Page 42 of Noble Scoundrel

It was a thrilling and dangerous thing to experience.

Their gazes met. And held. In those few seconds, it seemed as though he drew her deepest feelings out from her core, as though he breathed her in. Then he lowered his chin with a questioning tilt of his head. In a subtle instant, his expression darkened. Tawny brows furrowed. The hard, square line of his jaw bunched as he swept a glance about the room.

“What’s wrong?”

Still slightly bemused by his sudden and forceful appearance, Katherine glanced down at the list on the desk. Her gaze automatically focused in on Lord Shelbourne’s name, third from the bottom. With a small shake of her head, she folded the paper and slipped the list into the pocket of her dress. “Please come in, Mr. Hale.”

She took up her position standing behind the desk then watched as Hale stepped across the threshold and closed the door behind him. It was an unnecessary action, an improper one as well, and he knew it if she were to judge by the sharp glint in his eyes.

Though in addition to the impropriety there was also a degree of vulnerability that came with being in a closed room with him, she could allow neither to affect her purpose and intention. “Where have you been?”

His response was an arch of his brow and the familiar wicked curving of his irreverent mouth. “Miss me?”

Her core fluttered but she forced a firmness to her voice. “I hired you to keep my brother safe, Mr. Hale. How could you do that while traipsing about?”

His fleeting smile disappeared and his brows lowered as he slowly stalked toward her. She was suddenly grateful for the desk between them. Though in all truth it was symbolic at best since he’d already demonstrated how ineffective a hardy piece of furniture was in stopping him from getting to her when he wished to.

Rather than leaping over the desk, as she half feared he might, he placed his hands flat on the surface. The stance forced him to lean forward, bringing his large body and handsome face far closer to her than she was expecting.

She refused to step back. Let him try his intimidation tactics and see how far they’d get him.

His voice was a near growl. “If you can’t accept that I’m gonna do the job my way, duchess, then we end it right here.”

“Don’t call me that,” she commanded sharply, fighting her reaction to his proximity. “My brother is a duke but I’m not a duchess.”

His laugh was short. “You may as well be. And you’re evading. Should we call off this arrangement?” he pressed.

He wasn’t going to back away. And neither was she.

Chapter Fourteen

As Katherine stared back at him, she acknowledged the instinctive urging inside her—the need to keep him near.

For her brother’s sake, of course.

And that meant she’d have to trust Hale as Frederick did.

---