

Lucius remained bemused...until he saw her cheeks start turning pink, and that was when it finally hit him.

Unpredictable as always.

Tassy finding smart talk a turn-on was something he didn't see coming yet again, but he definitely wasn't complaining. Where Tassy was concerned, he was beginning to realize he wasn't keen on leaving anything to chance. He wanted her obsessed with him...as much as he was already obsessed with her.

And that was why—-

"Can I test it out?" Lucius asked.

Tassy blinked. "Test what out?"

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