“Evan,” she warned, but his eyes were locked on the man who, from the terrified look on his face, by now seemed well aware of his previous mistake. Luz felt absolutely no pleasure from any of it.
When they finally reached the door, Evan let go of her hand only so he could get within threatening distance of the guard. He had to be in his middle age. From his size and demeanor Luz could surmise he’d likely been intimidating in his prime, but he was softer now and certainly no match for Evan, who towered over him by at least five or six inches.
“Know that the only reason you will keep your job and what’s left of your teeth is because of my fiancée’s kindness.” The other man only nodded. “Do you have the keys to get inside?” Evan growled, making the guard shake like a leaf.
“Aye, my lord, but not for this main door.” He fished a ring with two keys from one pocket and handed it to Evan. “This one opens the side door. I got one chap on each of them. You want me to show ye?”
Evan took the keys and fished a handful of coins from his pocket, then made a pronouncement in that commanding tone. “Come back in thirty minutes, not a second later, or so help me I will knock your bloody block off, no matter what the lady says.” Evan blew air through his nostrils with such force he reminded her of an angry bull.
The guard was out of sight with astonishing quickness. As irritated as she was by all this, a wave of heat still surged through her body. It was hard not to react at that mighty display of fury on her behalf.
“I wish you would’ve let me fire him,” he grumbled. She could only laugh at how put off he was.
“Are you truly implying that I have any say in what you do, Lord Darnick?”
Something hot flashed in his eyes at how she’d lingered onLord Darnick. The look he gave her was...incinerating. He raked that whisky-colored gaze over every inch of her body as he leaned on the door. Just when the heat on her face was becoming unbearable, he reached for her hand.
“Come with me.”
He pushed open the door and waved his hand for her to walk through it. “Go on. Inspect that all is in order.” Everything about this moment felt wrong. Luz wished that this afternoon had never happened. She walked farther into the large room and noticed that it was almost completely empty, and the only casks she could see were of Caña Brava.
“Where are yours?” she asked, but he didn’t answer.
The barrels were lined up in rows of six, propped up on wooden pallets. Each one was tall enough to reach her midthigh. The space was meticulously clean. She was so deeply in her own thoughts as she took stock of her rum that she almost didn’t hear Evan’s question.
“Are you satisfied with the conditions?” he asked again, and though he still sounded terse, the irritation from before seemed to have gone out of him. After a pause he added, “I have the whisky in the other side of the warehouse since we have the furnace going in this one.”
Furnace? That was why it was so hot in there.
“Is the room warm enough?”
“What?” she asked, looking around until she found the two boilers in the corner.
“You said you were worried the colder temperatures would alter the taste of the rum. I had them turn on the boilers in here.”
Shehadsaid that. She’d expressed her concern offhandedly as they’d looked at the casks being loaded into the train in Paris. She had not expected Evan to do anything about it, much less arrange for a heated warehouse.
She didn’t know what to say, and worse, she was feeling positive things for him again, when she’d finally managed to rein herself in. But there was no stopping the overwhelming wave of gratitude and relief at having someone take care of things for once.
“You didn’t have to do that.” She crossed her arms across her chest for good measure. She was, after all, furious with him.
“You were concerned about it, so I took care of it,” he bit off, visibly flustered.
“That’s interesting, because if I recall I also expressed concerns over you keeping secrets from me, and you didn’t seem to heed that request. When did you plan to let me know about your father’s ball which you don’t seem to think I’m fit to attend?” He’d been ready for this. He took her recriminations unblinkingly. For some reason his stoicism only made her angrier. “Or that you were engaged to be married to your father’s wife, Evan?” Her voice felt too loud in the quiet room.
Evan looked at her for a moment, his head askance, as if trying to assess if it was worth it to respond. He was standing a few feet away, and he was very still. She wished he’d come closer.
“If anyone is not fit for purpose, it is my family. My father is an odious man.” He rubbed his face as he did when he was frustrated. “I didn’t want to expose you to his vitriol.” She didn’t think he was lying to her, but the way he held himself, that wasn’t all of it. “And Charlotte isn’t exactly a secret.” Perhaps hewastrying to infuriate her.
“Then why didn’t you tell me the truth?” His eyes darkened at her words, and a flicker of uneasiness passed through his countenance.
“What truth is that, Luz Alana?”
She saw his hands fist in his pockets, his body rigid with tension, and for a moment she thought she could feel the string between them being pulled so tightly it was near snapping. She was too attached already, behaving like a spurned woman when Evan Sinclair had made her no promises beyond assistance with her inheritance.
“It doesn’t matter,” she finally said, leaning against the barrels. They too were a support, but not like the body of the man standing just a few feet from her.
“Now you’re the one lying,” he replied, and she could feel the animosity rising in him.
