Free D2D_Poison or Protect by Gail Carriger

My mistake.”
    “’Tis na quite the same.”
    “Killing is killing. Does it matter if it is done in battle or bedroom, so long as it is by your hand?”
    “I…” He stuttered.
    She paused over the latch of the next window, finding it suddenly fascinating. “Do they wake you in the night – the dead?”
    “Sometimes. You?”
    “Not so often as I think they should. But then, I knew them all well enough to know they ought to die. You did not have that luxury.”
    “You pity me a soldier’s ignorance?”
    “Do you require my pity?”
    “Nay. Should you like a boost?”
    “What?”
    He had shocked her with his offer, so reminiscent of their conversation earlier that day. Have I really only known her a day? “To check the transom?”
    She looked up. “No. If I needed help up, so would he.”
    “You believe he is alone?”
    “I don’t think I could fit through that transom, and in my experience, most assassins are bigger than I.”
    “Suit yourself.” So, it was an assassin she warded against. Relief flowed through him. They must be on the same side, protecting the duke. Which meant she was using Jack as a decoy. Or Jack was the reason the duke thought she was there.
    Should I say somewhat?
    He accompanied her through the library, sitting room, dining room, gallery, music room, conservatory, billiard room, and finally the ballroom. She checked every window and door large enough to admit a man.
    “The servants’ entrances?”
    “Done while you were snacking.”
    He blushed to think that she’d observed him at his meal. “I didna see you.”
    “You were not meant to.”
    “Are all the stories about you true, Lady Villentia?”
    She frowned. “All the ones that matter, I suppose. Why? Are you curious about anything in particular? Like most ladies, I dearly love to talk about myself.”
    It was an opening, and she so rarely gave one that Gavin was almost at a loss what to do with it. He shifted closer to her, but not so close as to be a threat. It was more that he wished to know if she were warm flesh or made of ice. “They say you’ve a poison you spread on your lips. That to kiss you would be deadly.”
    “What rot – how could I keep from poisoning myself?”
    “I would take the risk, even if it were true.”
    She moved in against him then, fast and unexpected. As though she knew he would not try first.
    * * *
    He was wearing a banyan.
    A banyan, for goodness’ sake.
    Even Preshea’s father, notorious for his old-fashioned ideals, had given over such antiquated nightwear.
    I will not think of my father now.
    Preshea supposed the good captain had not realized it, but the darn thing was slipping. Had been slipping all along – slowly opening down the front as they padded about the house together. And why did I invite him to join me? Because I want him to see me as deadly? Because I want him to know and be proud of all my abilities, not simply the tricks I show polite society? Or because I want to see if a glimpse of truth will frighten him away?
    The banyan was open enough to show all his neck and throat, thick and strong. It exposed his jugular, so vulnerable, and his collarbone, so fragile, even on a man of his size. She could see a sprinkling of chest hair.
    “Are you wearing anything under that quaint old robe of yours?” she questioned idly, crowding into his warmth.
    “Nay, lass, but I’m thinking…” He trailed off, for she had touched his neck – a feathering of fingertips at the suprasternal notch. His Adam’s apple, just above, bobbed as he swallowed.
    “You’re not cold?” Her voice stayed calm.
    His caught a little. “Nay.”
    Preshea liked that she could make him nervous. He stood there, so big, and yet entirely at her mercy. More than he realized, for there was a tiny blade up her right sleeve. She could snap it out easily, with a flick of the wrist. She didn’t, but it felt good knowing he was defenseless under her touch – innocent.
    “ Leannan sìth , I’m at your