Page 60 of The Lady Needs a Rogue
Finn’s jaw set in a hard line. “Shall I have a talk with him?”
“That should not be necessary. I doubt I will encounter him again.” She felt the tension creep back into her bones. If only she could be certain.
“What brought him here?” Finn pressed.
“The pinched old stoat expressed an interest in acquiring my grandfather’s library and his research notebooks.” She let out a low breath. “Among other things.”
“Does the pinched old stoat possess a name?”
“Hiram Neville.” She glanced down the street toward his posh carriage. “I cannot say I’d ever heard my grandfather speak of him.”
“And yet he showed up here today.”
Macie pulled in a calming breath, hoping to appear more confident than she felt. “I made it quite clear that I have no interest in dealing with him.”
Finn plowed his fingers through his hair. “After I have a talk with him, we’ll be sure of that.”
“I don’t believe that will be needed.”
Finn shook his head. “The man needs to know ye have someone watching over ye.”
“The dreadful toad would not be the first to try to intimidate me into selling my grandfather’s possessions for a pittance. But we both know I’m not easy prey.”
Macie toyed with her cuffs, pressing unpleasant memories back into their proper place in the back of her mind. Since she’d come of age, she’d fended off all manner of unscrupulous so-called gentlemen. Pauper lords and would-be tycoons. Men who might have seen only her father’s fortune when they looked into her eyes.
Except for Finn.
Her gaze trailed over his familiar features, dancing over the carved lines of his jaw. The curves of his mouth. His clever wit, gleaming in his amber-brown eyes. Unbidden, a low heat coiled deep within, a yearning words could not fully describe.
“So, I’m to stand by and do nothing?” Finn’s husky words drew Macie from her thoughts.
“For the time being, that would be best course of action.”
“Not bloody likely,” Finn muttered under his breath. He plowed his fingers through his hair, his slight scowl making it clear they did not see eye to eye. “I’ll respect yer wishes. But if the stoat returns, I will be paying him a visit,” he said as Nell appeared at the top of the stairs.
“Who was that fellow?” she asked as she navigated the steps to the pavement.
“He claims to have known my grandfather.”
“I was in the library, standing by the front window,” Nell said. “I couldn’t help but overhear that man say something about this house.”
“He blustered a bit of nonsense about purchasing Bennington Manor. I suspect he was in his cups.”
“Buy the house out from under ye?” Finn’s brow furrowed. “Ye had not mentioned that.”
“Given the liquor on his breath, I put no stock in his words.” Macie pictured the man’s contemptuous twist of his mouth as he’d taken his leave.
“If he dares to show his face here again, yewilllet me know. Just because the bloke presents himself like someone’s churlish uncle doesn’t mean he is not dangerous.” Finn’s jaw set in a hard line.
Finn’s protectiveness appealed to her on an instinctive level. But she certainly didn’t need him to dash off and confront a man nearly twice his age.
Macie met his stern gaze. “Mr. Neville is a curmudgeon. Rather unpleasant, but I’ve no reason to fear him. After all, it’s not as if he issued a threat.”
In her mind, she heard his voice, the words he’d spoken in a cold, contemptuous tone.
You’d be better off far from this place.
A fresh ripple of apprehension set her nerves a bit ajar as an inner voice whispered in Macie’s thoughts.
