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Just caught her in his arms and pressed a kiss to her mouth, stifling whatever she was about to say.

Chapter 4
     
    When he’d stepped into the brothel, Dominic’s first urge was instinctive. He wanted to shake her until the teeth rattled in her head and then hold her close so that nobody would see her or know her. What the hell was she doing here? From his vantage point across the street, he’d seen her arrive, but hadn’t recognized her. He did now she’d thrown her hood back. She was sitting wide-eyed, watching his quarry.
    A half mask and powder did not disguise that straight nose and those sensual lips. He’d know them anywhere. The curl of red-gold hair missed when her maid had powdered the rest of her locks only confirmed his firm belief. Lady Claudia Shaw had once more ventured to a place she had no right to occupy.
    If anyone else recognized her, she was done for. Didn’t she realize that men she might have met in a ballroom earlier in the evening might come here to carouse before the night was over? The idiotic woman didn’t have the sense she was born with.
    He sent away the chairmen who’d brought her, swearing he’d take care of her. How she managed to charm two ruffians like that he’d never know, but he hoped it wasn’t the same way she’d charmed him.
    When she opened her mouth, he let his instincts take control. A kiss was just what he needed, but it served the purpose of hiding her face from view.
    Their lips touched and he almost lost his mind. He’d been dreaming of that warm, soft mouth since he’d kissed it before. Her pink lips moistened, her mouth open—it had been too much.
    The tang of cheap wine nudged his taste buds and then was gone, replaced by her heat and her special flavor. He wanted to sample every part of her. The delicate skin at the back of her knees would taste different than her navel. He badly wanted to claim the sweet, dark heart of her for himself.
    His cock rose to her command, even though she would not know it. He’d had the forethought to sit next to her and not haul her into his lap, as he longed to do.
    Most of the doxies were thus occupied, even the two fawning over his quarry sitting on the other side of the fire.
    Hell and damnation, what was he thinking? He wasn’t here to kiss a woman, however tempting she happened to be, but to watch the man he’d been following all night. Although he hadn’t planned to enter the house, but wait until the man emerged, when Lady Claudia entered he’d followed her in. Spies and traitors came in both sexes.
    He couldn’t believe Claudia was a traitor. For one thing, she belonged to a family adamantly and publicly opposed to the Cause. For another, she wasn’t. He didn’t believe it.
    Her lips tasted sweet, of wine and raspberries, or some sharp fruit. Delicious, but leaving him wanting more. With an effort of will he pulled away, but not too far. “What the hell are you doing here?” he murmured next to her mouth. Lovers’ talk of a very different nature, but he kept smiling.
    “I could ask you the same thing,” she mumbled breathlessly.
    He’d done that to her, made her bosom heave and the heat rise to her face. The notion made him absurdly proud. “I am on business.”
    She pulled away sharply, almost tumbling off the end of the short bench they sat on. Automatically he reached out and pulled her back, keeping hold of her arm. When she tried to shake it off, he kept hold. He was hard-put not to bruise her because she made a concerted effort to get away.
    “Sir, can I ’elp you?”
    The bawd stood over them, glaring at him.
    “We’re quite all right, madam.” He narrowed his eyes, assessing her. Yes, she knew who Claudia was. Didn’t the girl have any sense of self-preservation? The madam had extortion material for the rest of the season, if not longer. “I’ve come to retrieve her. I’m her…betrothed.”
    “I see. Well, call if you want anything.”
    He had to get Claudia out of this room before