Page 84 of Devil in Her Details

“Simple and diabolical.”

She grinned at him and gave a nod of approval. “All right, then. We pack everything.”

“We?” His mouth twisted into a grin. “I have men for that, love. Unless there are some things you are uncomfortable having other people touch?”

Lilly shook her head. “No, that would be splendid. Then we can gather the items from my list, and your people can collect the rest.” She paused when a shadow caught her attention through the window of the shop.

“What is it?”

Lilly shook her head. “I thought I saw something.” She kept her voice even, her eyes quickly darting to him. “A trick of the eye.”

His gaze cut to the window. The man went panther-like still, a change she now recognized as him shifting from her Dagger to lethal Dagger. A considerably more dangerous version.

“Wait here.”

She grabbed his arm. “No! What about rule number one?”

“It is superseded by rule number two. Do as I say.”

“How can that be?” She tightened her grip. “We shouldn’t be separated at a time like this. I should go with you.”

“Not happening, Lilly.”

“What if someone is hiding in the shop?” She gestured toward the back room, the storeroom beyond, the half dozen places she’d never given a second thought and was now giving every thought she had. “We haven’t searched all the nooks and crannies. What if there’s someone hiding in here while you go chasing whoever is in front?”

He cursed.

“Fine,” he said with clipped resignation. “Damn it. But you stay at my back, you don’t move unless I move, and the moment I tell you to run, you run. No arguments. No negotiations. No,” he pointed at her, “that look.”

“What look?”

“That gleeful one.”

She shook her head, denying his claim. The man had caught only the one percent of the glee she felt at the prospect of joining him, and not the other ninety-nine of trepidation. She held up her hands in surrender. “No arguments, no negotiations.”

His eyes narrowed on her. “You mean that?”

Lilly arranged her expression into one of perfect innocence. “I agreed to do my utmost, did I not?”

“God help me.” He turned toward the front of the shop, one hand finding her wrist and drawing her in behind him with a grip that was firm and careful in equal measure. “Close.”

“I’m close,” she murmured.

“Closer.”

Did he wish for her to climb onto his back? She was already near enough now to feel the tension in his back, every muscle primed. She swallowed her retort, not putting it past the man to latch onto that idea. Although, Lilly wouldn’t mind. She’d do anything so long as they weren’t separated.

Even ride a panther.

*

Dagger made his way onto the street, Lilly clutching the back of his coat, every sense he possessed snapping outward to map and assess nearby threats.

Except.

It wasn’t doing him any good. All he could smell was her. That faintly sweet scent that made him near mad with desire whenever they were this close. All he could feel was her. At his back, distractingly close but not close enough. All he could hear was her. The small careful breaths as she was trying not to make a sound. And all he could see, even as he scrutinized the shadows of the street, was her.

Hell’s bells.