Then Came You (The Gamblers #1)(73)

He had destroyed her last chance of winning the money to pay Giuseppe. Lily blamed herself equally as much as she blamed him. If only she hadn’t meddled in his affairs! If she had sensibly refused Zachary’s plea for help and minded her own business, Alex would still be staying in the country with Penelope and the rest of the Lawsons, giving no thought to her existence. She thought of the way she had tied him up on her bed and a feeling of hopeless dread came over her. Alex would never forgive her for humiliating him. He would pay her back a hundredfold. He would devote himself to ruining her. She did not look at him directly, but she knew his pale silver eyes were fixed on her, and that the severe red garments he wore gave him a startling, beautiful, terrifying appearance. She doubted she could feel worse if she were trapped in a carriage with the devil himself.

Eventually the carriage lurched to a halt. One of the footmen opened the door. Scooping Lily into his arms, Alex took her from the carriage and started up the steps of Swan’s Court. The footman rushed ahead of them and knocked on the door. “Mrs. Hodges,” the man called urgently. “Mrs. Hodg—”

The door was opened, and the housekeeper regarded the scene before her with dawning surprise. “You’ve returned early, my lord. I…” Her eyes rounded as she saw the woman bundled in Alex’s arms. “Gracious heavens…Lord Raiford, is she injured?”

“Not yet,” Alex said grimly, and carried Lily into the mansion.

Lily twisted against him. “You can’t make me stay here,” she cried. “I’m going to leave as soon as you put me down!”

“Not until I make a few things clear.”

Rapidly Lily glanced at her surroundings as they went through an inner hall and up a gently curving staircase with an intricate wrought-iron balustrade. The house was cool and light, decorated in a gracious but uncluttered style. It was surprisingly modern, with large windows and expensive plasterwork. She realized Alex was looking down at her, as if gauging her reaction to the mansion. “If you intended to ruin my life,” she said in a low voice, “you’ve succeeded beyond your wildest ambition. You have no idea what you’ve done to me.”

“Taken you away from a game? Denied you the chance to flaunt your little body in front of the haut ton?”

“Do you think I actually enjoyed that?” she demanded, incensed beyond all caution. “Do you think I had a choice? If it weren’t for the—”

Horrified, she caught herself just in time, unable to believe what she had been about to say. He had made her so overwrought that her darkest secret was about to come spilling forth.

Alex pounced on her words immediately. “If it weren’t for what? Does this have to do with the five thousand pounds Craven mentioned? What do you need it for?”

Lily stared at him in frozen terror, her face turning ghastly white. “Derek told you about the five thousand?” she asked in a raw voice. She couldn’t believe it. Oh God, there was no one in the world she could trust! “I…I’ll kill him, the traitor—”

“It’s a gambling debt, isn’t it,” he said grimly. “What happened to the money you inherited from your aunt? You’ve squandered an entire fortune at the gaming tables, haven’t you? Apparently you’ve reduced yourself to a hand-to-mouth existence, supporting yourself through your winnings. Of all the irresponsible—” He broke off and gritted his teeth.

Lily turned her face away, biting her lip. She burned to tell him she had not been a spendthrift, nor had she foolishly gambled away the money. It had been drained away through blackmail and the expenses of a full-time investigator, all of it spent in the effort to regain her daughter. If not for Giuseppe’s treachery, she would have led a comfortable life. Given any choice, she’d never set foot near a hazard table again! But she could hardly let him know that.

As he stared at her stubbornly averted face, Alex longed to shake and kiss and punish her, all at once. He sensed the terrible conflict inside her. She was afraid of something…she was in some kind of trouble.

He carried her into a large bedroom and closed the door. Lily was absolutely still as he set her on her feet and began to unwrap the cloak from around her. She waited with unnatural patience, keeping herself under taut control. When he pulled the binding cloak away from her, she gave a sigh of relief and flexed her arms.

Alex tossed the cloak to a chair and turned back to her. Swiftly she lashed out with all her strength and slapped him across the face with a force that turned his head to the side. The ringing blow stung her palm. As she whirled around to leave, she felt his hand clench at the back of her costume.

“Not yet,” Alex muttered.

Lily wrenched away from him violently, and gasped in astonished fury as she felt the gossamer fabric of her gown ripping. The sheer material fell away from her, and she clutched at it in panic, backing up against a wall and covering her front with her arms. Alex approached her and braced his hands on the wall, leaning over her. It seemed as if he were three times her size. His searing eyes raked over her slim body, lingering on the pagan design of the serpent painted around her. The paint had been smeared in several places, leaving streaks of black, green, and blue across her white skin.

“Don’t touch me,” Lily said shakily. “Or…I’ll hit you again.”

“I’m not going to touch you,” he replied sardonically. “I’m going to wait here while you wash that…” he eyed the painted snake in disgust, “…thing off. There’s a dressing room over there, and a bathing room just beyond.”