“Lilli, what is wrong, sweetheart?”
“I’m not your sweetheart,” she snapped. Hearing his endearments caused her heart to crack and her insides to explode with need.
He looked appraisingly at her. “You are, if you would but give into me. I have told you I want you to be more than a neighbor or a ward. I want you to marry me. Be my little darling duchess.”
“We are too different to do well together, Oliver.”
Oliver looked at the door and, after helping Lilli to sit, he strode to the door with determination and locked it.
“Daddy.”
“What?” she asked.
“You will address me as Daddy during this discussion.” His words were formal, but his tone was gentle. “It will put things right in your mind and mine.”
“Why?”
“Because this is the relationship we have, my sweet Lilli. You are my Little one and I am your Daddy. Your protector, your supporter, caretaker and your disciplinarian. All of which I feel you need today.”
“I am quite capable of handling my own affairs,” Lilli said, but her voice lacked conviction even to her own ears.
She felt her cheeks warm as Oliver fixed her with that penetrating stare of his. The one that seemed to see right through her defenses. She crossed her arms in a form of self-protection against her inner insecurity, aware that she looked like a petulant child but unable to stop herself. Maybe he was right. She did need a Daddy.
“Are you, indeed?” Oliver moved closer, his tall frame casting a shadow over her seated form. “Then why do you look as though you haven’t slept properly in weeks? Why are your shoulders carrying the weight of Heatherfield all alone when I’ve offered my assistance time and again, only to be rebuffed?”
“I haven’t been sleeping as well as expected but it doesn’t mean I need your help to run my estate,” she insisted, though the words felt hollow.
The truth was, she desperately wanted his help, his guidance, his presence. But admitting that felt like surrendering a piece of herself she wasn’t ready to relinquish.
“I see. Then please explain to me why this Mr. Northgate has you so rattled. Why you’ve been hiding his communications from me and now I discover he has visited you, bearing gifts?”
Lilli’s heart fluttered traitorously in her chest. Lilli swallowed hard, her throat suddenly dry. His proximity to her made her heart race, as it always did. She clasped her hands in her lap to keep from fidgeting.
“I wasn’t hiding anything. I simply didn’t think it necessary to trouble you with every letter that arrives at Heatherfield.”
Oliver’s eyebrow arched in that infuriating way that told her he didn’t believe her. “Go on.”
“Mr. Northgate seems perfectly respectable in his correspondence.” Lilli didn’t want to mention he made her terribly uncomfortable when he arrived on her doorstep the day before, so she lifted her chin in defiance. Better to push Oliver away than admit she needed the Daddy he offered.
“Ah, yes. Because villains always announce their intentions in proper penmanship.” Oliver’s lips quirked into that infuriating half-smile that made her stomach flip. “Show me the letters.”
“They are private.”
“Not anymore.” The steel in his voice made Lilli shiver. “When someone sends correspondence to my little one, threatening or otherwise, it becomes my business.”
“He isn’t threatening me,” Lilli protested, though she couldn’t meet Oliver’s eyes. The memory of Northgate’s visit made her skin crawl. His too-lingering handshake, the way his gaze had roved over Heatherfield’s valuables with barely concealed greed worried her.
“Then you’ll have no objection to sharing them.” Oliver closed the distance between them, kneeling before her chair. His proximity sent warmth spreading through her limbs despite her determination to remain unmoved. “Lilli, look at me.”
She reluctantly raised her eyes to him.
“I can see you’re exhausted. Your beautiful eyes have shadows beneath them that weren’t there a fortnight ago. Youjump at small noises. And now I find you have been beleaguered with unsolicited correspondence and the cheek of a visit. No, sweetheart. I want you to let Daddy take over.”
“How can I and retain the respect of my staff?”
“Leave it all to me. There will be no loss of respect or position. Of that I promise. But I need you to say the word.”
It was time to give over to Oliver and find a modicum of peace. “Yes, Oliver.”
