Bronwyn Scott's Sexy Regency Bundle (200 page)

Scott

closeness. She could smell soap on his skin, all spice and manliness.

"Because, my dear, they're nothing but paste.

Very good paste, naturally. They've been fooling the public at the Tower of London for centuries now, but they're paste nonetheless."

Sophie recoiled visibly. She'd stolen fakes!

She'd nearly passed them off as real to di Brazzo.

She couldn't get the bracelet off her arm quickly enough. She dropped it as if it were too hot to hold.

The

man laughed at her. "Are you upset because you've been caught or because they're fakes?" He stepped around her and took a seat on her sofa, propping his long legs up on the low coffee table, making himself comfortable.

"Get out

Sophie gestured toward the door.

"Take

paste jewels and get out."

"I wouldn't be so hasty to see me go, Sophie." He was still laughing, his gray eyes sparkling with impishness at her discomfort. "I have something you want, and you, my dear, have something I want." His hot look

no room for

misunderstanding.

36

Libertine Lord, Pickpocket Miss

Sophie drew a deep breath. She did not care for the insinuation that she had no morals.

night was merely a distraction to gain the room."

His raised eyebrows suggested his doubt. "A very effective distraction, I'd say. I was

'distracted' all night. How about you?"

"I won't sleep with you, if that's what you're His grin broadened. He settled his hands behind his head. "I'm not in the habit of negotiating for sex. No need to, really."

Sophie stamped her foot in

In one

sentence he'd made
her
protest sound like a coy come-on. "You're the most irritating man I've ever had the misfortune to meet,

Burke.''

"I liked it better when you called me Now, do you want to hear what I have to say or do you want to continue your tirade?"

He was scolding her as if she were an errant child. Sophie reined in her temper. "What do you propose.

"As I said before you

me, we are

both in possession of something the other wants, agreed?" Sophie nodded and he continued. "I say we play for them. You win, you get your item. I win, I get you. Do you play piquet?"

Scott

Sophie nodded again.

Julian removed an untouched deck of cards his inner jacket pocket. "You may inspect the cards if you wish." He passed the deck to her.

"Perhaps we could sweeten the pot with a side wager. For every point one of us wins in our march toward victory, we can ask the other to pay a forfeit."

Sophie smiled, in no way concerned over what she stood to lose. He'd had a deck of cards at the ready, giving every impression that he had such a gambit, but Julian Burke was about to get his comeuppance. He could have no idea how good she was at piquet. She would gladly wager her 'favors' against the diamonds.

By the time a messenger came with a reply di Brazzo, she'd have won the real diamonds
and
the shirt off Julian Burke's back, quite literally.

Sophie shivered with delight at the image of Julian's torso naked and revealed.

"Planning your forfeits already? It's bad luck," Julian said with a wink, dragging a table over for them to play at.

"Luck is just luck. Skill is something else altogether," Sophie said smugly, taking her place at the impromptu card table. She removed all the

38

Libertine Lord, Pickpocket Miss

cards numbered two through six and shuffled deftly. She dealt twelve cards to each of them, picked up her hand and scanned it with a broad grin. But she was all seriousness as she eyed across the table. "Let's play."