Desire Me by Robyn DeHart Page A

invitation.
    He deepened the kiss, slipping his tongue between her gently parted lips. She tasted of chocolate and cinnamon. He’d intended
     only to kiss and quiet her, but the feel of her made desire surge through his legs and into his groin.
    Her hand slowly slid up his arm. He cupped her bottom and pulled her closer, pressing her to him. Then she pinched the skin
     at his bicep. It was not enough pain to cause much damage, but he did jerk back from her.
    She glared up at him, then opened her mouth to say something.
    But before she could, the man at the door stuck his head in. “Hurry.”
    If the man had looked a little to his left, he would have been able to see the white of Sabine’s nightgown billowing out from
     beneath the stairs. Max grabbed the fabric and cinched it by her hip. No doubt her lovely leg was nearly completely revealed,
     but at least her nightgown was no longer waving surrender from beneath the stairs.
    “We go upstairs,” another of the men said in a harsh whisper. “We haven’t found nothing yet.” He started up the staircase.
    A choked sound squeaked from Sabine’s throat. Her eyes widened with fear, and her mouth formed two silent words, “My aunts.”
    Bloody hell! Looked as if he was going to have to take a chance with those odds after all.
    Max grabbed both of Sabine’s arms and switched their places. “Stay,” he whispered. Then he crept out from hishiding place
     and grabbed the leg of the man on the lower stair. Max pulled sharply. The thin man fell onto the stairs, hitting his head
     on the hard wood. The other man turned and ran back down the stairs, heading straight for Max.
    It took one solid blow to the man’s nose to bring him down. Blood sprayed as the bone and cartilage shifted.
    “You broke my nose,” he howled. “You son of a bitch.”
    “Watch out,” Sabine cried.
    But it wasn’t enough warning for the punch to Max’s left kidney. Pain radiated up his back and down his hip. He groaned, but
     shook it off and turned to meet his assailant. Another punch headed his way, but he was able to duck and slam himself into
     the man, knocking the thug off his feet.
    By this time, the noise had awakened the other household occupants, and ladies’ voices came from the rooms overhead.
    “What the devil is going on?” one asked.
    “Sabine?” another said.
    The first man Max had struck was now attempting to get to his feet, but Max was able to hit him on the head, and he sank back
     to the floor. The one with the bloody nose struck Max on the jaw, rocking him backward. Max would be lucky if the punch only
     resulted in a blackened eye and didn’t also bruise the entire side of his face.
    The other man made a direct line toward Sabine.
    Three older women came rushing down the stairs, their nightrails flowing behind them. They all carried makeshift weapons:
     a fire poker, a heavy candelabra, and a small, jeweled pistol.
    Excellent
. He was getting the shit beat out of him, and Sabine was about to be rescued by the fairy godmother brigade.
    Max took another hard blow to his shoulder before he managed to grab the third man and slam his head against the doorframe.
    A shot rang out. “Get out!” the woman shrieked. “Out, out, out!”
    The three thieves wasted no time in scrambling out the door.
    “You, too,” she said to Max.
    But Max did not move. Instead he simply stared at his chest, where a bloodstain grew across his coat.
    “Lydia, you shot him!” Sabine said.

Chapter Four

    D amnation,” Agnes said.
    “Oh, no,” Calliope said.
    Panic seized Sabine. Her mind stumbled over several scenarios in which Max bled to death on their floor. But then she caught
     sight of his crooked smile. Damned man was too stubborn to die of a piddling gunshot wound.
    She took several steadying breaths. Agnes was here; she would ensure all was well.
    “Let’s get him upstairs,” Sabine said. She braced herself against him, wrapping her arm around his waist. “Don’t get any