Page 54

“That is, I’m… enjoying the fighting,” she finished weakly.

Enjoying the fighting?

She cringed. What an oxymoron.

Andrew inclined his head. “Then we stay.”

Westay.

That one particular word hinted at a partnership, which was, in a way, precisely what they were.

Because he’d agreed to her scheme. He’d agreed to assist her in her quest.

Someone approached their bench, and Marcia looked over.

A young woman, her breasts enormous, her generous mouth rouged, and her hips ample, slid over to their aisle.

“Wagers, Lord Waters?”

The woman’s husky voice emerged more of a purr, and Marcia frowned.

“Lucinda,” Andrew greeted warmly. “It has been awhile. Entirely too long,” he said as he reached inside his jacket and drew out some notes.

The young woman accepted that money, quickly counted it with her long-nailed, curiously painted fingernails, and smiled. “I thought you’d found other”—Lucinda’s gaze touched briefly on Marcia before it slid away, the woman dismissing Marcia outright—“interests that had taken you away forever.”

“Never, sweet,” Andrew said and chuckled.

Never?

Well, now, what wasthis?

Lucinda laughed, a throaty sound that also sounded false and practiced to Marcia’s ears, and she folded her arms at her chest and made herself stare intently forward. Anywhere but at Andrew chatting so smoothly with the beauty beside him.

Andsweet? How casual he was with his blasted endearments.

Marcia’s frown only deepened. She might be an innocent by society’s standards, but even the most chaste virgin couldn’t fail to hear the innuendo there. From the both of them.

A pair of men came through the arena, each taking a place at opposite corners of the wooden dais, each removing their shirts and tossing them to the men waiting outside the ring for them. Marcia’s interest, however, remained on the two at her side, visible from the corner of her eye.

Andrew and the entirely too-familiar-with-him beauty.

Lucinda made a show of carefully, deliberately sticking Andrew’s money deep inside the deep vee of her cleavage, and damned if Andrew’s eyes didn’t follow the woman’s display.

Marcia’s entire being tensed, and fueled with a volatile energy, she proceeded to tap her right foot rhythmically upon the wood floor.

Lucinda leaned in. “Is there anything else I can get you this evening, my lord?”

“That is all.” There was a slight, noticeable pause in Andrew’s tone. “For now.”

Oh, please.

Marcia resisted the urge to roll her eyes. He really was this much of a rogue.

What did you expect?

Her foot stilled its tapping. Furthermore, why should it matter?

It didn’t.