Page 55 of An Unexpected Earl
He shot her a look that told her he’d brook no argument. He was long past the point of tolerance. He yanked at his wet silk cravat to tear the thing away from his neck before it choked him. Then he tossed the black cloth to the floor and peeled off his wet jacket.
Her eyes grew wide. “What are you doing?”
“Undressing.” He dropped the jacket away and began to work at his cuffs. “And so are you.”
“No, I’m not—and stop that!” She waved a hand at his discarded jacket. “Put that back on!”
His last thread of patience snapped. “Take off that dress, Amelia,” he ordered, “or I’ll strip it off you myself.”
Fifteen
Amelia blinked. He wanted her to—
“No!” she blurted out and clamped her arms over her bosom. “Absolutely not.”
Through gritted teeth, Pearce offered up a curse so fierce that she flinched. “Why the hell not?”
“Why the hell should I?” she shot back, refusing to be cowed. If he thought she would simply take off her clothes and let him have his way—
But of course he thought that. For heaven’s sake, she’d done nearly exactly that at the ball.
He pointed at her skirt where the wet material wrapped around her legs like a second skin. “Because you’re soaked through to the bone and freezing. I didn’t save you from those men tonight just to have you die of fever.”
She fought back a grimace. He’d had no intention of removing her clothes to seduce her. Oh, she felt like an utter goose!
Gathering what little pride she still possessed, she lifted her chin. “I’m not cold.”
He arched a brow. “I can hear your teeth chattering all the way over here.”
Damn those shivers!She sniffed dismissively. “You are mistaken.”
Answering that obvious lie with a sharp glance of chastisement, he squatted onto his heels at the fireplace and set to starting a fire.
“You don’t need to worry about me, Pearce. I’m not your concern.”
“I told you before.” He chucked in several logs and stuffed a handful of kindling beneath them, then struck a spark with the tinderbox. Carefully, he coaxed out a flame until it caught on the kindling and bit hold onto the wood, then turned to look at her over his shoulder. “I’m in the business of rescuing women.”
What she wouldn’t have given to allow him to do just that—to give herself over to him to be protected, to be held safe and sound in his arms.
But she knew better. Because it wouldn’t stop with simply being held in his arms.
“And I told you,” she reminded him, “that I don’t need to be rescued.”
Laughing at that, he jabbed at the fire with the iron poker to stir up the flames. “Amelia, I’ve rarely seen a woman in more need of rescue than you.”
She scowled. “I am quite capable of taking care of myself.” She shoved herself off the bed. “I’m not some silly girl or one of those society misses who suffers from the vapors and faints at the drop of a hat. I’m nothing at all like those women who are part of your world now.”
“Believe me,” he murmured with conviction, “I certainly realize that.”
The heated look he sent her seared over her. He returned the poker to its holder, then pulled up to his full height as he turned to face her.
“But right now, you’re soaked through and freezing because of me. I can’t stop you from putting yourself unnecessarily at risk the way you did at the masquerade and tonight at Devonshire House when you eavesdropped on your brother.” When she opened her mouth to protest that, he cut her off. “But Icansave you from catching your death of cold.” He put his hands on his hips in a commanding pose that showed him as the no-nonsense brigadier he’d become. “Now, take off that dress.”
She refused to move and silently returned his stare. To be honest, the thought of taking off her wet clothes and finding something dry to put on tempted her. Greatly. Especially since an icy puddle was spreading around her feet at that very moment. But she’d never give him the pleasure of admitting he was right about—
A violent shiver shuddered through her so hard that her teeth chattered.
Pearce leveled an I-told-you-so gaze on her that had surely made his subordinates quake in their boots.
