She tore her eyes away long enough address the butler. “You may go.”
“Lady Stone,” the butler cautioned, “if you would permit—”
“Go,” the duke boomed.
Alicia concealed her shaking hands. “I will take care of our guest.”
The butler bowed in retreat.
“Were you going to tell me?” His voice sent a frightened rush through her blood.
I am no helpless maid to his feudal lord.She strode past him into the parlor. He followed, closing the door.
“Well?”
She swallowed. “I hadn’t yet decided.”
“You hadn’tdecided?”
Why hadn’t she seen it—the dark force that pulsed around him like a curse? Why hadn’t she been afraid she’d be consumed?
He would consume her, no matter what choice she made. Even now, she felt her resistance crumbling like a harbor in a hurricane, torn to pieces the way her childhood home had been torn to pieces.
She must stand strong against the storm, even if a feral part of her heart cried just because Ash was near.
She paced the length of the room, trying to find the calm center, but her foundations had been uprooted, her thoughts silenced by the anger that pulsed through the room like a live thing.
He was angry, was he? She was angry, too.
“How dare you come to my door in the middle of the night? The watchman recognized you, no doubt.”
“I don’t give a damn if the whole street was peering out the window.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Was that your plan? Ruin me and force my hand?”
“Alicia,” he said, rough as a gravel path.
“Don’t use my name.”
“Lady Stone, then, if you prefer.” His voice had grown cold. “I believe you owe—”
“Owe?Owe?I owe you nothing.” She backed away. “All along Iknewyou felt I was your right.” A terrible lump refused to move from her throat.
“Youaremy right.”
His right? A man who believed so would not hesitate to send away her child.
She shook her head no. “Do you think you have a right to me just because you bought my grief? You are no better than the spectators who bought tickets to see your father’s trial.”
He jerked as if he’d been hit. “Not like that, Alicia. Never like that.”
“Why did you buy me? What was your plan? To pass a few days indolence, see if you could make the little widow cry?”
His gaze narrowed. His nostrils flared.
She held her brow and shook her head. “I cannot believe I allowed you to bind me. Literally bind me! When I had sworn never to don shackles again! Is that the only way you can feel?”
Blood drained from his face, leaving his cheeks ghostly pale. “Forgive me.”
