Then Came You (The Gamblers #1)(47)

“Oh, just for tonight. Have his carriage brought to the back and lodge his driver for the evening.”

“Very good, miss.”

While Burton went in search of the ropes, Lily approached the slumbering giant on her bed. All of a sudden she was rather amazed at what she had done. Alex did not stir. Lying there with his eyes closed, he seemed young and vulnerable. His feathery lashes cast shadows on the highest edge of his cheeks. Without his familiar scowl, he looked so…innocent. “I had to do it,” she said remorsefully. “I had to.” She leaned over him, smoothing his tousled blond hair.

Deciding to make him more comfortable, she untied his black cravat. The silk was still warm from his skin. Contemplating him silently, she unfastened his waistcoat and the top two buttons of his white linen shirt. Her knuckles brushed the taut skin at the base of his throat. An odd, pleasant shiver went through her.

Wonderingly she touched his golden cheek, the stern edge of his jaw, the silky curve of his lower lip. The growth of his night-beard had begun to show, turning his jaw and chin into scratchy velvet against her fingertips. No fallen angel could have possessed a more compelling mixture of darkness and light. She saw the strain on his face, a tenseness that remained even in slumber. Too much drinking, too little sleep. And grief from long ago had cast its indelible shadow on his features.

“We’re alike in some ways, you and I,” she murmured. “Pride, temper, and obstinacy. You’d move a mountain to get what you want…but you, my poor brute, don’t even know where the mountain is.” She grinned as she recalled the way he had tossed her clothes out the bedroom window.

On a sudden impulse, she bent over him, gently pressing her lips to his. His mouth was warm, unresponsive. She thought of the crudely intimate way he had kissed her in the library. Lifting her head, she stared down at him with her nose almost touching his. “Wake up, sleeping prince,” she murmured. “It’s time for you to realize what I’m capable of.”

Alex drifted slowly into wakefulness. Irritably he wondered who was pounding on a drum nearby…thump…thump… reverberating in his skull. He winced and turned his aching head against a cold, soothing pressure nearby. “There,” came a low voice. “There, you’ll be all right.” Alex squinted his eyes open, and saw the outline of a woman’s face above his. He thought he must be having another dream about Lily. Those were her eyes, the spicy color of gingerbread, and her mouth, curved into a disarming smile. He felt her soft fingertips trace over his cheek. “Damn you,” he mumbled, “Will you haunt me forever?”

Her smile deepened. “That’s entirely up to you, my lord. No, don’t move, you’ll dislodge the ice. Your poor head. I tried to hit you as gently as possible. But I had to do it hard enough that a second time wouldn’t be necessary.”

“Wh-what?” he asked groggily.

“I hit you on the head.”

Alex blinked in dawning awareness, beginning to understand it was no dream. He remembered tearing into her house, coming to her room…the blow to his head. He gave a muffled curse. Lily was sitting cross-legged beside him. He was stretched out full length on a bed. For all Lily’s show of calm concern, there was a victorious look about her that caused his nerves to crackle with warning. “Henry—”

“Don’t worry, he’s fine. Absolutely fine.” She smiled reassuringly. “He’s staying the night with a friend of mine.”

“Which friend?” he demanded. “Who?”

Her gaze turned wary. “When I tell you, don’t jump to conclusions. If I had the slightest doubt as to his well-being, I never would have—”

He struggled to sit up. “Tell me who has him!”

“Derek Craven.”

“That underworld swindler who surrounds himself with whores and thieves—”

“Henry’s absolutely safe with Derek, you have my w—”

Lily broke off with a gasp, leaping from the bed as Alex reached for her with a snarl. “You bitch!” He was caught short by ropes that bound his wrists and ankles to the thick bedposts. Sharply his head snapped from right to left. He saw what she had done. Shock froze him from the inside out. Then he roared and began to tug in a storm of fury, causing the massive bed to tremble and creak. He fought the ropes like a wild beast experiencing confinement for the first time. Apprehensively Lily watched him. She relaxed as she saw that the sturdy bed frame would withstand the ferocious punishment. Finally Alex’s struggle subsided. His lean frame was racked with labored gasps. “Why?” he demanded. “Why?”

Lily eased back onto the bed and looked down at him, her smile a fraction less confident than before. In spite of her triumph, she didn’t like the sight of him bound and helpless. It seemed unnatural. And the ropes had already chafed his wrists—she could see the redness his tugging was causing. “I’ve won, my lord,” she said calmly. “You may as well accept it with good grace. I admit my tactics lacked sportsmanship…but all’s fair, as they say.” She rubbed the sore muscles at the back of her neck and yawned. “As we speak, Zachary is at Raiford Park. He’ll spirit Penelope away to Gretna Green tonight, and they’ll be married. I volunteered my services for the task of detaining you. By the time I release you, it will be too late for you to do anything. I couldn’t let you have Penny, not when Zachary loves her so. He’ll make her happy. As for you…your damaged pride will soon recover.” She smiled into his bloodshot eyes. “I told you that you’d never have her. You should have taken my warning seriously.” Her head tilted coquettishly as she waited for his response. Perhaps he would acknowledge it had been a game well-played. “Well?” she prompted, wanting her victory tribute. “I’m interested to hear your opinion of all this.”