Page 96 of Devil in Her Details

“And my shop? Did anything happen there? It’s not thrashed again, is it?”

His lips curved up. “Your shop will be fine. We sent people in to close everything up. Your stock will be moved here for now until we’re certain no other pests are crawling about.”

“That’s good, then. Thank you.”

She said it lightly, but he didn’t miss the relief underneath. His gaze lowered to her lips.

He wanted to claim them so badly it hurt to hold back. But he dared not. So he did the next best thing. He eased back onto his heels, gathering both her hands in his and brought them up to his mouth, leaving a small peck on each of her palms.

“You should rest a bit.”

An instant flush of pink spread over her cheeks. “You expect me to rest? Now? I couldn’t rest even if I tried.”

“Try anyway?” She’d taken a nap after the last commotion—after she’d left Fury’s. A part of him didn’t want to take a chance that she’d leave again like last time, even though the situations were different. Could he just lock her up? No. No locking Lilly up.

“Dagger.” His name left her lips exasperatedly. “My mind doesn’t stop simply because you want it to stop.”

He sighed. Wouldn’t that make things so much easier if it did? He couldn’t quite explain his mood. It swung back and forth between fury, desire, and frustration over both. “What’s your mind doing right now?”

“Well.” She glanced down at their hands, then back up at him. “Thinking about my shop. The newspaper. The letter I had Calliope pen.”

Ah.

“You.”

“What about me?” Dagger asked, with no bloody idea why he was holding his breath.

Her lips curved. “I haven’t decided yet.”

A shudder passed through him. “Let me know when you do.”

He pressed another kiss to the palms of her hands before he made himself let go, made himself stand, made himself put actual distance between them. Because, by Christ, if he stayed kneeling there a moment longer, he was going press her onto the bed and claim not only her lips, but all of her.

Chapter Twenty

Lilly stared at Violet, wide-eyed. Though she hadn’t recognized Calliope, she certainly recognized her. Lady Evangeline Graves, sister to the Earl of Barrowmere. Here, in Brighton. Or more aptly, here in Peregrine’s public room in Brighton. The same table she, Allie, and Leo had shared. Instead of tea, they were enjoying French wine. Instead of daylight, evening had already fallen. And by the grace of heaven, Dagger had allowed her to do away with those uncomfortable bandages. Though he’d griped the whole time.

“You go by Violet now?” Lilly asked, intrigued. It suited her. She wondered what it took to shed one name for another. What it took to become someone new entirely. Honestly, how many other secrets did this brood of brothers and their women carry between them? Would she ever be let in on all of them, or did some doors simply stay shut to outsiders? She rather hoped it was the former. She’d never met two more fascinating women.

Violet nodded.

Lilly was dying of curiosity.

Calliope laughed. “She’s bursting at the seams again.”

“Well, can you blame me?” Lilly asked. Her eyes caught Dagger’s across the room and she quickly glanced away, lest she be questioned about their relationship again, and this time by two women, not one, questions which Lilly had no idea how to answer. This was why she also restrained herself from peppering both of them with her dying curiosity. She didn’t want to be peppered in return. The moment she opened that door, she’d have to face who Dagger Fury was to her. There would be no escape for her then.

“Oh, certainly not,” Violet said. “We were just as curious about each other when we met.”

That line of topic seemed safe to ask about. “And how did that come about? Did you meet before or after you met your husbands?”

“Before. Violet came to my store with her friends one day,” Calliope said. “She also helped save me from my wicked stepmother by informing my husband that I was kidnapped.”

Blazes. A kidnapping?

Calvington came to mind.

Never mind, then.