Tonight, I would be unlacing my wife’s stay.
* * *
“Do you remember this, Keelynn?”
“How about this?”
“I have such a good memory.”
“Aren’t you impressed by my tiny table?”
Every word out of this prick’s mouth sent me that much closer to the edge of my sanity. Did Keelynn remember thatdarling Roberthad been engaged to her sister and hadn’t done anything about it?
“So, Tadhg,”Robertbegan, his nasally voice grating on my last nerve. “I’m still a little confused as to your role in all of this.”
My role. He wanted to talk about my feckin’role, did he? Should I tell him about making her come with my tongue or leaving her crying my name with my cock?
“Didn’t Keelynn tell you?” I said, nice and slow, allowing all sorts of delicious pauses to plant seeds of doubt in this little man’s tiny mind. I kissed my wife’s hand, hoping he heard the way her breathing hitched when my lips met her skin. She may not care for me, but she sure as hell liked the way I made her feel. “I’ve been hired to bring this stunning woman to the Gancanagh’s castle.”
Her tongue nipped out, leaving her lips wet. I felt the tug around my core tighten.
“Are you still confused, or would you like me to draw you a picture?”
Robert’s face turned the same shade of red as the terrible wine he added to my wife’s empty glass.
“You must excuse Tadhg,” Keelynn breathed, her voice huskier than usual. “He doesn’t understand how agentlemanshould act at the dinner table.”
The wager. Remember the wager.
It was precious the way Robert stared me down. As if I would fear someone like him. “Does he understand how a gentleman acts elsewhere?”
I smiled. “Ask Keelynn.”
Robert’s dull knife came out, aimed at my chest. “You bloody bastard! If you touched her, I’ll kill you.”
I checked the watch. Forty minutes left. “Now, now, Robert. Surely a gentleman shouldn’t make such threats.”
Keelynn tossed her serviette onto the table. “Stop it. Both of you.” She levelled those beautiful, steely eyes at me. “I know what you’re doing, and it ends now. You will be civil to one another.”
I had been perfectly civil.
Robert grabbed his glass, slumping in his seat like the child he was. “You expect me to be civil to a monster who is clearly taking advantage of you? I’ve half a mind to call the guards and have him arrested.”
I’d love to see the little prick try. I’d have his entrails spilled on the floor before he could set foot out of this room.
I sent the gravy boat toward his lap.
Keelynn saved him.
So I choked the bastard.
“Robert?” she cried, hurrying to help him. “Are you all right?” Bless her, she tried. But beating his back wasn’t going to keep my magic from forcing all the air from his lungs and sending him to the underworld, where he belonged.
“Tadhg! Do something.”
Feck it anyway. There went the wager. Strangling the host wasn’t exactly gentlemanly of me.
“Please!”