Logan’s eyes closed as he groaned. He let go of her ankle and rubbed his face with his hands, desperate to try and understand her actions. He couldn’t quite accept the idea that she had been so taken with him that she thought to ruin herself this way, so why would she have done it?
“Why, Faith? How could you have done this?”
“Me?” she said instantly, pulling her legs beneath her to kneel on his bed. “You’re the one who approached me, lest you forget.”
“Yes, and you said—”
“I didn’t say anything. You assumed I slept with Donovan.”
“And you didn’t correct me,” he said, his tone agitated. When she didn’t reply, he continued. “What the devil were you thinking?”
“What does it matter?” she snapped, holding the blankets to her neck, covering her naked body. “It happened. There’s no changing it.”
“Yes, but it didn’t happen the proper way,” he said, leaning over the bed. “You should have told me.”
“Why? Then you would have backed out of our affair,” she said, her tone peevish. “And I wanted it.”
Pride shot through his chest at her words, but he tried to push it away. He was glad she had wanted him so, but it didn’t change that he had now taken her innocence. And he intended to do right by her. But she spoke first.
“It doesn’t matter, does it? We both got what we wanted,” she said, her tone brittle as her green eyes fell to the canvas behind him. “And now I can go to London with an education that other spinsters lack. At least I’ll know what I’m giving up.”
Faith began to move off the bed as her words sank in. London? Spinster? What the devil was she going on about?
Turning on her as she gathered her clothing, he moved behind her.
“What are you talking about? Why would you go to London?”
Faith straightened up after grabbing her petticoat, standing at her full height before him.
“I’m going to London with Aunt Belle in a few weeks. We will be staying in her townhouse, the one where I lived with my sisters before coming to Scotland.”
“For how long?”
“Indefinitely,” Faith said as she picked up her overskirt hanging on a wingback chair before the fireplace.
Logan’s temper began to rise.
“What the blasted hell do you mean ‘indefinitely’?”
“Just that,” she quipped as she began to dress.
“Then what was all this about?”
“It was… It was what it was,” she said unevenly. “I don’t see a reason to name it. There’s no need to, as I’ve no intention of staying in Scotland.”
Her eyes shifted to the bed, and Logan’s anger began to bubble dangerously high.
“Like hell you aren’t staying here,” he said viciously through gritted teeth. “You can’t leave. Not after what we just did.”
“Why?” she asked coolly, though her voice seemed frail. “It was a simple affair and they never last, do they?”
“It wasn’t an affair. I took your innocence,” he said, reaching for her as she buttoned up her dress.
“Oh Lord, do not call it that,” she said shakily, but her eyes would not meet his. “I only wanted… I don’t know what I wanted anymore. Except to go home and think, I suppose.”
“You’re not going anywhere,” he said, coming up behind her. “Not until we settle this.”
She turned, her body mere inches away from his.
