“Twins,” he said, near dizzy with the sudden rush of understanding.

“Yes.”

Out of all the things that should have come to Simon’s mind in that moment, the only one that gained prominence was the realization that he was not insane. He did not dislike and desire the same woman with equal vehemence. He disliked Lysette. He lusted for Lynette.

Simon lunged into motion without warning, catching Lynette’s elbow and dragging her back into the parlor. He kicked the door shut and tugged her about to face him. Before common sense reared its head or she regained her wits enough to protest, he cupped her head in both hands and took her mouth with savage intensity.

She tensed briefly, then melted. Her body leaned into his, her hands circled his wrists. She whimpered and surged into him, her voluminous skirts pushing into the hardened ridge of his cock and urging him into a frenzy of need.

He spun and pinned her to the door, his knees bending and then straightening, stroking the length of her body with his own. She gasped and his tongue stroked deep into her mouth, licking and tasting, drinking her in. As her skin heated with arousal, the scent of some exotic flower intoxicated him and made him drunk with desire. She did not smell like Lysette. She was unique.

She was his.

“A thiasce,” he breathed, lost in the feel of her.

Lynette released his wrists and reached for his waist, the feel of her small hands through the linen of his shirt inciting a ferocious, gnawing need.

Never in his life had he been so desperate to be inside a woman. And it was going to happen. Now. Nothing could stop him.

He fumbled for the key to turn the lock, but his hands shook with such violence that he could not grasp it. With a muttered curse, Simon turned his head away to see what he was doing.

“Were you lovers?” she asked in a husky whisper.

He glanced at her as the lock clicked audibly into place. She was flushed and disheveled and achingly beautiful. Although her features were a mirror of Lysette’s, she looked nothing like her. Lynette was soft and warm in his arms, her scent alluring instead of subdued, her passion hot and powerful.

“No,” he answered, absently thinking that there were a hundred questions to ask, while simultaneously realizing that he didn’t give a damn what the answers were. At least, not at the moment.

“Then why?”

“Why what?” What in hell was she talking about?

He reached between them for the placket of his breeches.

She stilled his movements with her hands. “Why are you so . . . ardent?”

Simon laughed and nuzzled his cheek against hers. “Such an elegant way to say I am acting like a rutting beast.”

Lynette flushed, but did not release him.

“I usually have more finesse,” he promised, forcing himself to take a step back. “Unfortunately, I am out of sorts at the moment.”

“Out of sorts? You?” She smiled and his chest tightened. “The man who had a house burning down around him, yet had the presence of mind to rally the guests to douse the blaze?”

“Lust wants quenching like a fire. I rally to that cause with equal gusto.”

“You are wicked, Mr. Quinn.”

Simon debated whether he should seduce her in the parlor or take her up to bed, but a touch of sadness marred the angelic beauty of her features and reined in his lust as logic could not.

Exhaling harshly, he ran his hands through his hair and fought to tamp down his unruly appetite for her touch, her taste, her smell. Her.

He gestured for her to return to her seat.

“How did you know Lysette?” she asked, sitting with a perfectly straight spine and hands folded delicately in her lap.

A peer’s daughter, she had said. That would explain the similar elegance of deportment Simon had witnessed in her sister.

It did not, however, explain why Lysette was an assassin.

“Our acquaintance is a difficult one to categorize,” he murmured. “But it is not romantic by any definition.”

Lynette blushed, but her gaze did not waver from his. “Last night . . .”

He smiled ruefully. “The first time I have ever felt an inkling of attraction to her. I suspected madness was the culprit, because the change was so drastic I could hardly credit it. I cannot tell you what a relief it is to learn that you are two women and not one.”

“So you are unaware that she passed,” Lynette said gently.

Simon frowned. “Passed what?”

“Passed on.”

“Bloody hell.” He paced, his thoughts returning to the events of the night before. Desjardins. James. Carrying an injured woman in yellow out to the comte’s carriage. The posturing of James in the window had been protective, not possessive. “When? This afternoon?”

Lynette’s frown matched his. “Beg your pardon?”

“When did she die?” he asked slowly, feeling disoriented.

“Two years ago.”

“That is not possible, Lynette. I saw her alive and well just yesterday.”

Lynette’s stomach clenched hard and violently. She reached for the armrest of the settee for support and then Quinn—Simon—was crouched before her, studying her face with a worried frown.

“I think there is a great deal that you and I do not understand,” he said, his Irish lilt soothing and gentle. “Perhaps you should tell me about your Lysette, then I shall tell you about mine.”

Inhaling and exhaling in measured rhythm, Lynette attempted to calm her racing pulse. In the space of only moments, she had been barked at, kissed senseless, and now told that her sister was alive and well as recently as yesterday. She knew that was impossible, that there must be some grievous error, but some tiny part of her shouted in vindicated exaltation. The part of her that still felt Lysette as keenly today as it had the last time they had been together.

“Two years ago,” she whispered, “my sister was killed when the carriage she occupied overturned and the lamps set fire to the whole.”

Simon moved to take a seat beside her. “You have only the one sister?”

“Yes. No other siblings.”

“What are the odds that there would be a woman of identical appearance to you who is not a relation?”

“With the name Lysette? Impossible.” She turned slightly to face him. “I must see her.”

“I should like to be there when you do.”

Lynette stared at Simon’s breathtaking features and felt calmed by his mere presence. It was astonishing to feel such a connection to a stranger, but she did not doubt it.

Simon would not allow harm to befall her. She was convinced of that.

“This woman cannot be my sister.” Her voice quavered and she cleared her throat. “In addition to the fact that I was there when Lysette was buried, the simple truth is that she and I were very close. There is no chance that two years would pass without a word from her.”

“I do not understand any of this.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “But I can tell you the Lysette I know is not . . . well.”

“Not well?”

“A bit touched.”

“Oh . . .” Lynette worried her lower lip between her teeth. “How did you become acquainted with her?”

“My life is not one you wish to delve too deeply into, Mademoiselle . . .”

“Baillon.”

His frown deepened. “Lysette goes by the name Rousseau. Does that sound familiar to you?”

“Rousseau?” Lynette frowned, trying to recall if she knew anyone by that name and finding that she did not.

“Mademoiselle—”

“Please,” she interjected, “call me Lynette. After last night . . . and now. You almost . . . against the door . . .” Her face heated.

His large hand rose to cup her cheek with something akin to reverence. “You cannot even say it, can you?”

She swallowed hard, riveted by his tenderness and the way the stroking of his thumb over her cheekbone reverberated all over her body.

A half-smile curved his beautiful mouth and made her stomach flutter. His glance moved over her, from the top of her head to her feet. “You mentioned a father, but not a spouse.”

“I am not married.”

“Of course not.” Simon shook his head. “You are innocent. The daughter of a peer.”

The way he said the words, so flatly and resigned, struck her like a blow. She realized he no longer intended to ravish her. She knew she should be relieved, but she was profoundly disappointed. All of her life, she had led the way with men. Teasing, flirting, and steering their conversations in the direction she wished them to go. With Simon Quinn, she was swept away, in control of nothing at all. It was a heady sensation to be so lost in a man, and to know that he was equally lost in her.

“Give me some time,” he said, “to investigate this a little further before you proceed. You have no reason to trust me—”

“But I do!”

“You shouldn’t.” The rueful little smile touched his mouth again, and unable to help it, she lifted her fingers to it. The muscle in his jaw ticked beneath her caress and his blue eyes burned so hot her skin flushed in response.

He caught her hand and pressed a kiss to her palm. The feel of his lips sent tingles up her arm and made her shiver. “I have never known innocence, Lynette. I have no notion of what to do with it beyond corrupt it.”

“What are you saying?”

“I am saying that if you do not put as much distance as possible between us and maintain it, I will ruin you.” The deep timbre of his voice added credence to his threat. “You will find yourself in my bed and your life deeply entangled in a web of deceit, lies, and danger. As bright as your future is now, it would be equally dark.”

“Yet Lysette Rousseau occupies this world you speak of?” she queried, lifting her chin.

“Yes, she does.”

“Are you an English spy?” Her gaze moved around the room as it had when she’d arrived. Again, she admired the obvious expense of the design and décor. The palette was one of deep reds balanced by lighter-stained woods. It was both deeply masculine, yet welcoming to all.