He huffed out a breath and moved toward the terrace.“I-I will go make certain Her Grace is well.”
He thought he heard Theo say his name, but he ignored it as he stepped outside and pulled the doors shut behind him.He had always loved this terrace.It was wide, wrapping around most of the back of the house so that someone who exited a parlor at one end could meet with someone who had exited from another.Certainly assignations had occurred out here because of that access, but he wasn’t thinking of that as he peered around the darkness for Valaria.No small feat considering her black dress would help her easily melt into the shadows.
He could not find her and at last said, “Valaria?”
There was silence and he repeated her name.With a sigh, she stepped from the space at the corner of the terrace and folded her arms.“What do you want, Your Grace?”
He wrinkled his brow.“Were you…hiding from me?”
She pursed her lips.“I came out here for a moment alone.”
He looked back toward the parlor he had exited.Inside he could see the duchesses still engaged in conversation with Theo.He could go back, but this was an opportunity to resolve at least some issue between him and Valaria.
So he moved half a step toward her and tried to ignore her sharp intake of breath when he did so.
“Have I done something to offend you, Your Grace?”he asked softly.
“No,” she answered swiftly.Too swiftly, considering she also turned her face so that her expression was hidden again by shadow.
“Valaria,” he said, more sharply.A demand rather than a request.
She seemed to understand that because she narrowed her gaze at him.“I don’t understand what you want from me, Callum.Is it thanks for your gift?Will that appease you?”
He stared.“I did not send you the books so that you would thank me,” he explained slowly.“I did it entirely for your pleasure.If I was wrong in doing so, I apologize.”
She bent her head.“I…did enjoy them.I readGuy Manneringin but a few hours.I was entirely engrossed and that was…well, it was very nice.”
“Good.I’m glad.”
“And?”
“And nothing,” he insisted, gentling his tone.“I don’t want anything from you.”
She didn’t look like she believed him when she glanced up at him through a hooded gaze.
He shifted and continued, “I understand why trusting me might be difficult on some level.Silas was imperfect, I-I know that.I know he might have done some things that hurt you—”
She skittered backward, her blue-gray eyes wide in the faint light from the house.“What do you mean?What do you know?”
He sucked in a quick breath.So shewashurt by Silas’s affairs.And for a brief moment, he hated his friend for causing that upset.“I know that some men cannot be satisfied only by what they have at home.Even when they should be in every way.Even when what they have is so…so perfect.”
Her mouth dropped open and her gaze flitted to his lips briefly.But then the wall came back down and her expression turned cold.She folded her arms again, rebuilding that shield she so desperately wanted to keep between them.
“You don’t know anything about our relationship, Callum.Know that is a fact that willneverchange.”She lifted her chin.“You want to interfere with me, I suppose out of either kindness or a masculine need for control over everything.The motive doesn’t really matter, because the outcome will be the same.I have spent a lifetime under the thumb of one man or another and I will never return to that life.”
She moved toward him and she would have looked so strong but for the fact that her lower lip was trembling ever so slightly.He caught his breath at the little hint of her vulnerability.
“I did enjoy the books, but please don’t misconstrue that to mean that I want your…presence.I don’t want anyone’s presence.I don’t want…” Her breath hitched.“I don’t want…”
A tear suddenly trickled from her eye.She gasped and lifted her fingers to it, a look of almost shock on her face.He pulled the clean handkerchief from his pocket and moved toward her, close enough that he could hand her the cloth.Too close, now that he was here and he could feel the faint hint of her body heat.She stared up at him, eyes sparkling in the light.And he wanted her.
Because he’d always wanted her.Bastard that he was.
“Valaria,” he said softly as he took her hand and tried to make it only about comfort.
She wasn’t wearing gloves and neither was he, so when he touched her, it was the first time his skin had ever brushed hers.It was everything he’d ever hoped and dreamed about.Like the softest silk, and she caught her breath as her fingers clenched against his briefly.
“I didn’t mean to cause you pain,” he whispered, moving even closer.Now her skirts brushed against his boots and her breath stirred against his chin as she stared up at him.“I’m sorry.”
She looked at him like she hardly understood those words.Like she’d never heard them before.And perhaps she hadn’t.Silas had never been one for apologies.
“Callum,” she murmured, and then shook her head, as if there were no words.
He found himself lowering his mouth toward her and realized she was tilting hers up.His mind screamed at him to stop.To be prudent and right, but he couldn’t listen.Couldn’t focus on anything except her, only her, always her.
And his mouth took hers and it was everything.
