Page 62 of A Story of Love

He fixed her with a piercing look. “I collected some of the mutineers—I refuse to disclose the number to you, Miss Fontenot, so do not ask—and transported them to a neutral location.”

Lori’s jaw sagged. “So Parker’s informant wasn’t lying at all.”

“It is true that your anonymous correspondent might know a thing or two,” he conceded, and then set down his glass with an audible thump and leaned toward her. “So, I have answered some of your questions. Now I have one for you: what is the name of the person feeding all this information to Parker?”

The hairs on the back of her neck lifted at the quiet menace in his voice. It was the same voice he’d used in the alleyway earlier that night, but now it was directed at her. Lori suddenly understood why that hulking brute had capitulated so quickly. “I told you already: I do not know,” she said in an admirably level voice.

“But you could find—”

A brief knock interrupted him, and an expression of vexation settled onto his stern features before he barked out, “Come!”

Lori met his gaze as a maid entered the room and forced an arch smile before echoing his earlier words, “Saved by the bell, my lord.”

Chapter 16

“Put the tray on my desk, please,” Lord Severn instructed the servant before nodding his dismissal at her and turning back to Lori. “Come and sit here and I will clean your wounds.”

“I can do it. I don’t need—”

“Lorelei.”

He didn’t raise his voice, but something in his tone made her pulse quicken and her body began to rise from the chair with no instruction from her brain.

Lori mentally chided her traitorous flesh, crossed her arms, and pressed her bottom firmly back down on the chair. “You like to order people around, don’t you?”

He rolled his eyes. “Please let me help you with this. In addition to your arm there are scratches on your face. It will be easier for somebody else to care for both. If you like, I can ring for the maid, and she can assist you.”

His patient tone was more annoying than his commanding one.

“Fine.” She thrust to her feet, stomped over to the chair, and dropped into it gracelessly.

“Good girl.”

Lori bared her teeth.

Predictably, he chuckled at her glower and then proceeded to carefully bathe the side of her face and neck. “I beg your pardon,” he said when she flinched. “Is it very painful?”

“No, only a little sore. Does it look bad?”

“The scratches will probably heal quickly but I think you will have some bruising.” His jaw flexed and his pale gaze slid from the grazed flesh to her eyes. “I wish I had apprehended the brute earlier and spared you this.”

Lori swallowed at the intensity in his eyes. “I am just grateful that you were there at all.”

He gave her a long, brooding look and then turned back to the wound and applied a medicinal smelling salve. His touch—as businesslike as it was—sent sparks of heat skirling through her veins. He was such a large man, and yet so very gentle. Tender, almost. Soothing…

“You seem adept at treating wounds,” she said, choosing to speak—even if it was something stupid—before she began to moan. Or purr.

“I must have a natural aptitude as this is my first foray into the world of nursing,” he said, a small smile tugging at his lips. Once he replaced the lid on the tin of salve, his eyes flickered over her, and he frowned.

“What is wrong?”

“I have made a clean spot on your face. I am going to wash off the rest of this muck.”

Lori had forgotten all about the horrific cosmetics. “You don’t have to do that. I can—”

“Lorelei.”

Again, the word was soft yet too compelling to ignore.