Rachel blinked, caught off guard by the peculiar specificity of the last rule.
“The attic?” she repeated, her brows knitting together. “Why on earth?—”
“I don’t owe you an explanation,” Simon interrupted. “You will abide by these rules. Other than that, you are free to live as you please.”
She stared at him, her confusion quickly giving way to irritation.
“Is that all there is to it, then? No questions, no explanations? I’m simply to follow orders like some… obedient maid?”
The implication set her off. She was not going to live like that. She would not be treated as her father had treated her mother.
Simon’s jaw tightened. “I never said maid. I told you,youare free to live as you please as long as you abide by my rules.”
Rachel shook her head. “It is not freedom if it’s so conditional, is it?”
She had not wanted to argue with him, especially not on their first day as husband and wife. But she was tired from the ceremony.
“It’s for your own good,” he asserted.
“For my own good?” she echoed, rising from her chair now. “You can’t possibly expect me to follow rules without question, especially when one of them involves a perfectly ordinary part of the house. You must at least tell mewhy.”
It was a small thing to focus on, but she could not help herself. He had brought out something in her—an argumentative side.
A passionate one. She discarded the thought quickly, chiding herself for thinking that way.
Simon stepped closer, towering over her.
“It is not usual,” he cautioned her softly, as if warning her off. “You will soon learn that I am not a man who likes being questioned.”
She lifted her chin as she gazed at him. “And I am not a woman who enjoys being treated like a child.”
There was a flicker in Simon’s gaze. He took another step closer, his heat surrounding her. Rachel’s breath caught as her back struck the wall.
“I have no interest in treating you like one,” he scoffed. She noticed that he was standing a bit too close to her now. “But if you are to live with me, then you are going to have to learn how to listen.”
He was not trying to put distance between them. If anything, he was closing the distance. She felt his breath fan across her face.
For a moment, her body had betrayed her, and a shiver ran down her spine, but it was not brought on by fear. It was something else that was a lot more… desirable.
“Why? Why can’t I…”
Simon’s hand against her head quieted her words. His other hand hovered above her waist, close enough to cause her to shift awkwardly, though it didn’t touch her.
“I am giving you a warning,” he whispered. “If you breach these rules, you will do so at your own risk.”
It was hard for Rachel to even think of a response. His proximity had sent her mind entirely into a tizzy. A small part of her,which was growing quieter by the minute, wished to protest and demand answers.
But it was overpowered by another part that wished to know what his hands would feel like wrapped around her delicate waist. She was certain that he would be able to hold her quite firmly and would have no trouble moving her around at his will.
Stop that.
Her face burned with embarrassment at her own fantasy, and she cursed herself inwardly. She should have been furious with him, not whatever this was.
Simon’s dark eyes flicked down and lingered on her lips for one moment before he drew back.
“Do not forget what I have told you,” he said. “For your own good.”
“You get to decide what is good for me?” she argued.
