Read Online Dance of Seduction by Sabrina Jeffries - Free Book Online Page B

you need do is pack up and move your shady enterprise.”
    “This isn’t a shady—”
    “Your accepting the money needn’t even be an admission of guilt. In fact, if you’re engaged in honest labor, you ought to leap at the chance to receive money for something so easy as moving your shop.”
    Slowly he faced her, eyes ominously black. “Perhaps I simply don’t trust fine ladies when they offer me money for so little.”
    “It’s not so little to me.”
    “All the same, you’ll forgive me if I refuse to risk my life or livelihood on a dubious offer of funds.”
    “But—”
    “Besides, I have a good berth here.” He swept his hand to include the entirety of the small, windowless room.
    She glanced around. This had once been a kitchen, judging from the small stove at the back, but for some reason he’d taken it for his bedchamber. Lord knows why, for with the stairway against the left wall, there wasn’t much space. He had a rickety bed scarcely big enough for a man his size, a scarred dresser, a washstand, a basket of apples, and not much else.
    Good Lord, for a wicked receiver, he certainly lived spartanly. “You call this a ‘good berth’?” she said with disdain.
    “It suits my purposes. More importantly, I pay no rent. In the long run, leaving here would actually cost me money, even with your attempt at compensation.”
    That roused her suspicions. “How do you manage to pay no rent?”
    “Friends of mine own the building.” His gaze hardened. “But that isn’t any of your concern. Nor is my shop or my activities.” All hint of his earlier smug amusement vanished, and only the menacing wolf remained as he stalked up to her. “So you’d best steer clear and mind your own business, Lady Clara, if you don’t want trouble from me.”
    If she let him cow her now when the fight had just begun, she’d never defeat him. Tamping down her apprehension, she met his gaze evenly. “All right, if you won’t listen to reason and leave London, just give me the watch and I’ll be on my way.”
    “The watch?”
    She glared at him. “The watch we’ve been discussing, for pity’s sake. If you’ll recall, you didn’t pay Johnny for it, so by rights it’s still his. Since I’m the one presently responsible for him, I demand that you give it back.” At the very least, she must keep Johnny from coming here to get money for his thievery.
    He glowered at her. “I can’t give it to you. I don’t have it anymore. I sold it to a man shortly after I acquired it.”
    “That’s impossible. There hasn’t been enough time, and your shop isn’t that busy. Why, in the whole time I’ve been here, nobody has even ventured to come inside.”
    “Who can blame them with your watchdog standing guard? I tell you, I sold it.”
    “I don’t believe you.”
    “I don’t care.” He paused. “But if it will ease your mind, I’ll give you the payment I would have given Johnny.”
    “Certainly not! Then I’d be as guilty of a crime as the two of you.”
    “That’s the best I can do. If you won’t take it, you might as well leave.”
    “I’m not going anywhere without that watch.” Sucking in a breath, she held out her hand. It occurred to her that Samuel couldn’t see her now that she’d come into the back of the shop. Still, every ounce of her pride balked at letting the captain win. She forced herself to stare up into eyes chilly with threat. “Give it to me, and I promise I’ll go.”
    “You’ll go, all right.” He stepped so close she could feel heat emanating from his body. “You’ll go this minute. Because if you stay even though I’ve made it clear I don’t have your confounded watch, I’ll assume you have other reasons for waiting around.”
    He dropped his gaze deliberately to her mouth, and a trembling began somewhere in the vicinity of her belly. “L-Like what?”
    “Like you’ve grown tired of your lonely existence corralling a lot of thankless scamps.” He lifted his hand to