Duke of Decadence (Lords of Scandal #9) - Tammy Andresen Page 0,4
spine. “Get off,” she shrieked. “Please.”
He rose then, pulling her up all in a single motion, with an athleticism that almost left her breathless.
With his body off hers, she could breathe again, and think.
And that’s when she realized that Eliza was attempting to wrestle their bag of winnings from a man’s much larger grasp. Chaos had erupted all about them as people yelled, some of them shrieking about the odds of Eliza wresting the bag from the thief. Were they actually betting on her sister? Heathens.
She gasped and started for the man yanking on her sister. But before she’d even taken a step, the man who’d knocked her down had the assailant by the collar.
“Do you know who I am?” He growled in the thief’s face.
The other man took a large swallow. “You’re Bash.”
Bash hauled the man closer as though he barely weighed anything, though the other man must have been twenty stones. “That’s right and do you know why they call me that?”
“N-no-no.” the other man struggled to get out of Bash’s grasp.
“I’m a boxing champion. Knock a man’s teeth out before he can even turn his head. We don’t steal at the Den of Sins,” he growled. “And we especially don’t steal from women.”
His slur was completely gone. Which told Isabella he’d never been drunk. She’d suspected as much. His eyes and hands had been completely steady.
But then why knock her to the ground?
The other man dropped the bag and Eliza pulled it close, clutching the leather to her chest.
“Anyone who picked up coins will set them on the table now if they want to be invited back to this club. And just so you know, five other men besides me were watching so we know who you are. You’ll never make it out the door with the stolen money. We run a clean club.”
A grumbling rumbled through the nearby tables, but money appeared on the table as Eliza moved about and collected the funds the men deposited, her head high.
But Isabella wasn’t feeling nearly as confident as Bash’s glittering gaze focused on her once again. “You. Come with me. We’ve got a few things to discuss.”
“I really shouldn’t,” she whispered, taking a half step back before his massive hand wrapped about her much smaller upper arm. “I need to see my—” She’d been about to say sister…. Drat. This was unraveling rather quickly.
“I’m not asking.” Then he tossed the thief forward, sending the man crashing into a table. “You too.” He pointed at Eliza. Then he began dragging Isabella toward a dark hall.
She swallowed down a scream.
Man, his ass, Bash thought as he pulled the little minx behind him. Well more precisely, her ass. When she’d stood that had been the final tell. No man had an ass that sweet, round, and plump.
His little ruse of tackling her had given him several bits of information.
He’d confirmed what he’d already known. This was a woman.
Despite being thin, she had an unmistakable softness. A slim waist and flared hips gave way to a soft stomach, silky skin, warm supple thighs that had instinctively cradled him and him hard as granite in his trousers.
And she was beautiful too.
He was certain the woman posing as her lover was a relative. They had the same warm, chocolate brown eyes that tilted ever so slightly at the corners. It gave his little imposter the look of a vixen when the rest of her features were delicate. Pure.
He thought the shape of her eyes to be her most truthful feature. Any woman willing to pose as a man, gamble the night away, and then engage in a small brawl had to be a vixen.
“Please,” she whimpered, attempting to tug her arm from his hand. “You’re hurting me.”
He loosened his hand but didn’t let her go. How could he have thought her a man for even a moment? He stopped in the hall and turned to look at her.
Her eyes had grown larger as they made their way down the dark hall, her lips parted in what was likely fear but made her look…kissable.
If it weren’t for the shadow of whiskers…
Taking out his handkerchief, he scrubbed at the dark spots on her face, smearing them more than anything else. He told himself he was revealing her ruse and he ignored the voice that said he just wanted to see her without the powder on her face. Was she as lovely as he imagined?
The other woman stopped just behind them. “You’re only going to spread the