The Devil to Pay (The Devilish Devalles, Novella #1) by Catherine Gayle

Author:Catherine Gayle [Gayle, Catherine]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Night Shift Publishing
Published: 2013-05-08T22:00:00+00:00

“You really are a devil just like they all say, you know,” Miranda said before she could stop herself. It wasn’t a very kind thing to say, but he wasn’t behaving in a very gentlemanly manner, so she didn’t feel too guilty about her behavior. Why couldn’t he just demand whatever payment he wanted from her, and they could be done with it and move on with their lives?

He reared back in mock distress. “You wound me, Miss Miranda.”

That was exactly the sort of reaction she would have expected from her brother, Jason. He was always trying to pick at her, to provoke her into some thoroughly unladylike response. More often than not, he was successful, blast him.

This wasn’t the first time Mr. Devalle had teased her in just such a manner, either. He’d done the same when they were dancing, and she hadn’t been able to stop herself from giving him a rude retort.

That was irksome, to say the least.

She turned more fully in her seat, focusing with all her might upon the line of birches and willows they were driving past and studiously attempting to avoid staring at the entirely-too-handsome distraction beside her. “Why must you tease me?”

“Why must you look away from me when I tease you?”

“You only want to see how deeply your words cut me. I daren’t give you the satisfaction lest you engage in such barbarous behavior with far more frequency.”

“On the contrary,” he said, his tone no longer jocular, “I wish to see the flashes of fire in your eyes.”

“That is one and the same.” Good heavens, but she hated the hurt that rang through in her voice. She sounded like a petulant child.

“No. They couldn’t be more different.” He gave a flick to the ribbons, and the pair of bays led them off the main path onto a more private lane.

She looked up at him sharply, her heart galloping even though the horses were moving rather sedately. “What are you doing?”

“Taking you where we can speak more freely.”

“But it isn’t proper!” Miranda looked over her shoulder at carriage after carriage, with half the occupants staring after them as they separated from the pack. “We cannot be—”

“Miranda,” he interrupted her. Her name was like velvet rolling from his tongue, like the warm caress of a morning cup of chocolate. “We are in an open curricle. Anyone walking by, anyone in a carriage or on a horse…they can all see us and everything we do. We are still in plain view.”

But they were moving farther and farther away from the protection of all of those eyes, and they’d already moved too far away for there to be any safety from eavesdropping ears. She pressed her eyes closed and said a silent prayer for patience. “I don’t—”

“Would you have agreed to come to the park with me today at all if you didn’t feel perfectly safe with me?”

Her eyes flashed open, and she stared at his confident smile, his almost but not quite mocking eyes.

“You are no gentleman.

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