So how could she feel so melancholy over never seeing the marquess again? She shook her head. This had to stop. Yes, she was attracted to him. If she could have dreamed up her perfect partner, her perfect man, he would be the marquess. What did he mean when he said he could communicate with animalsand now I know why I wanted to forget it. Was it because he remembered asking them to kill Will’s father? A chill ran up her spine. Okay, so he wasn’t perfect. Who was?
“Miss Darling?” Will broke through her thoughts again, and images of the marquess’ beautiful, stoic face shattered.
“I feel fine,” she assured her friend, shaking her head free of foolish notions. “We already checked all the upper floors, including the second landing. We should start at the bott—” Her words fled at the sight of the marquess coming down the wide staircase.
He was dressed casually in breeches and boots, a long bed coat, open down the center and a silk shirt barely concealing his lithe muscles beneath. His hair was free of any coloring and as black as Harry Gable proclaimed his heart to be. He looked especially dangerous when, for just an instant or two, his eye caught hers from under his disheveled raven locks and a smile curled his lips. He reminded Aria of a wolf, feral, hungry, and satisfied that he found her. He swept his fingers through his hair, clearing his vision, and in an instant just as deadly to her logic, his entire expression changed into one more pleasant, if not bored.
“What are you doing out of bed?” And why did he look so vital and healthy for one with a possible concussion?
“Why haven’t you started your search?” he asked, not answering her question.
She didn’t want to tell him that Harper wanted to open up to her about things. He would want to know what things. Things that weren’t her place to tell him. “Do you realize how dangerous it can be for you if your head is…broken and you don’t rest? You could die.”
He smoothed back his hair to see her better and set his powerful gaze on hers. She shifted in place and turned to Will just to break contact.
“Miss Darling,” he said like a siren, calling for her attention again.
Why did he say her name as if he were using it as an intimate endearment?
“Your concern should be in getting home, not if I live or die.”
She would have told him he was right and headed to the cellar with Will if something completely different wasn’t already spilling out of her mouth. “How can I just leave when I don’t know if you’re too stubborn to stay in bed? Of course, I’m concerned for you. What do you take me for? I’m not heartless.”
The slightest trace of his smile didn’t escape Aria’s notice.
“I can’t rest knowing you’re looking for a way out,” he confessed.
“Out? You mean home.”
He cocked one corner of his mouth and shrugged.
“My lord,” Will tried to intervene. That was as far as he got when the marquess turned his glare on him. He didn’t try to say another word but backed down.
Aria bristled and she turned on the marquess. “You’re as bad as Harry Gable.”
The marquess wore the expression of a man who had been unfairly struck.
“You’re over there pushing your weight around. You know Will won’t retort for fear of losing his property.”
“What?” Gray balked—partially pouting his lips that already looked luscious and needed no prompting. He turned his gleaming gaze on poor Will. “Tell her now how many times I have threatened to take your property.”
“None, my lord.”
Aria stepped in front of Will and tilted her neck to stare at the marquess. “How many times has he disobeyed you and given you a reason to do it?”
“Very often!” the marquess said, raising his voice an octave. “Even more since you arrived!”
“Are you raising your voice to me?” She let her tone do the threatening.
He tightened his lips but kept them shut and blew out a little extra breath through his nostrils. When she folded her arms across her chest, he wrinkled his nose slightly, but he wasn’t smiling. It looked more like he was…snarling.
She swallowed and looked away first. Just how dangerous was he really?
I can communicate with animals.
Or, as that first dance she’d seen him perform atop his castle rooftop had suggested, was he truly mad?
“I’ll come with you to check the doors.”