Chapter Twenty-Six #2
A ghost of a smile touched his mouth, though it didn’t reach his eyes. “I never told them any of this.”
“They don’t know?” she asked, shocked.
Drake sighed. “Maxen knows a bit, how I survived on the streets of London, but not this . . .”
“Ah, so the treasures you keep in your heart are just like the treasures you keep in your dungeon?” Her tone lightened, a hint of mischief threading through it as she tipped her face up toward him.
His lips twitched. “Only you would call them treasures.”
“Treasures aren’t only about glimmer and gold. Even the brightest gems were rough and unpolished once, correct? They can’t shine without polish and refinement. How else would you know they are treasures?”
“Fair point.” God, he loved her.
“You don’t sound too convinced.”
He kissed her temple. “So then convince me all my life.”
“Be serious,” she chastised softly. “So you haven’t told your story to your brothers?”
He shook his head. “As you might have noticed, we aren’t big on talking about the big things.”
“How did you meet your brothers?” She shifted slightly to better see his face.
“Maxen found me first. Told me there were others. Sons of the same duke. So I helped him hunt them down.”
“You hunted them down? That sounds rather . . .”
“Villainous?”
“A bit,” she agreed calmly.
“I am a villain, love. You should be very clear on that.”
She shrugged against him, utterly unconcerned. “Then it’s a good thing I’ve chosen to be your villainess.”
That drew a chuckle from him, but concerned him at the same time. Reminded, he murmured, “You’d have to marry me for that.”
She dug her fingers into him. “Are you fishing for an answer?”
“Yes,” he said without shame.
“Then you can wait a little longer.”
His mouth curved. “Is this punishment for my foolishness?”
“Would it make me villainous if I said yes?”
“I have a feeling,” he murmured, tightening his arm around her, “that you’re going to be a menace.”
“Well, a villainess does require certain traits. I won’t simply trail behind you looking menacing. I intend to be actively involved.”
Not a damn chance. “I don’t like this.”
She smiled at that.
He changed the topic, needing her to confirm from her own lips. “Did you mean it?” Drake asked against her hair. “That it doesn’t matter if it’s one man, ten men, or the whole world, you’d stand by my side?”
“A good villainess naturally would.” She inhaled deeply. “I have something to admit.”
Drake waited patiently for her admission, brows already furrowing.
“When you found me at my garden, I was leaving Brighton.”
Drake reined in the instant fury that drove straight to his hands, his fingers curling as if already seeking something to lock her to him in any way possible. He locked his jaw, drawing a slow, deliberate breath through his nose as he forced the unreasonable rage back into his bones.
“Leaving?” The one word came out hoarse.
“Don’t be angry,” she said softly. “I was merely planning a small trip to Bristol until your feud with my brother died. I was afraid that if you discovered who I was, you’d believe me in league with him.”
Drake scowled. “I can’t even say with confidence I wouldn’t have believed exactly that.”
“And naturally you’d have locked me in your dungeon.”
“If I did, it would be the one with my treasures, and I’d lock myself in there with you.” He planted a kiss in her hair. “All that matters is that you weren’t in league with him, and that you didn’t flee to Bristol and make me hunt you down.”
“Now that sounds promising.”
“Don’t even think about it, love.”
“If you were to hunt me down,” Violet said thoughtfully, “I should like to know how you’d go about it.”
Drake pressed himself up against her, his body hardening at the mere thought. “I wouldn’t announce myself, for one.”
“Naturally. You’d prowl. Like a tiger.”
Drake rolled them over, wedging himself between her legs and bracing his weight on one arm beside her head while the other slid firmly along her waist. His mouth curved, his gaze darkening as he watched her. “You think I’m a tiger?” He liked that.
“Predatory,” Violet murmured. “Patient. Lethal.”
“Careful,” Drake warned, dipping his head. “You’re encouraging me.”
“Perhaps,” she whispered.
His mouth found the delicate curve beneath her ear.
He kissed her neck softly, once, then again, his lips lingering as his tongue traced lightly along her skin before inhaling deeply.
A rough sound dragged from his chest as her scent filled him.
Rain and skin and her. All of it racing straight to his cock.
Her fingers slid into his hair, and he felt the slight need in them, and pleasure moved through him at the knowledge that she was coming apart just as thoroughly as he was.
“You’re doing that on purpose,” she breathed.
“Mm.” He dragged his mouth back up, teeth grazing her jaw. “You are my purpose.”
“You’re being silly again!” she said, arching into him with a soft sound and tugging at his hair in retaliation before her hands fell to his shoulders to latch there as his hands roamed, one sliding along her side, over the swell of her hip.
He dragged his palm down her again, possessive, unapologetic, as though reminding himself she was real.
Here. With him.
“I promise you, Violet Sharpe, for as long as you live, you shall never get rid of me.”
“You won’t get rid of me either,” she breathed, her breath hitching as he molded the curve of her arse.
A sharp knock struck the door.
Drake froze for a fraction of a second as irritation snapped through him. Damn it. He cocked his head, growling, “What?”
“We need you downstairs.”
“Can’t it bloody wait?” His hand remained where it was, unwilling to release her just yet.
“No,” came the grim reply. “Serpent just came back. Deveraux knocked him out. The ledgers are gone. So is Deveraux.”