Then Came You (The Gamblers #1)(37)

“Wh-what happened?” she croaked.

“I forgot the old maxim,” he said dryly. “Something about waking a sleepwalker.”

So he had found out. Oh God, what would happen now? She must have betrayed her fear, for he began to rub her back again, as if she were an overwrought child. “This is what happened the other nights, isn’t it?” His palm moved down the delicate ridge of her spine. “You should have told me.”

“And give you the idea to put me in some as-asylum?” she replied shakily, making a move to push herself away.

“Be still. You’ve had a shock.”

She had never heard his voice so gentle…it didn’t seem to be his voice at all. Lily blinked in confusion. She had never been held like this before. Giuseppe, with all his impetuous passion, hadn’t even held her this long during their love-making. She felt uneasy, helpless. The situation was beyond her imagination. Lord Raiford, clad in a robe, no starch, buttons, or cravats anywhere in sight. The chest under her head was like the timbered side of a frigate ship, while his muscled legs were impossibly hard against hers. The beat of his heart resonated in her ear. What would it feel like to be so invincible? He must not be afraid of anyone.

“Do you want a drink?” Alex asked quietly. He had to let go of her. Either that or sink to the floor with her. He was hovering on the brink of disaster.

She nodded against his chest. “Brandy.” Somehow she mustered the strength to pull away from him. She lowered herself into a leather armchair, while Alex went to the corner cupboard where the liquor was kept. He poured a small amount of cognac into a glass. In the light of the lamp, his hair shone with the gold luster of a doubloon. As she watched him, Lily bit at her lower lip. So far she had known him as a arrogant, judgmental figure, the last man in the world she would accept help from. But for one astonishing moment she had felt all his strength surround her. She had felt safe and protected.

He was her enemy, she reminded herself silently as he approached. She must remember that, she must remember…

“Here.” Alex pressed the glass into her hands and sat nearby.

Lily sipped at the drink. The brandy had a light taste, unlike the fruitier distillations Derek always stocked. The mellow liquor had a steadying effect on her. Lily drank slowly and glanced at Alex, who hadn’t moved his gaze from her. She couldn’t quite work up the courage to ask if he intended to tell anyone what had happened.

He seemed to read her thoughts. “Does anyone else know?”

“Know about what?” she parried.

His mouth tightened impatiently. “Does it happen often?”

Staring into the brandy glass, she swirled it in feigned absorption.

“You’re going to talk to me, Lily,” he said grimly.

“You may call me Miss Lawson,” she shot back. “And while I’m certain you’re quite curious about my nocturnal habits, it’s none of your concern.”

“Do you understand that you could hurt yourself? Or someone else? Just now you nearly knocked the lamp over and started a fire—”

“That was because you startled me!”

“How long has this been going on?”

Lily rose to her feet and glared at him. “Good night, my lord.”

“Sit down. You’re not leaving until you give me some answers.”

“You may sit here as long as you wish. I’m going upstairs to my room.” She walked toward the door.

Alex reached her instantly, spinning her to face him. “I’m not through with you yet.”

“Take your hands off me!”

“Who’s Nick?” Alex knew he had hit a vulnerable spot when he saw her eyes widen to dark pools of fear. “Nick,” he repeated in a low jeer. “Some man you’re keeping company with? A lover? Does your cher ami Craven know about Nick, or have you—”

With a muffled sound Lily threw the brandy into his face, anything to make him stop, anything to silence the stabbing words. “Don’t say that name again!”

The brandy trickled down Alex’s face in golden rivulets, bright drops sliding down the harsh grooves that were carved from his nose to his mouth. “Not only Craven, but a lover on the side,” he sneered. “I suppose a woman like you would think nothing of crawling from one man’s bed to another’s.”

“How dare you accuse me! At least I confine my infidelities to the living!”

His face went pale while Lily continued recklessly. “You’re planning to marry my sister, even though you’re still in love with Caroline Whit-more. A woman who died years ago! It’s morbid, not to mention unfair to Penelope, and you know it. What kind of husband will you be to my sister, you obstinate brute, when you’ll insist on living in the past for the rest of…”

Lily stopped as she realized she’d gone too far. Alex’s face looked like a death mask. Once she had read a few lines that would have described him perfectly…More fierce and more inexorable far, than empty tigers or the roaring sea… His eyes bored into hers with an intensity that terrified her. He was going to kill her. The brandy glass dropped from her nerveless hand and fell to the thick Savonnerie carpet with a thump. The sound broke Lily’s paralysis. She turned to flee, but it was too late, Alex had caught her. There was nothing she could do but writhe helplessly as he jerked her head back.