"Then kiss you"—he grazed the backs of his fingers over the tips of her breasts—"here."

With a gasp at the surprise shock of pleasure, she jerked back, crossing her arms protectively over her chest. "No, emphatically no." She wondered if he'd imagined pressing his lips against her there, and her face grew flushed. "Haven't you heard the old adage: At leastattempt your own escape from the police before you allow a strange Scotsman to kiss your breasts?"

He either coughed or laughed into his fist, then frowned at her as if she were an unknown breed of animal. "You're a daft lass, do you ken that?"

"And you ask too much from this daft lass." When she opened the door to step out—and was almost trampled—he reeled her back in, slamming the door.

"A wee lady like you does no' stand a chance out there."

"I'm notwee ." She was five foot three!

"Stubborn, too. But I canna let you run to your death."

I can always renege."Very well, I agree to your terms. Now can you please get me to safety?"

"Too late. The terms have changed." When she held her tongue, he said, "You'll let me touch you where I wish, and you'll touch me as well."

"You're ruthless to take advantage of me this way!"

"You have no idea," he said in a deliberate tone, his eyes dark with warning. "What do you think will happen if you go to jail this eve? I'm the lesser of two evils—take advantage of that, for it is no' often the case."

If she were jailed, Quin would have to come bail her out. The humiliation! "Yes, yes! I agree," she said, planning to run from the Scot as soon as he freed her from this place.

"Good. Now doona let go of my hand." His hand was warm and swallowed hers when he took it, and they both glanced down. When he caught her gaze again, he said, "As I said—wee. But I'm thinkin' I like it."

She didn't have time to point out thateverything was wee compared to him, because he opened the door. "Stay behind me," he commanded, having to raise his voice over the din of the crowd.

"Can you get to that hall?" She pointed out that back hall she'd seen, which was now pouring fleeing patrons.

"Aye, but there's no exit. That's why they're runningfrom that direction."

"Just go that way! Please, I can find a way out ofanything !"

He faced her, narrowing his eyes, but finally started forward into the chaos. He stiff-armed anyone who got in his way, and she easily trailed along in his wake. A less powerful man wouldn't have made any headway, much less defeated the flow to reach the hall, but he did. Then he barreled his big body through that crush as well, until he found an empty corridor.

"Yes!" she cried. "Go down there!"

He turned into it, and at the end, they came upon a door to the outside.

Bearing an oversize, ominous padlock.

He raised his brows at her, and she shrugged helplessly. She turned back, trying to determine another escape. They were trapped back here, perfectly snared—

A crash sounded behind her. She whirled around to find the Scot kicking forward, connecting the bottom of his boot to the door just beneath the lock. Splinters arced into the air. Another kick and the door flew open, making her gasp.

He was magnificent! And Maddy had seen her share of magnificent men. When she strode forward to exit, he grabbed her elbow. "No' yet,aingeal . Behind me, then."

She nodded breathlessly, staring up at him, not bothering to hide her admiration.

He glowered, pulling at his collar. "Stop lookin' at me like that."

"Like what?"

"Like I'm something I'm no'."

"I don't understand—"

Two policemen leapt in front of them, and the Scot tossed her out of the way. He elbowed one officer and punched the other, leaving the first stumbling to his backside with a busted nose and the other laid out cold.

When the Scot grabbed her hand and pulled her after him once more, she said, "You just hit policemen!"

He grated, "They got in my way."

Some of the gendarmes in her rotten neighborhood were honest, but most weren't. There'd been many a time she'd wanted to lay one flat. "But—"

"I told you I'd get you from here safely." He paused and turned to gaze down at her. "Doona think I'm no' prepared to move mountains for my reward."

Magnificent? No,glorious . She knew she was staring up at him like an idiot—dumbly, with her lips parted. Every girl dreamed of a rakish masked man to protect her from villains, or a highwayman to relieve her of her jewels and her virtue. Maddy was no different, and she had to wonder if she would, in fact, renege on their bargain.

Of course she would! She was wavering only because he'd planted those ideas in her head—of his kissing her breasts and her touching him. Add to that one of the most splendid demonstrations of male power she'd ever seen, and naturally she would falter a bit.

No one had ever fought for her before—never, no matter how badly she'd needed someone to.

Again, he seemed uncomfortable with what he saw in her expression. "Try to keep up, then," he said gruffly, then turned away, speeding them down back alleys, farther from the harsh whistles. Continually glancing back at her, he appeared surprised that she was keeping up, but she could run miles at a time.

When they finally slowed, he released her hand to hail a cab, freeing her to flee. Yet she found herself unable to leave him, as if she'd been moored to his side by an invisible force.

Why was she wavering? She needed to be escaping him, not sizing him up and wondering what his skin would feel like….

Maddy loved to touch—cool silks made her shiver, velvets awed her fingertips, gloves plagued her—and he'dinvited her to touch his body. Daily, she saw women stroke men, but she had never been able to imagine what hard, masculine flesh would feel like flexing beneath her hands. She loved beautiful men; she loved to touch.

He was offering her both to enjoy.

"You doona seem verra frightened," he commented over his shoulder.

"It takes more than this to set me on edge." Tonight was tame compared to her life in La Marais. She'd survived a multi-building fire there at eleven, and she'd lived throughtwo cholera epidemics, a feat few in La Marais could claim; violence erupted in the streets daily.

Besides, she felt utterly safe with this Scot.

"Brave as well as bonny?" he murmured in that rumbling voice.

With that, Maddy knew her plan to renege had just gasped its last rattling breath.

As soon as the carriage started off, the Scot yanked the curtains closed, reaching over Maddy to draw them shut on her side. Once he'd cast them into darkness, he peremptorily dragged her over the bench and onto his lap.

"Wait! What are you…? You can't just…"When he flicked his tongue against her earlobe, pleasure rippled through her, quelling her need to put distance between them. She sighed, "Ohhh."

"I fulfilled my end of the bargain," he began, his words rough. "You'll fulfill yours now."

"Where do you think you're taking me?"

"To my home."

"Yourhome ?" She shook herself. "As much as I'd like to be one of the many strange women to be entertained in your bachelor apartments—"

"Again, you'd be the first," he interrupted.

"Am I supposed to believe that?"

"Believe it or no'. It's the truth."

"What is it about me that has wrought such changes?"

He leaned back, seeming aggravated—at her or the situation? "I'd bloody like to know."

He wasn't feigning these things. Maybe he felt with her the same awareness, the same sense of familiarity, that she felt with him. Her attraction to him had been instantaneous and furious, so strong she felt as if she'd been plowed down by a locomotive.

Could he possibly be experiencing the same?