Wicked Seduction by Jade Lee Page A

would be invited.”
    Scheherazade. Of course. That tea. For the first time since Maddy had entered the room, he allowed his eyes to drop. His mind quickly ran through the reasons for and against the party. The list wasn’t long. He needed to see Scheherazade—once in private, once in public. It was the way things were done in London. He also understood why Lady Rose wanted to host the event since it would make her cause célèbre for a couple weeks at least.
    He pasted on a smile, but he could not quite meet his angel’s eyes. So he shifted to the easier of the two women. “You have been most gracious in offering your home to us while we get our bearings,” he said to Lady Rose. “It would be churlish to refuse any event you planned.”
    Rose dimpled prettily even as she flashed a look of triumph at her cousin. “You see! He understands completely. We shall have it next week!” She hopped up from her chair. “I shall begin compiling the guest list immediately. Oh and, Papa, never fear, I shan’t require you to attend.” Then with an impish giggle, she spun on her toes and left.
    Meanwhile, her father at last closed up the betting pages. He looked hard at first Alex then Kit, his gaze narrowing in threat. Alex bristled immediately, but Kit knew better than to make an outward show of his anger. Instead, he remained still, a placid expression on his face.
    “You can stay through the tea, but no longer,” the earl half growled. “And you’ll pay me for it. But the women are mine.”
    “Uncle Frank!” Maddy exclaimed, but none of the men so much as blinked in her direction.
    “Yours?” asked Kit with a slow curl to his lip. “Then you have branded them with a hot iron? You have cut them or bought them—”
    “Don’t be ridiculous!” the earl snapped.
    “I don’t believe I am. The daughter is yours by law. The mistress is not your mistress yet and therefore—”
    “You will shut your filthy mouth!” the earl bellowed as he slammed his palms flat on the table. To the side, Alex shot to his feet, but Kit gestured him back with a flick of his wrist.
    “Gentlemen please!” Maddy squeaked, but Kit could not break his gaze with the earl to give her a reassuring look. Instead, he leaned back in his chair to stare cold and steady at the earl.
    “Do you know what I learned as a pirate slave, my lord? How to whip a man within an inch of his life. How to wield a knife to castrate or to kill. I have branded men, women, and children with hot iron. Do you seriously think slamming your palms onto a wood table will intimidate me?”
    He watched the message sink into the earl’s small brain. Kit was a savage, and he did not take threats well. But then neither did the earl.
    “I want you out of my house within the hour,” the man growled.
    “And disappoint your charming daughter? I am to attend her tea, remember?”
    “Rose be damned! You will leave my home!”
    Kit waited a long time. He held the earl’s gaze long enough to make the man sweat. But in the end, he conceded. With a slight tilt of his head, he agreed. “Within the hour.” He glanced at Alex. “Would you please pack your bag?”
    With a huff, the earl spun on his heel and stomped out, leaving a thundering silence in his wake. Alex gave him a shaky nod before disappearing. And still, Kit did not move. He would not leave his angel before the very last second. So he sat, his expression carefully blanked while she stared first after her uncle then at him. Finally, she shook her head and reached with a shaking hand for her tea.
    “Why would you goad him like that?” she asked, her voice not quite under control.
    “He is the one who claimed to own you.”
    She brushed the comment off with a wave of her hand. “He’s an earl. He feels he owns the very air we breathe. What difference does it make to you?”
    His eyes shifted to hers. Did she really not understand? “I have been owned. For three hellish years, I was the property of a corsair named