Page 53 of Ruthless Scoundrel
I squeeze her shoulder to keep from smiling. “Such a vile mouth on this one. Careful not to get close, she’ll spit in your eye, too.”
She purses her lips, I’m sure preparing to do just that. I clamp my hand over her mouth and bend down so only she can hear. “Save it for the bedroom, sunshine.”
Heat blazes across her face and a spark of violence lights her eyes just before her blunt canines sink into the meat of my palm. I bare my teeth at her in a smile. “You can save that for the bedroom, too.”
“I’m not sure I can take this,” the barman says, offering the tiara back. “Stolen finery like this might be missed by its owner. I don’t want to be the one caught holding it when they come knocking.”
Reina doesn’t release my hand, so I have to lift the other one to take back the tiara. “I understand, sir. Would you take it if it were melted down for components?”
The barman seesaws his head, then nods. “A bed and dinner for one night’ll be one of the rubies.”
Reina gasps, freeing me, and I plant my bitten hand back on her shoulder.
“That’s outrageous,” she roars. “Each of those rubies are worth twenty gold pieces or more!”
“Smithy’s down the road a bit,” he says with a shrug as he walks away. “Take it or leave it.”
She whispers up at me, “Donotmelt my tiara.”
“You don’t even like it,” I tease, hiding it away in a pouch.
“That’s not true.” She crosses her arms with a clank of metal, a pout puffing her lower lip in the most adorable way. It makes me want to suck that lip between my teeth and bite her right back.
I lean in again, getting close enough to smell her floral hair. “I saw you trying to rip it out that night. You hate it.”
She glares indignantly, then snaps her teeth at me. I can’t help but smile wider at her behavior. She’s the cutest little brat and I want to make her sorry for it in the dirtiest way.
Fuck.
My Heat might not be over yet.
I need to get some air, get away from her for a moment.
“Can I tie her up here for a bit while I get things taken care of?” I ask the barman.
I doubt she’ll try to escape in broad daylight. Plus, how will she get her manacles off? She wouldn’t try to get away from me without her magic. That would be suicide.
The barman waves his hand casually with an affirmative grunt. “Room three upstairs is open. It’ll be yours for the night.”
I leer down at Reina. “Perfect.”
She sticks out her tongue and sneers again before I pull her off the barstool. When we get to the stairs, she goes limp and makes me push her up to the second-floor landing. I suppose this is what I get.
A key is sticking out of the third door’s knob, which I pocket before heading inside. It’s not the best room I’ve ever stayed in, but far from the worst. The bed is a dual mattress of coconut husk and something else I can’t scent, but the sheets on it are clean. The window—which has glass panes—has pulled shades for privacy, and there’s a desk with a magus lamp in the other corner near the chamber pot.
I guide Reina inside and close the door behind us.
“I don’t want you to leave me here,” she says as soon as we’re alone.
“You just want to see if you can pilfer the necessary tools to escape your bonds at the blacksmith,” I say as I set protections around the door with a smear of my blood and magic.
“What if someone else takes me?”
The suggestion has my blood pumping hotter. I would annihilate anyone who even thought of laying a hand on her.
No. That’s foolish. I can’t let my Heat overpower my senses.
“I have the key,” I finally say once my pulse is under control. “I’ll lock you in and I’m setting wards on the door. You’ll be fine.”
