Page 67 of The Steel Rogue

She inhaled a breath, holding it deep in her chest for a long second. She nodded. “I like that you the best. So that is who you will be.”

“Heaven help me, I will be that man.”

“Don’t disappoint me.”

“I don’t intend to, Tor.”

The music stopped, but Roe’s feet kept moving for six more beats before ceasing, as though he didn’t want to be cheated out of the full song.

He was dancing slow for her. She hadn’t realized it at first, but he was purposefully out of rhythm for her. For her legs that could go through the motions, but would hiccup and slow unexpectedly.

Her look dipped to his cravat, tears brimming on her lower lashes.

Out of step.

Out of step for her.

But the two of them together?

Perfectly out of step.

{ Chapter 16 }

The steel cracked onto Roe’s blade just above his forehead, the twang of it ringing in his ears.

A grunt, and Roe twisted to the left and shoved upward against his blade, sending the threat flying backward.

Logan laughed, catching his balance three strides away. “You’ve learned some new tricks since the last time we fought, little brother.”

“Or you’re getting soft in your pampered life, old man.”

Another laugh and Logan advanced, his sword low and spinning in an arc alongside his thigh. “This old man still has legs in him. I’ve been working with Violet’s boy on how to swing a sword, and he’s a wily little character. Slides between my legs and whaps my backside, the bugger. His father’s been teaching him war tricks—but Theo thinks he’s too easy on him so he enlisted me.”

“Smart.”

“Or the man just wants his small child to humiliate me for sport,” Logan scoffed. “Either way, it’s kept me far fitter than you’re ready for.”

“Oh, I could do this all day, brother.” Their blades clashed low just in front of Roe and he slashed his steel wide, driving his brother backward. “But it is good to know their boy has a streak of scrappiness in him. It gives me hope for the next generation.”

“You always did fight like that, didn’t you?” Logan jumped to the far side, low on the hill by the pond they fought next to. “Unexpected was your game. I had almost forgotten how good you were at the surprise attack.”

Roe crashed down at him, attacking with the ferocity his higher position demanded. Logan took a strike, then spun out of the way, landing a blow of the flat edge of his sword on Roe’s back. The sting of it was enough to send Roe stumbling down the rolling hill.

Bugger.

If his thoughts hadn’t been tangled a moment ago in the image of Torrie arching backward—her thigh tight to his ear, her leg draped over his back, the crux of her on his tongue—he would have blocked the blow. Her body in full orgasm was a sight to behold. Quivering, gasping for breath. Every limb tensing with coiled gratification. Her fingers gripping his head, demanding he not stop.

The memory from late last night not easily put aside, no matter how many strikes his brother landed on him.

After the gala finished and they had retired, he hadn’t waited even five minutes before going to her room. Propriety be damned. He wasn’t about to waste a fresh shaven face on the ludicrous need for sleep. Not when Torrie was three doors away waiting for him.

Which she was. Naked.

“I take that back.” Logan rounded him. “Your new tricks can’t hide the fact that you’re a step slow today.”

“Maybe I am.” Roe shrugged, wiping the back of his hand against his bottom lip. It had started to bleed where Logan had landed a blow earlier. He’d take his brother’s taunting—a small trade for the scene of a naked Torrie in his mind. He was determined to hold onto that image of her, hold onto it until his dying breath, and if thinking of it in the middle of a brutal row with his brother was the price, he’d pay it. Gladly.

Roe lifted his sword arm, his muscles starting to get weary. They’d been at it for an hour and he was pouring sweat from every pore. But he wasn’t done.

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