Page 36 of The Lady Needs a Rogue
“You know what I mean.” She pressed the matter. “Why are you playing a role that doesn’t suit you at all?”
Something in her expression gave him pause. Was she starting to sense the truth? Did she realize that he would watch over her—contracts be damned—simply because he couldn’t bear the thought of some bastard hurting her?
He plastered on an expression that betrayed none of his thoughts. “Is it not enough to believe that I intend to protect ye while yer brother is not here to watch out for ye?”
“If Jon were truly worried about my safety, he might have hired an actual bodyguard. A big, burly fellow with a fierce scowl, if you will.”
“I had not realized a scowl was a requirement for protecting ye. I’ll have to remember that,” he countered.
She gave a little shrug. “I doubt that it would matter. When you scowl, it’s not at all frightening. In fact, it’s rather—”
“Ratherwhat?”
She hesitated for a long moment. Her cheeks had turned a bit pink, while a look of amusement danced in her eyes. “The word that comes to mind isbrooding.Rather like a moody poet.”
Bollocks.In his life, he’d been called a rogue and a rake and a rotter. But never had he ever imagined being dubbed a blasted poet, moody or otherwise.
“A villain would not find me menacing?”
She nibbled her lower lip, seeming to consider his question a bit more seriously than he’d expected. “Perhaps if you were in your fisticuffs—or is it brawling?—stance. That might give a villain pause.”
“I will have to keep that in mind. Perhaps I’ll add a well-timed snarl.”
She bit back the grin that sparkled in her eyes. “That might do the trick. In any case, I do wonder what Jon could possibly have offered to convince you to take on the monumental task of keepingmeout of trouble.”
“I thought ye did not care to know the details.”
The amusement drained from her eyes, replaced with a more pensive expression. “I suppose I am curious, that’s all.”
For a heartbeat, he considered revealing the bargain he’d made, the simple trade-off of protecting Macie and her all-important family name in exchange for a lucrative contract that would ensure the prosperity of his family’s business. After all, she was not some starry-eyed schoolgirl who didn’t understand how the world worked. She was the daughter of a tycoon. An heiress. She would understand.
Perhaps he should tell her the truth. But what was the truth? Was the bargain the whole story?
Or was it that he couldn’t bear the thought of someone—anyone—dimming the bright light that was Macie? Even if a man like him could never fully drink in the warmth of that light.
“It’s not complicated, Macie.” He caught her hand within his fingers, seeing the surprise on her features. “This city can be a brutal place. And I will do whatever it takes to keep you safe.”
Chapter Twelve
Iwill dowhatever it takes . . .
At the touch of Finn’s hand to hers, Macie’s heartbeat nearly skipped a beat. His voice had gone low, the husky rasp stirring an instinctive awareness within her. Gone was the lightly teasing banter in his tone, the humor in his words when he contemplated adding a snarl to appear more forbidding. The man whose gaze studied her face in that moment had uttered the words as a vow.
How very unexpected.She’d looked upon Finn as a man who’d lived his life on his own terms. Seeking unfettered experience, he had not burdened himself with bonds of the heart. Yet his words rang true. He was set on protecting her.
Drawing in a low breath, Macie steadied her emotions, and with them, the beat of her heart. The heat of Finn’s hand against hers had been quite delicious. There was no denying her body’s response to his nearly chaste touch.
The expression in his eyes was entirely unfamiliar. The young man she’d known all those years ago had been light-hearted, a brash rogue whose ready smile afforded him the ability to charm his way out of any fix. Why, he could even elicit a chuckle from her notoriously gruff father. A rare feat, indeed.
Now Finn had grown so very serious. Truth be told, his determination to protect her touched something deep within her. She trusted him, a rare thing, indeed.
If only he did not appear so suddenly dour. Shepherding her about town while pretending an infatuation should not seem a Herculean task. At the moment, she rather missed the charming man who’d shown up to a ball simply to see if she’d grown into the legs which had once seemed a bit too long for her body.
She let out a little sigh. “All this talk of danger... I don’t know what has come over you, but I do not much care for it.”
Raking long fingers through his hair, he studied her. “We both know what a woman on her own may face. I gave my word that I would watch over ye.”
Watch over. The words chafed like too-tight shoes. Good heavens, she was a woman, not a giddy schoolgirl. The very notion cut against the grain. If Finn thought to use the elderly intruder as justification to cage her like some blasted parakeet, he would soon find he was very much mistaken.
