Or cast up his accounts. He wasn’t quite certain in what order, he just knew that both were going to happen. Never in his life had he anticipated Lucy would kick his bollocks up far enough to knock against his teeth! Blackness edged his vision, and he struggled beneath her weight as he all but dragged her to the back of the town house. Goddamn, he begged beneath heavy breaths, don’t let me faint. Not now, of all the times and places to be rendered weak as a babe. Dear God, what did she mean by traveling the streets alone, at this time of night? And kicking blokes in the balls? he savagely thought. Rifling through his pocket, he pulled out the keys, watched as they jumbled in his shaking hand. Christ, the pain, it was all he could think about. And she was still going on, yapping to him about something, but he could hear of none of it, except for a curious swishing in his ears. “What the devil are you about, strolling the streets at this time of night—alone?” “I don’t believe I need to answer to you.”
