Free Savage Nights (The Savage Trilogy #2) by Mia Gabriel

unyielding. “Apologize now.”
    “The devil I will,” Blackledge said, taking a step towards Savage. He, too, had clenched his fists, his thick fingers like leather-covered sausages in his gloves. “She’s not worth that—”
    “Excuse me, m’lord,” said the stable master, deftly stepping between the two men. “We don’t need this kind of misunderstanding here in the yard. Any sort of ruckus upsets the horses, and I won’t have it.”
    For a long moment, neither man flinched. It seemed as if every other person in the yard was holding his breath, unsure of how this would end.
    “You, too, Baron,” said the stable master. “Gentlemen or not, I can’t have the pair o’ you brawling in my stable yard.”
    And it was finally Blackledge who stepped back.
    “For the sake of the beasts, then,” he said, straightening his tie and scowling in retreat. “But mark what I say, Savage. This isn’t done between us. Mrs. Hart will be mine, whether you like it or not.”
    He looked past Savage to find me, standing several steps away with my hands folded over my chest to mask my trembling hands and racing heart. He narrowed his eyes and stared at me pointedly, his gaze flicking over my body as if he was imagining me in some obscene position. Then with a muttered oath he turned on his booted heel and crossed the yard to where he’d left his horse.
    In the circumstances I wished I’d been braver. I wished I’d behaved like a true heroine and been the one who’d stepped between the two men to stop them. I wished I’d spat with contempt at Blackledge and not cowered like some cowardly, weak-minded woman.
    But the truth was that seeing Savage so near to battling with Blackledge again on my behalf had frightened me, frightened me badly. I’d feared for Savage’s safety, and my own as well at the hands of Blackledge.
    What had unsettled me even further, however, was that having these two men ready to fight over me had unleashed some sort of primal pleasure within me. Savage’s games while we’d been riding had kept me in a state of excited arousal for the last hour, and to watch him defend me as he had only made my blood quicken more. He wanted me badly enough that he’d fight for me, and as shameful as such a confession might be for a modern woman, it still had made me in return want him all the more.
    Now he stood with his back to me, his broad shoulders still tensed. The stable master had left us soon after Blackledge had, and the others in the yard had returned to their own affairs, perhaps a little disappointed that they hadn’t witnessed anything more worthy of gossip. Grooms had taken our horses back to the stable.
    Only Savage and I were left standing still in the bustling yard. It was an awkward stillness, too. I longed to reach out to touch him, to put my arms around his waist and press my face against those shoulders and breathe deeply of his scent. I wanted to thank him for what he’d done, and I wanted to reassure myself.
    Yet despite how intimate we’d become, I hesitated. I was sure he wouldn’t want so public a show of affection between us, nor—with Laura’s warning still in my ears—would that be wise for me, either. To most of the world, Savage and I were no more than acquaintances, and for now it should remain that way.
    But discretion wasn’t the only reason I didn’t join him. No matter how much I wished it otherwise, that well-tailored back turned towards me was like a wall that I didn’t dare challenge. I knew better than that. In the week we’d been together he’d made it clear that there were times when he prized his solitude and did not want it to be interrupted. This, apparently, was one of those times.
    Or so I’d thought.
    Without warning he wheeled about and grabbed my arm.
    “Come with me,” he said, though from the way he was marching me across the yard I had little choice but to go with him. His expression was fixed and his jaw set, and as I hurried my steps to keep pace