Calliope racked her brain. It must have slipped from her satchel when she tripped. She could find no other possible explanation. What rotten luck was this? She wanted to groan at this colossal error. “That, unfortunately, I cannot do.” Or else...
He smiled without smiling. More a feeling than a sight, and not a pleasant one at that. Black pools bore into her. “Are you certain you don’t recognize this?”
“Why should I? Because I’m a woman?” She didn’t give him time to respond. “What a hopelessly insufferable thing to imply.”
“So, you donotrecognize it, then?” he pressed without so much as acknowledging her remarks.
This man! “I donot.”
He arched an equally insufferable black brow. “Perhaps you could try the shoe on. Just to be sure.”
Calliope’s jaw slackened. Surely he had not asked her that? “I shall most certainly not do that. Who knows where that slipper’s been.” She knew exactly where. She only prayed he didn’t.
“No need to bristle, Miss Turner. It’s just a shoe.”
The adopted last name was still jostling to hear. Wait. “How do you know my name?”
He slid her slipper back into his coat, eyes never leaving hers. “I didn’t come here just for a shoe, Miss Turner. There’s another matter between us.”
Impossible. “What else could there possibly be between us?”Except distance.Alotof distance.
“The matter of property,” he announced. “I am your landlord.”
Her eyes flew wide. “No, you are not.”
“Yes, Miss Turner, I am.”
But if that were true... A horrible realization settled over her.Hewas Mr. Fury? He, as in the man, thebeast, from last night? Her landlord?
“You are . . .”
“Maxen Fury. The arrangement your solicitor made was with my brother. Without my permission, I should add.”
Her lips parted but no words formed.
Mr. Fitz handled her secret inheritance, helped with her lodgings,and all the matters of setting up her shop while she adapted to her new world. All the new possibilities open to her.
Escaping that household had taken priority over everything else.
But even now, even free, it seemed that others still held the keys.
“I see.”
Those two words spoke volumes. She could see much. He was far from being pleased by the prospect of her being his tenant. And she hadn’t thought to question Mr. Fitz about the arrangement after they’d discussed her options. She’d trusted him, forever grateful for being her ally.
Well, she wasn’t pleased either! Who would want a criminal for a landlord? It might, as much as she was loathe to admit, be best to find another place. “If you wish to nullify our arrangement, all you have to do is return my rent.”
“I don’t.” His expression didn’t change, but something flickered in the depths of those fathomless eyes. Reluctance? Suspicion? She couldn’t tell. But it made her stomach twist in a strange way.
Her brows snapped together. “Didn’t you say your brother rented us this space without your permission?”
“I don’t return blunt.”
How . . . blunt.
But of course, he wouldn’t just be an ordinary villain. He’d have to be a greedy one, too. Urgh! She didn’t want to live in apprehension for the next six months.
You can do this, Calliope.
