Forever My Love(79)
"Allow me to assist you." Alec fell into step beside her, his eyes fastened on her rather than the ground He wanted to shake her for the anxiety that she had caused him. A thousand words were on the tip of his tongue, yet in his heightened state of emotion that dared not say anything for fear that she would guess how much he had missed her or how much he wanted her. Mira did not say a word as they walked farther away from Rosalie and the phaeton, until she saw the thin sliver of the blade. 'There it is."
"Damned little idiot," Alec said, unable to hold back any longer. He bent and picked up the knife. Glancing back at Rosalie, he softened his tone to ensure that she did not overhear. "What did you think you were doing?" he demanded in a searing whisper. "You have no business flinging this around like a second-rate Gypsy—"
"What was I supposed to do?" Mira responded heatedly. "Tremble and faint and hope that someone would rescue us? I had no idea that you, of all people, were lurking in the shadows."
"You shouldn't have been here in the first place."
"Rosalie asked if—"
"Lady Berkeley is naive and too impetuous for her own good. I've known the Berkeleys ever since their marriage, and this isn't the first time she's landed herself in a bad scrape. I don't envy her husband the job of keeping her out of trouble… but you! You know better than to get yourself involved in something like this!"
"Don't you dare try to lecture me. You have no right to tell me what to do."
"Dammit, you need a hand taken to your backside!" Alec raked his fingers through his black hair, disrupting its sealskin smoothness.
"Give me my knife—"
"Your toy, you mean." Alec regarded the tiny blade in his hand with disgust. "What exactly did you hope to accomplish with this excuse for a weapon?"
"I was going to sink it in the hollow of his throat. I have excellent aim."
"I have no doubt that you're a wonder if your target decides to hold still for you," Alec said grimly. "But it was so slow that he had time to do a jig before knock-ing it away. Your arm doesn't have the necessary: strength to throw this hard enough. A child could evade your—"
"Give it to me!"
"You don't understand," Alec said patiently, ignored ing her demand. "You are not capable of defending yourself with this… and you damn well should staying away from situations in which you would need to use it. Do you have another one?"
"No!" Mira said, holding out her hand.
"Good." Alec pocketed the knife and smiled pleasantly into her flushed face.
It took Mira several seconds to find her voice. "You arrogant bastard! You obnoxious, self-righteous spawn of a dog—instead of sticking your nose into my affairs, why don't you stick it up your own—"
"My, my, Miss Germain," he murmured solicitously his smile deepening, "I had no idea you were so familiar with such vulgar terms of address."
"Yes, you did. I've called you worse before."
"With less reason." He laughed softly. "What a quick study you are… a demure society miss one moment, a little caw-handed street urchin the next."
"I am not caw-handed," Mira hissed, resenting the implication that she was clumsy.
"No?" His eyes traveled over her with calculating slowness. Then he saw her hands, which were trembling roughly. Alec's mouth tightened, the muscles in his jaw flexing. When he spoke, there was a hard note in his voice that she had never heard before. It wasnt anger and it wasn't concern, yet it was undoubtedly born of strong sentiment. "Don't do this again, Mira."
"What?"
"Don't take chances. There might have been a time in your life when you could afford them. But you can't any longer. Don't gamble with your safety. Do you know how many women disappear from this area each week? Do you know what kinds of things happen to them?"
"There are Charleys to protect us—" "Oh, really?" He cast an eye around the empty street. "Well, I won't worry any longer about your safety, not with such an impressive source of protection—"
"I don't need a lecture from you," Mira interrupted indignantly. He did not own her… he did not have the right to tell her what to do. He had no vested interest in her safety, and by not coming after her when she had left Sackville Manor, he had made it clear that she had been nothing more than a night of entertainment for him.
"Yes, you do. You can't go on flirting with disaster anymore. You need to put yourself on a tight rein… or if you're incapable of that, you need to find someone who'll do it for you."