Seeing Danger (Sinclair and Raven #2)(35)

“Sit.”

“I am not a dog,” she replied, indignant.

“Please sit.”

She muttered something and then the little bird in her hair bobbed as she sat abruptly. She made no move to remove her gloves.

“They are soaked in champagne, Lilly. Take them off and lay them upon the seat.”

She hesitated, first looking at him still standing, and then at her hands.

“They will be awfully sticky and uncomfortable if you do not.”

“My name is Miss Braithwaite.” Reluctantly she peeled first one and then the second damp glove from her fingers.

Dev studied her hands and could see no reason for her reluctance to let anyone touch or see them. She did not lay the gloves beside her, instead waving them about, Dev guessed, in the hopes they would dry faster that way.

“I told James about the incident with the carriage today, and what happened several nights ago.”

“The Duke told me this, and may I say it was presumptuous to do so, Lord Sinclair.” She was trying for haughty again, but now he saw through the facade.

“Have you given thought to the fact that the carriage that nearly hit you outside the Watch House did so deliberately?”

She was surprised by his words. The gloves momentarily stopped flapping as she looked up at him.

“Why would that be the case? I-I have done nothing to warrant such a thing.”

“You are trying to stop whoever is taking those children from taking more, Lilly. You have repeatedly visited the Watch House. Had the boy, Toby, ask questions, and then you foiled the abduction of that boy the night I was there.”

“No.” She shook her head fast, dislodging the robin and sending it forward. Dev removed it gently from her hair.

“Why are you touching my head?”

“Your robin has flown the nest.”

“La, Lord Sinclair, you are most amusing.”

It was exhausting watching her slip in and out of personas. Dev could only imagine how taxing it must be for her.

“You must have a care now, Lilly. If what I have said has foundation, then you must not leave the house without at least two footmen and a maid.”

“I don't believe you are right.”

But he had made her think, and that, to Dev's mind, was a good thing. She needed to show caution.

He sat beside her suddenly, reaching for one of her hands before she could pull away. Cradling the slender fingers in his palm, he felt it again, the wonderful surge of heat from the contact.

“Don't touch me!” She struggled to pull away from him, tug her hand from his grasp. “I-I do not like to be touched!”

“Why do you not like your hands touched?”

She was frantic now, trying to escape him, but Dev opened his fingers, slipping hers through his larger ones until she was trapped.

“You told my sister at Temple Street that you did not like to be touched, and quickly pulled on your gloves when we arrived, even though your hands were sticky from the bun. Why?”

“You don't understand what you are doing—”

“Tell me, then.”

He watched as she struggled to breathe as his hand held hers. Switching his vision, he checked her color, but it was strong and healthy.

“Lilly, stop fighting me. Take a deep breath for me. Are you in pain from my touch? If so I will release you.”

She inhaled and then exhaled slowly.

“Again, that's it.”

“You don't understand.”

The whispered words were desperate.

“What don't I understand?”

Dev took her other hand, turning her in the seat to face him. He uncurled her fingers from the fist they were clenched in and lifted them to his face.

“Don't.”

“Do,” Dev said gently.

“I can't normally touch people.”

“Yet, you can touch me.”

She stopped fighting him, and then the hand on his face moved. Her eyes followed her fingers as they traced the edge of his cheekbone, across his brows, and down to his jaw.

She was gentle and left a trail of heat. Christ, his body was a furnace, and she was barely touching him. He could only imagine what would be between them when she lay naked beneath his body. Wrestling that image aside, he concentrated on her.

“Why can't you touch people, Lilly? What do you feel?”

She shuddered, eyes still on her hand as it ran down his nose.

“No.” She shook her head. “It matters not.”

“It matters to me.”

“Y-you have a bump.”

“Eden broke it when we were young.”

“Make me stop.”

“Why don't you touch people, Lilly?”

“Emotions and feelings, horrid feelings,” she whispered, letting her fingers trail down his neck. “But with you it feels so different,” she added in wonder. “So very different.”

“How long has it been since you touched a person?”

“Since my childhood?”

“Is it only your hands that cause this reaction inside you?”

She nodded. “Yes, although I still hate people touching my face.”

“Except me,” Dev rasped as she ran one finger around the outside of his ear.

“Yes.”