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Evie pressed her lips into a furious line, but she continued to glare at him. “Oh, so now you are trying to deflect?”

“I am not deflecting,” he replied matter-of-factly.

“Yes, you are,” she hissed back.

There were a great many things she wanted to say to him—choice words, mostly—but the dance had already come to an end. Evie bowed stiffly, flushing slightly when she noted that several eyes were watching them with keen interest.

“This discussion is not over,” she told him under her breath.

Daniel had the gall to smile slightly at her, as if he was amused by her anger.

“We may continue the discussion later,” he agreed. “We live in the same residence now, or have you forgotten?”

How could she forget? Ever since Colin had left her in his “care,” she had longed to return to Blackthorn Estate.

Still, she smiled coldly at him. “Not later. We are going to talk about it now.”

She noted the slight tick in his jaw with some satisfaction.

“I shall be in the garden,” she told him. “I suggest you do not make me wait overlong.”

CHAPTER 4

He could not believe her audacity—or her naiveté.

The gardens were no place for a gently bred young lady to be traipsing about in the dark of the night. Evie might think that it simply was someplace they might be able to hold a conversation without anyone listening in on them, but Daniel knew better.

The gardens were where thetonsecretly let out their darker, baser selves. These were places of trysts and rendezvous, where the members of Society enacted their more scandalous fantasies away from the censorious eyes in the ballrooms.

She cannot possibly mean to go there…

Daniel clenched his jaw as he watched Evie resolutely sashay out of the ballroom, pausing briefly to lean against the door frame with just one hand to cast an expectant look at him over hershoulder. If she had intended to seduce him, she could not have done better with that one sultry look.

But, of course, she was not seducing him.

Planning my complete evisceration would be more likely.

He had to admit that warning off every gentleman in London might not have been the best move, but he had heard enough from those bastards at the club. The Earl of Sidmouth could not have been the only one having such intentions towards Evie—he was simply audacious enough to state them for everyone, including Daniel, to hear.

Even just thinking about it right now made him want to punch the man and leave a dent in his skull.

If the sweet, little fool thought that he was going to feel remorse for his actions, then she was sorely mistaken. He was not going to apologize for keeping her fine bottom out of a great deal of trouble further down the road.

He found her standing with her proud back to him. Underneath the moonlight, her skin glowed as if she had been carved from the finest alabaster, her skirts rustling from the slight breeze that blew past.

It was a cool night, but his blood rushed hot in his veins at the sight of her.

He still had not been able to get rid of the memory of her sleepily draping herself over him. Nor could he so easily forget how hard he had been when he pressed her soft body into his bed, his hands pinning her wrists over her head. Even now, the image flashed through his mind, making him ache once more.

“You cannot make my decisions for me.”

Her voice was cold as it carried in the night air. She turned around to face him, her blue-gray eyes steely with resolve.

He frowned as he crossed his arms over his chest. He already knew she was going to say something like this.

Colin and Lady Wellington had indulged her to this degree, but the world was not going to be as kind to her. Her wide-eyed innocence, the way she regarded the people around her with such a trusting smile… how could she know that those very same people would gladly celebrate her downfall?

“Of course, I can,” he told her implacably. “Your brother left you under my protection, and you will do as you’re told if you know what is good for you.”