The Sugared Game (The Will Darling Adventures, #2)

by K.J. Charles

They didn’t belong together—Will was a plain man with a knack for violence, while Kim was a twisty upper-class bundle of nerves—but they’d fit

Will had an arrangement to meet Phoebe for lunch the next day. He hadn’t mentioned that to Kim. Some might think it was a bit much to be lunching with a man’s fiancée without telling him; Will was of the opinion that Kim could go whistle.

“I’ve got that meeting with Beaumont for you. Today at five, my place.” “Thank you. What did you tell him?” “Nothing. I didn’t know what lie you had in mind.” “You could tell him I need his professional advice, and bask in a warm glow of honesty.” “You tell him, so I can watch you choke on your own tongue as you attempt to spit out something like truth.”

“Excuse me? Seeing that you didn’t even bother to tell me this was over—” “It wasn’t over.” Kim stated the words like an axiom. “Not for me. I’d have left it alone if you had the common sense to move on. Or if I had a scrap of decency, of course.”

Better not get hit in the face, he thought. Maisie would not be pleased if he turned up to her posh dinner with a top hat and a shiner.

Are you worried?” Will shrugged. “If he’d meant to act, he’d have acted. He was there to intimidate me, and he can stick that where the sun doesn’t shine.”

Kim went. He didn’t even have the decency to give Will a fight or slink out shamefacedly; he just picked up his coat and hat and left. The door closed behind him, setting the bell jangling. Will stared at where he’d been, breathing hard, then kicked his chair across the room.

When people are obliged to keep an eye out for threats, their eyes tend to be sharp. That’s what women’s intuition means, if you ask me: being unconsciously alert for dangerous men.