After Nareli surrounded herself with salt by the fire, she was able to sleep soundly for a handful of hours on the couch before the dreams started.
Delaney was at the forefront of them again and his intense blue eyes floated over prison bars and shackles. Then her dreams took the most bizarre of turns… she saw Delaney dancing in a wig and dress.
That dream only lasted a few seconds before her consciousness couldn't help but force laughter from her throat.
Why would the dark and beastly James Delaney be wearing a dress and primrose coloured lipstick?
She woke up in the grips of giggles only to see James glare down at her side, holding a pocket watch.
His grey shirt from the night before was long gone and in its place was a dark suit with his trademark top hat and long coat.
Nareli took one look at him and laughed out harder which ripped James's usual gloomy glare right off his face. He genuinely looked puzzled at her reaction to him. But at the same time, he couldn't help but feel insulted yet again by Nareli.
He stroked fear in everyone not laughter and that irritated the hell out of him.
"Compose yourself," he ordered sharply and Nareli jumped a little at his sudden sharp tone and sobered up straight away with a yawn.
That was much better.
"Your second task of the day is to clean up this salt," James pointed with a boot. "I don't want a rat infested house."
But Nareli didn't exactly hear him while she finished her yawn. "What is the time, your royal stalking highness?"
James immediately frowned at the question and Nareli dared to smirk while she continued to lie comfortably on the couch.
Did she seriously not learn anything from last night? He wasn't a man to be trifled with. He was dangerous and she should be walking on eggshells around him.
"Lambs do not taunt lions, Miss Badis-Thomas," he warned and he watched with a morbid fascination how her teasing amber eyes darkened with defiance.
"And lambs do not spy on sleeping lions," she taunted him right back and James bit back a growl at her words but the deep sound still rumbled in the dark recesses of his throat.
The quicker this gypsy learned not to trifle with his authority, the better this business relationship would be for her.
Nareli knew deep down she was playing with fire and she allowed her body to go limb when James lost his temper. The quilts her father gave her to sleep under fell to the floor when James yanked her up by the arms with a biting grip.
His gloved hands bit into her wrists but whatever he planned to growl next died on his curled lip.
Angry blue eyes took in the rest of her and made him pause while a new awareness of the gypsy heated his blood.
The gypsy slept in nothing but a nightshift that had seen better days. The white fabric was threadbare and with her darker toned skin, he could see what lived and breathed beneath.
Curves and shapely legs that went on for days, and breasts that would overflow the span of his palms if he explored them.
Nareli quickly lost her bravado when she noticed the shift in James's attentions. Those blue eyes of his lessened in their irritation and ignited with a telltale heat she knew all too well. Desire.
She swallowed hard and then damned the cold of the living room. She could feel her nipples harden against the fabric of her shift. But the longer, James stared down the length of her body, she strangely started to feel warm at his perusal and that was when, James forced his sharp gaze back on her face.
Then to her utter amazement, he released her wrists but didn't step away. As a precaution, Nareli reached to cover herself with a fallen quilt. It was only then that she noticed James return to his usual gloomy state. That big and muscled chest of his, released a deep breath as if he was getting his train of thought back together.
"Your third task of the day is to buy a new nightgown and robe that can withstand the cold," he dug a hand into a coat pocket and moved to leave a few coins on the mantel of the fireplace.
His words caused Nareli to feel mixed emotions to her surprise. A part of her was pleased that James wouldn't use her like a whore but another part of her felt crestfallen.
James then went about starting a fire and Nareli watched his broad but strong shoulders move to get the task done.
This man was dangerous. A beast but he was a being that perked her interests and that hardly happened the older she got.
He was a beast wrapped up in a closet of mystery and sugarcoated with a ruggedly handsome appeal that was both raw and finely tuned to fool civilized society. It was quiet the rare mix.
Once the fire brewed, James stood up to rest his gloved hands against the mantle. He seemed a lot more put together now, like he had control once more.
But unluckily for him, Nareli wasn't going to let this new window she had into him, close up and die.
She didn't dream about him for nothing and she had to find out why.
"I do not need a new nightgown."
James whipped around to face her as if her words struck a cord in him and they did.
"Lambs and lions do not frolic. They devour each other."
"For the last time, I am not the lamb here, James Delaney," Nareli frowned and James clenched his jaw.
"You will buy a nightgown that is suitable for sleeping in the living room-
"And if I don't?" She dared to interrupt and James stalked her closely.
"You're going back in the guest room."
"Like hell, I am," Nareli hissed and James just stared into her amber eyes, deeply.
"You don't peg me to be the stupid type, gypsy. Don't let me down now," James pointed out and Nareli craned her neck back to meet his glare head-on.
No one told her what to do. Not even James Delaney. She might be working for him for the sack of her father but he didn't control what she wore to bed.
"Beast, you might be, James Delaney but you are also a man and that man can control himself," she bit out and to emphasis her point, she let the quilt around her slip to the floor.
Out of sheer force of will, James kept his eyes on her beautiful exotic features.
"And gypsy, you might be, Miss Badis-Thomas but you are also a woman and that woman can control herself too," He fired her words at her with quick succession and he backed it up with a slight smirk.
Nareli backed up with a scowl and turned to leave so she could ready for the day but James didn't leave her side. His gloomy and heavy presence followed her to the staircase.
"Dress in your best suit," he ordered and Nareli paused on her way up the stairs. James watched her long curly hair swing around as she faced him once more.
"And why should I waste my best shirt on you?"
"How would you think Brace would fair in a Molly House, gyspy?"
That shut her up good and James hummed at her first display of obedience for the day.
"Be ready when I return at sunset."