Page 79 of An Inconvenient Duke

When she drew back a second time, preparing to punch the bag with all her might, he grabbed her hand by the wrist and stopped her before she could wound her good hand. “No.”

She spun around to face him, her breathing coming fast and shallow in her anger. So fast that the top swells of her breasts rose and fell rapidly at the lace neckline of her yellow muslin dress. Her lips were slightly parted, and a surprised gasp fell from them when he pulled her fingers open and placed a kiss to her palm.

“Never punch with your thumb inside your fist. You’ll break it when the punch lands.” He refolded her fingers into a fist, her thumb curled over the outside, and jerked a nod toward the bag. “Go ahead, if you think hitting it will help.”

She clenched both her fist and her jaw. “Or I could punchyou.”

“Go ahead,” he repeated solemnly, “if you think it will help.”

With a glare, she yanked her hand free and stepped away from him.

“I won’t surrender, Marcus.” Her angry voice reverberated through the room, echoing off the walls and metal weaponry. “Not to you, not to anyone.”

“Thank God for that.” He slid a heated glance over her and appreciatively arched a brow as he murmured, “Only a damn fool wants a submissive woman.”

Her cheeks flushed, although by the way her eyes flared at his audacity, he couldn’t have said whether from desire or anger. “It was wrong of you to couple your proposal with shutting down Nightingale.”

He bit back a reminder that he hadn’t asked for that at all. She’d swallowed enough of her pride to seek him out, and he wasn’t in a hurry to drive her away. Dear God, how much he’d missed her!

Her chin raised slightly. “But I am willing to forgive you for it.” Her mouth twisted in consternation. “And love you regardless.”

Hope sparked inside him. He took a step toward her, only for her to retreat.

“But the next vanishing that Nightingale does will—”

“Hell no,” he bit out. Her words came like an unexpected punch.

She coolly arched a brow.

“You’re still planning on putting yourself into danger, even now. Even when you know how desperate a man Hartsham is.” He bit back a curse that would have curled her toes. Knowing better than to reach for her, he raked frustrated fingers through his hair. “You won’t stop until you’re dead, will you?”

“You’re a hypocrite,” she chastised. “You don’t want me to work with Nightingale because you think it’s too dangerous, yet you’re chasing after Hartsham.”

“I can hold my own against Hartsham.”

“Is that what this place is for? All of this, to arrest one man?” She waved her hand at the armory around her and the weapons that covered the walls. “Look at this place! This isn’t for going after an earl who couldn’t win at fisticuffs if his life depended upon it. All these weapons, impenetrable walls—for heaven’s sake, there’s a spiked portcullis over the main door!” She jabbed an angry finger at the floor. “This place is for waging war.”

“Yes, it is.” He strode toward her, closing the distance between them.

But this time, she stood her ground. The anger pumped inside her so intensely that she visibly shook with it, and with something else that he could see boiling up inside her that was just as intense, just as hot.

“So that you can continue to take on the world, so you can continue to fight,” she bit out the indictment. “You’re so eager to strip from my life the purpose that Nightingale gives it, yet you’ll go to lengths like this to find some kind of meaning for your own.”

“Yes, damn it!” he snapped, so fiercely that it echoed through the building. “I want purpose in my life. Butnotat the cost of the ones I love.”

She pushed her hand against his shoulder as he leaned into her, now so close that he could feel the heat of her front on his bare chest. He could smell the lavender scent of her that engulfed his senses, sent his head swirling, and had his cock stiffening. Just one more step and his hips would be pressed to hers, her yielding body molded against his hardness.

“You think that just because you’re a powerful general and a duke that you can do whatever you please, whenever you want—the rest of the world be damned.” Her voice emerged as a throaty rasp, one that spiraled like liquid fire through him all the way down to his bare feet. “But you can’t.Notwith me.”

Every muscle in his body tensed in aching desire to claim the defiant fire inside her.

“This isn’t the army, Marcus.” Her eyes blazed as she shoved again at his shoulder.

A rising need pulsated low in his gut. The same need he now felt radiating from her.

“And I am not your enemy.”

“Is this the only reason you came here, Danielle?” he drawled, audaciously lowering his mouth close to hers. “To yell at me?”