“Odalisque Reclinedby Donovan,” he breathed, and Faith felt her heart shatter. “You’re the woman in the painting.”
Oh, God. This wasn’t happening. How could this be happening? She closed her eyes, humiliated and furious, hoping she was still sick and this was some sort of fever dream. But the sinking feeling in her chest was too real to be imagined.
“Why…” she tried at first. “I mean, how do you know that painting?” she asked, refusing to look at him.
“I’m the current owner.”
Faith’s eyes snapped open, unable to believe what she had just heard. She gaped up at him.
“Excuse me? H-how?” she asked before she could stop herself but held her hand up. “No. Don’t tell me. Don’t talk to me. I don’t want to know.”
“Faith—”
“This cannot be happening. This can’t happen,” she said, suddenly frantic. She pushed the rest of the blankets off her as she swung her feet off the bed to stand, moving around him. “Oh God. You must leave. You have to leave.”
“Wait.”
“I can’t do this. Oh God, how is this even happening?”
“Can you hold on for a moment?” he asked as he reached for her, but Faith wouldn’t stay. She pulled away from him, and she could see the look of regret in his eyes, though whether it was about telling her about the painting or not being able to touch her, she did not know. “I only wanted to—”
“Fine. If you won’t leave, I will,” she snapped, unwilling to discuss it any further.
She stalked toward the door and reached for the door handle to pull it open, but Logan’s hand came above her head, holding the door shut. Faith turned as her entire body began to shake with outrage.
“How dare you—”
“Will you calm down for just a moment?”
“Calm down?” she hissed. “How can I calm down when you… You’ve somehow managed to bully your way into ownership of a piece that should never have left its maker?”
“Do not direct your displeasure at your former paramour at me. I merely stated a price, and he accepted.”
“Paramour?” Faith repeated. “How dare you compare what we had to something so, so cheap!”
“Is this the scandal that took you and your sisters away from London last year?” he asked, tilting his head. “I admit, I would never have guessed that you were the cause of your relocation.”
“Of course it’s not,” she bit out. “Not that it’s any of your business, but no one in my family knows about that…that piece of canvas.”
He let out a frustrated breath.
“Listen, I didn’t mean to—”
“To embarrass me? Shame me? Make me out to be some sort of fool? Well, you have,” she said hotly. “I thought I had judged you too harshly, but if this isn’t evidence that my initial impressions were correct, I don’t know what is. You are nothing but a wicked man. A no-good, blackmailing coward.”
At the word coward, pain and fury flashed in Logan’s eyes, and in an instant, he had his large hands clutching her upper arms in an aching grip. Faith gasped, partly stunned by his audacity but also partially excited, though only the Lord knew what that said about her. Would he hurt her in flash of anger? She doubted it, although she couldn’t clearly state why or how she knew that that was a line he wouldn’t cross.
After a stalled moment, Logan spoke, his tone grave.
“Say that word again and you’ll see how very wicked I can be.”
His voice’s biting tenor told Faith she had hit a nerve. While she was morosely satisfied to get under his skin, his reaction made her curious. What right did he have to be indignant?
“I knew what you were the moment I saw you,” she said, her eyes dropping to his mouth. “Cold and calculating.”
“And you’re nothing more than a liar,” he countered, his breathing uneven.
“A liar? How?”
