But he didn’t. He reached out with one finger and lifted her chin so she was forced to look at him and no longer avoid his gaze.
“What you are, Evangeline, is special. And if you ever disparage yourself in my hearing again, I’ll turn you over my knee myself and spank that perfect ass until you promise me to forget all the negative words you have in your vocabulary when they come to describing yourself. Are we understood?”
Holy fuck! Oh shit. Now she was once more using words that would mortify her mother and cause her to wonder where she’d gone wrong inEvangeline’s upbringing since she’d been taught that no true lady ever used such vulgar language.
Her eyes were wide as she stared at Silas, no longer needing his hand to force her compliance. She saw the dominance glittering in his eyes as clearly as she saw it in Drake’s. How had she missed it before now?Gentle and kind, my ass.Silas, Drake and, well, all of Drake’s men, were dominant, almost surly, alpha males, but in the space of those few words Silas had so smoothly dropped on her, she saw a man who was likely far more dominant than the others. Perhaps even Drake, and that was incomprehensible to her.
She could now see the scary side that the others evidently saw and experienced on a daily basis, and here she was naïvely forming her assumptions based on two brief meetings when he’d acted the consummate gentleman.
She swallowed hard because she didn’t think Silas was bluffing. There was no hint of amusement in his eyes. Only somber truth. And utter seriousness. And then, since her brain was fried, and she was to the point of babbling, she issued a ridiculous response.
“D-Drake would never let you!” she said in a shocked whisper. And to her further mortification, she realized the doctor was still there, stitching up her now-forgotten knee, and he’d been privy to the entire exchange between them.
His lips were quirked in amusement even as he never took his eyes from his job, and his hands were as steady as she’d ever seen.
Silas sent her a slight grin, only one corner of his mouth twitching to indicate what he thought of her naïve statement.
“Don’t be so sure of what Drake will and won’t allow, Evangeline. To do so will only lead to inevitable misunderstanding. I’m sure Drake has been very exacting in his requirements of you, the foremost being obedience. I’d say that covers a lot of uncharted territory, wouldn’t you?”
Evangeline wanted to shriek. How the hell did Drake’s men,thisman,know so much about what Drake had or hadn’t told her? Or were his women—and his standards and expectations—so often rotated in and out that his needs and demands were common knowledge among his men?
Hell, did they run, own or belong to some kind of BDSM club? Did they all have memberships in some place where there were handbooks and rules for this kind of stuff and did they all adhere to the same “code”?
She wanted to pull her hair out and then cover her face and wish herself a million miles away, because this was becoming more disconcerting by the minute.
“You wouldn’t hurt me,” she said in near desperation.
Silas’s eyes softened. “No, Evangeline. I would never hurt you. Discipline doesn’t have to equal pain. Unless that’s your thing.” He shrugged. “People are into what pleases them. It’s not for me to judge. But if you’re asking if I will follow through with my threat? The answer is yes. I don’t make idle threats. Ever. So yes, I will turn you over my knee and spank that ass if you ever talk shit about yourself in my hearing. If you don’t want that to happen, the simple thing to do is not to say stupid shit, yeah? You got me?”
“I got you,” she choked out, because if he was anything like Drake, and it appeared he was, then he too would want the words and not shaking or nodding her head as an answer.
“You done?” Silas asked the doctor sharply.
The doctor looked to have already finished but was clearly immersed in Silas’s exchange with Evangeline, because he was simply holding a bandage over Evangeline’s knee while watching the two in fascination.
“Uh, yeah, sure. Just let me tape this over her knee.”
Then he looked only at Evangeline.
“Keep it covered for tonight. You can take the dressing off in the morning, but keep the area clean and apply the ointment as I instructed, and again, if you experience any of the problems or symptoms I listed, you are to come back to me immediately.”
Evangeline nodded, still discomfited by the much-too-public airingof far-too-personal information. Did everyone who worked for Drake know every sordid detail of their relationship? Or were they merely guessing based on his past relationships?
It hit a raw nerve to think that her relationship, or whatever this was between her and Drake, was following some guideline or schedule he performed by rote, regardless of who his current woman was.
Would any woman do for him? Did Evangeline’s face blur among the many who’d come before her? Did she stand out? She supposed she was lucky that he at least remembered her name and hadn’t called her by another woman’s name. She’d likely stab him with a kitchen knife if that ever happened.
Silas helped her from the exam table and then herded her from the clinic and into the elevator that would take them to the top floor. He inserted his own key card, further proof that Drake’s men were obviously trusted—and had full access to even his personal domains.
When they walked into the apartment, she saw that the groceries had been placed on the counter and when she would have hurried over to sort through them, Silas blocked her and instead pushed her into the living room and then promptly sat her on the couch, reaching for a pillow to prop beneath her leg.
“You stay put,” Silas ordered. “I know for a fact Drake said he would be late arriving, and I also know he’ll call to let you know when he’s on his way home. Therefore, until the time you receive that call, you are to relax and not further aggravate your injury. Drake will understand if dinner is a little late, given the circumstances.”
Evangeline bit her lip, refusing to remind Silas that Drake had no clue about her injury. Unless she’d already been ratted out by one of his men. A distinct possibility.
But when Drake did finally call, she realized that no, he didn’t know, and furthermore, he was still not happy about this morning’s transgression.
The phone rang, rousing Evangeline from the couch. Damn it! How could she have fallen asleep? She’d planned that as soon as Silas made his departure, she was going to get a start on dinner, regardless of his assertion that she was to rest until Drake called.
