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constant distraction.
    A nearby clock struck midnight, its insistent chiming startling them both. When the clanging finally stopped she straightened, and he almost sighed with relief. Or regret—he wasn’t sure which.
    To add insult to injury, she crossed her arms over her twin temptations, hiding even the thinly draped shapes from view. “‘The iron tongue of midnight hath told twelve,’ and I’m more than ready to retire. So would you stop being coy and tell me what you were doing in Papa’s desk?”
    Coy , for the love of God? She taunted him with flashes of her body, and he was coy? He’d built an empire on his reputation for being formidable. A woman, calling him coy ! How his competitors would laugh to hear that tale over their brandy and cigars—
    Cigars. Hmm. “I was looking for a cigar.”
    “A cigar?”
    “Yes. I need a smoke before I retire, and I’m all out. Since Knighton doesn’t smoke, I intended to see if your father kept some in his study.” He paused, then continued more sarcastically, “I’m not by nature a cigar thief, but a man gets desperate when he’s gone all day without. And I didn’t realize you patrolled the halls at night fully armed. Tell me,do you always use the sword, or do you sometimes resort to pistols? I want to prepare myself in case you shoot at me one night.”
    “Very amusing. And if cigars are all you came down here for, why didn’t you say so in the first place?”
    “Surely you didn’t expect me to reveal all my vices at our first meeting.”
    “You mean other than the ones you’ve already revealed?”
    “Exactly.” No point in arguing with the contentious woman. Besides, he wanted to be rid of her so he could resume his search.
    But she seemed in no hurry to leave. She was opening drawers willy-nilly. Suddenly she pulled out a wooden box and thrust it at him. “Here, Mr. Brennan. My father’s old cigars. We can’t have you wandering about the house unable to sleep when the remedy to your insomnia is so close at hand. Papa hasn’t smoked in years, so he won’t mind if you enjoy them.”
    By God, she’d believed him! He took the box and opened it, feigning interest in its contents. The cigars appeared to be of fine quality. A pity he never smoked.
    He closed the box and tucked it under his arm. “Thank you, that’s most generous.”
    “Don’t you want to smoke one now?”
    “Here?”
    “Certainly.”
    Was this a trick? Or did the woman truly have no idea what she’d proposed? “I may be a mere man of affairs, but I do know the rules of polite society. I’d never be so rude as to smoke in front of a lady.”
    “You have peculiar notions about propriety, sir. You find it acceptable to plunder your host’s private possessions and hold a sword to his daughter’sthroat, yet you quibble over smoking a cigar in her presence?”
    A smile tugged at his lips in spite of himself. “I’m not the only one with peculiar notions about propriety. You’ve shown no qualm about parading in your wrapper before a man alone at night. What would your father say to that?”
    For the first time that evening, the Amazon blushed, the pretty color warring with the extreme orange of her wrapper. “Yes, well, I think it best that we not…discuss this incident with him. Or anyone else, for that matter.”
    Ha! Thank God for propriety’s iron rules. Still, he couldn’t resist teasing her. “Why should I remain silent? I’ve done nothing wrong. I was merely looking for cigars, remember?”
    Alarm flickered in her lovely eyes. “You know the tale would do neither of us credit.”
    “I really don’t see why I have anything to be ashamed of—”
    “Blast it, Mr. Brennan, if you tell him—”
    “Very well, I suppose I can indulge you.” He shouldn’t torment her so, especially when he, too, preferred that her father never hear of this little incident. “And since I seem to be playing the proper gentleman for once, I’ll put an end to our improper meeting.