A bubbling sensation swept through Amelia’s insides. It was not only anger; there was something else in there, an ache that she did not want to name. Sometimes these confusing emotions were better left alone.
“You have no care for how I feel, then?” she demanded, clenching her jaw.
Surely the key here was to hold her ground. Show him that she could not be intimidated. Or noteasilyintimidated, at the very least.
“Please! If you could save somebody youloved, surely you would do it? Surely you would be willing to sacrifice something, anything, just to keep them safe?”
The words came pouring out of her mouth, unstoppable, breaking over him like waves over a rocky wall.
He blinked more rapidly than before, and something flashed across his face. Pain?
She couldn’t identify the emotion, and it was gone in the blink of an eye. Heat prickled across her skin, even more intensely than when she had sat beside the fire. It couldn’t be plain heat; it had to be something else.
Was it him? Was hethe one muddying up her head and causing that strange, intense prickle that ran up and down her spine?
I cannot feel attraction to this man. I cannot. He has kidnapped me and threatened to keep me away from my siblings. He is a monster.
Her thoughts came very clearly, her head apparently having decided that Stephen was not to be trusted. And yet the feeling did not ebb.
I need space. Air.
The heat was too intense, and the musky scent of leather seemed to ooze from his skin.
Amelia stumbled back before she realized she had decided to move. The door. The door was just there, and it was open. Letitia would be there, although a sensible voice at the back of Amelia’s head pointed out that there was no seat in the hall and that the old woman would not be able to stand right outside on her two feet for so long, but perhaps…
She was seized by the shoulders and spun toward the wall. Not shoved, exactly, but her back thumped against the wall. Stephen loomed over her, palm pressing against the wall near her head.
“Do not dare speak to me of loss,” he growled, his eyes flashing. “Do not presume I do not know what you mean. Do you think grief is something only you can experience? Do you think money or an influential family can save somebody, anybody, from danger? You think my money and title protect me, do you?”
“I know they do,” she shot back.
“You are wrong. Perhaps they protect me now, but I was not always a duke.”
She blinked, frowning.
What did that mean? Surely a duke’s son carried the same power as a duke. In the ton, a titled man’s heir was like an extension of himself. A duke’s heirmattered. A seamstress, however—and a bastard at that—was nobody, and would neverbeanybody. It was a simple enough concept, and Amelia was surprised that Stephen did not understand it.
She found that the words to explain did not come easily. It was easier to say nothing, to hold her tongue and wait for him to speak.
Some powerful emotion shook him, and more hurt flashed in his eyes. Abruptly, he pushed back, taking a few long steps away from her. She let out a ragged breath as he did so, surprised that she had been holding her breath.
“Three months,” Stephen said, his voice hoarse.
He seemed breathless, too, as if he had been holding his breath. That was ridiculous, however. Whatever emotion had shaken him had passed, and the cool, crisp Orion was back.
Amelia tried to compose herself, too. It was not as easy as she’d thought. Her chest felt tight, that odd sensation in her stomach tugging away at her insides. The prickling heat was back, too, even though she was as far away from the fire as possible.
It’s not him.Feeling any twinge of attraction to the man who has kidnapped me and is keeping me from my sisters is a very bad idea.
“Three months?” she echoed.
“My proposition,” he responded tightly, lifting his chin. “You’ll stay here for three months and serve as my grandmother’s companion. That is all you need to know right now. As for your sisters, they can visit you as often as they like. I have no interest in punishing them, even Miss Spectacles, who stole my father’s pocket watch. I wantthatback, by the way. They may visit you here, but you may not leave.”
“I—”
“This is not a subject I am ready to discuss,” he interrupted, his voice dropping to a growl. “You are going nowhere, Amelia. I would advise you not to try to escape. I have no interest in hurting you or making your life miserable, but I will not be disobeyed. Try to leave, or make a daring escape, and I shall catch you. And when I do, there’ll be consequences. Do you doubt me?”
She swallowed. “No, I do not doubt you.”
