“I expected at least a thank-you,” he intoned, and she scoffed. “Something along the lines of...Thank you, Evan. Not only are you devastatingly handsome but also a brilliant salesman.”
She laughed at him. Head thrown back as if every word he’d said was deliciously absurd. As far as aphrodisiacs went, self-assurance in a woman was unusual, and yet...
God, but he enjoyed this woman.
“I had the situation in hand, or at least was attempting to,” she said, her voice more serious now, subdued. It was a crime for a woman with this much fire to be dimmed like this. If it wouldn’t jeopardize the sale she’d made, he’d bring Bridgewood back here and make him apologize to her. Kiss her feet. He hated seeing those shadows behind her eyes.
“Now that we’ve agreed on our impressive execution of that sale, I will be taking the casks I was promised. Two dozen should be enough.” As he’d hoped, her brown stare immediately lit on him. Her morose expression replaced with that provocative irritation he seemed to bring out in her.
“Two dozen?”
Yes, he preferred this fiery hellion much better to the wary woman from seconds ago.
“First—” she assumed a pose he could only call combative and pointed a finger up in the air “—Ineverpromised. I said I wouldconsiderit, if you got me in contact with Miss Cisse-Kelly.” His hands itched to reach for her. To drink in all that passion with a deep, languorous kiss.
“I spoke to them. If an invitation hasn’t yet arrived, you’ll be hearing from Miss Cisse-Kelly’s secretary by the end of the day.” Seynabou and her brother had been curious. It wasn’t every day that an earl asked a brothel owner for a favor. He was not a man to ask for concessions in general. Being beholden to others was not something he enjoyed, but seeing the woman in front of him flush with pleasure was well worth it.
“Thank you. Truly.” Her face softened as she continued. “I will honor my offer to Mr. Kapadia and you.” Her cheeks flushed with pink, and he wondered if, like him, she was recalling the details of their last conversation pertaining to casks. “I do still need tosellthe rum before I can empty the casks. I have not been very successful on that end. The one you just assisted me with is the first sale I’ve had all day.” Damn it all, he should’ve trounced Bridgewood and forced him to buy even more. At this rate, he’d soon be the proud owner of all the Dominican rum in Paris.
“Then it seems I will have to claim my casks in Edinburgh,” he told her, his voice hoarse.
For a moment they just stared at each other. That same electric current that had passed between them the night before, pulsing in the space around them.
“On second thought, I do have something I could give you today.”
“Where could you have possibly hidden a two-hundred-liter cask of rum?”
“Give me a second.” The hint of mischief in her voice reminded Evan this was a woman who walked around Paris with a pistol and a flask of rum under her skirts. His cock pulsed at the idea of laying her on a bed wearing only those.
“Here we are.” Her muffled voice brought him out of his lustful thoughts. When he lifted his gaze to where she’d been standing, he found himself in the presence of an utterly delicious, plump, heart-shaped backside.
He was fruitlessly attempting to will his blood flow to head in a different direction when she popped back up.
“For you,” she said, beaming at him as she thrust two miniature casks in his direction.
The two could not be much bigger than a gallon jug.
“Theseare my casks?” She looked devilish, and Evan had to bite down on his cheek not to dissolve into a fit of giggles. “Aren’t these the ones you had at the display yesterday?”
“You seemed so taken with them,” she told him with absolute solemnity, even as she visibly fought for composure. Delighted mischief shining in those beautiful eyes. She was laughing at him...again.
At that very moment Evan concluded that he could apply his days exclusively to studying the many moods of Luz Alana Heith-Benzan and be utterly riveted by every single one of them. If only he was the kind of man who could possess a ray of sunshine like this and not smother it in darkness.
“I see Miss Heith-Benzan has run circles around you once again,” Raghav drolled as he sauntered up to them, eyeing the tiny cask in Evan’s hand. “Most unimpressive, Sinclair.” He leaned in to take Luz Alana’s gloved hand. “Miss Heith-Benzan, you look radiant today. Is this from Jeanne Paquin?” he asked about her light yellow dress. That immediately elicited a pleased smile from his cask nemesis. And even though Evan knew Raghav was this charming to everyone, he could barely keep himself from nudging the man out of the way.
“Please call me Luz Alana.” She sent a luminous smile in Raghav’s direction. Evan’s stomach twisted painfully. “It is not Paquin, but you have a remarkably good eye.” She winked in approval as she ran a hand over the row of buttons on the front of her bodice. “It’s one of my cousin Delia Marie’s creations.”
She was wearing the same cameo brooch she’d had yesterday. The stone was one he’d never seen before: the color was a crystalline blue with cloudy swirls of white. Like she had a piece of the sky pinned to her chest.
His clothes suddenly felt tight, and his skin prickled.
“She is very talented, and you are a fantastic model for her creations,” Raghav said, eliciting another blinding smile. The prickling relocated to the back of Evan’s neck. Had someone covered the blasted windows? This discomfort had to be from the heat.
“Raghav, don’t you have a meeting to go to?” He growled, and two pairs of eyes stared at him like he’d grown a second head.
“Weare supposed to go meet some Japanese buyers,” Raghav retorted.
“Japanese buyers?” Luz Alana asked with obvious interest. “You’re meeting with them now?”
