Seduce Me at Sunrise (The Hathaways #2)(28)

"I'm not touching you. That is, I'm only touching you with the-ow, damn it-with the intention of helping." Her hat, a little scrap of wool felt with cheap corded trim, had fallen over her face. Leo managed to push it back to the top of her head, narrowly missing a sharp blow to his jaw. "Christ. Would you stop flailing for a moment?"

Straggling to a sitting position, she glared at him.

Leo crawled to retrieve the spectacles and returned to hand them to her. She snatched them from him without a word of thanks.

She was a lean, anxious-looking woman. A young woman with narrowed eyes, from which bad temper flashed out. Her light brown hair was pulled back with a gallows-rope tightness that made Leo wince just to see it. One would have hoped for some compensating feature-a soft pair of lips, perhaps, or a pretty bosom. But no, there was only a stern mouth, a flat chest, and gaunt cheeks. If Leo were compelled to spend any time with her-which, thankfully, he wasn't-he would have started by feeding her.

"If you want to help," she said coldly, hooking the spectacles around her ears, "retrieve that blasted ferret for me. Perhaps I've tired him enough that you may be able to run him to ground."

Still crouching on the floor, Leo glanced at the ferret, which had paused ten yards away and was watching them both with bright, beady eyes. "What is his name?"

"Dodger."

Leo gave a low whistle and a few clicks of his tongue. "Come here, Dodger. You've caused enough trouble for the morning. Though I can't fault your taste in… ladies' garters? Is that what you're holding?"

The woman watched, stupefied, as the ferret's long, slender body wriggled toward Leo. Chattering busily, Dodger crawled onto Leo's thigh. "Good fellow," Leo said, stroking the sleek fur.

"How did you do that?" the woman asked in annoyance.

"I have a way with animals. They tend to acknowledge me as one of their own." Leo gently pried a frilly bit of lace and ribbon from the long front teeth. It was definitely a garter, deliciously feminine and impractical. He gave the woman a mocking smile as he handed it to her. "No doubt this is yours."

He hadn't really thought that, of course. He had assumed the garter belonged to someone else. It was impossible to fathom this stern female wearing something so frivolous. But as he saw a blush spreading across the young woman's cheeks, he realized it actually was hers. Intriguing.

He gestured with the ferret hanging relaxed in his hand and said, "I take it this animal doesn't belong to you?"

"No, to one of my charges."

"Are you by chance a governess?"

"That is no concern of yours."

"Because if you are, then one of your charges is most definitely Miss Beatrix Hathaway."

She scowled. "How do you know that?"

"My sister is the only person I know of who would bring a garter-stealing ferret to the Rutledge Hotel."

"Your sister?”

He smiled into her astonished face. "Lord Ramsay, at your service. And you are Miss Marks, the governess?"

"Yes," she muttered, ignoring the hand he reached down for her. She rose to her feet unassisted.

Leo felt an irresistible urge to provoke her. "How gratifying. I've always wanted a family governess to harass."

The comment seemed to incense her beyond all expectation. "I am aware of your reputation as a skirt-chaser, my lord. I find no cause for humor in it."

Leo didn't think she found cause for humor in much of anything. "My reputation has lasted in spite of a two-year absence?" he asked, affecting a tone of pleased surprise.

"You're proud of it?"

"Well, of course. It's easy to have a good reputation- you merely have to do nothing. But earning a bad reputation… well, that takes some effort."

A contemptuous stare burned through the spectacle lenses. "I despise you," she announced. Turning on her heel, she walked away from him.

Leo followed, carrying the ferret. "We've only just met. You can't despise me until you really get to know me."

She ignored him as he followed her to the Hathaway suite. She ignored him as he knocked at the door, and she ignored him as they were welcomed inside by the maid.

There was some kind of commotion going on in the suite, which shouldn't have been a surprise considering it was his family's suite. The air was filled with cursing, exclamations, and grunts of physical combat.

"Leo?" Beatrix appeared from the main receiving room and hurried over to them.

"Beatrix, darling!" Leo was amazed by the difference the past two and a half years had made in his youngest sister. "How you've grown-"

"Yes, never mind that," she said impatiently, snatching the ferret from him. "Go in there and help Mr. Rohan!"

"Help him with what?"

"He's trying to stop Merripen from killing Dr. Harrow."

"Already?" Leo asked blankly, and rushed into the receiving room.

Chapter Nine

After attempting to sleep on a bed that had turned into a torture rack, Kev had awoken with a heavy heart. And other, more urgent discomforts.

He'd been plagued with stimulating dreams in which Win's na**d body had been writhing against him, beneath him. All the desires he kept at bay in the daylight hours had expressed themselves in those dreams.… He had been holding Win, thrusting inside her, and taking her cries into his mouth… kissing her from head to toe and back again. And in those same dreams she had behaved in a most un-Win-like manner, delicately feasting on him with a wanton mouth, exploring him with inquisitive little hands.