Page 86 of Stolen and Seduced By the Duke

He almost smiled. "You are becoming troublesome again."

"I thought you preferred me obedient."

"I did."

"And now?"

Pierce looked at her for a long moment. "Now I am beginning to suspect I was wrong."

The words surprised even him.

Margaret slowly closed her book. "About what?"

He had no sensible answer. He wanted to cross the room, take her into his arms and discover whether the heat between them remained. Yet he had agreed to respect her boundary, and Pierce had never been a man who broke his word.

"Nothing," he said at last.

Margaret studied him, clearly unconvinced. "You are very strange these last few days."

"So I have noticed."

She smiled faintly and returned to her book.

Pierce left the room more frustrated than when he had entered. He had spent years believing control was the answer to every problem. Now he was discovering the opposite: sometimes the more tightly he held himself in check, the more impossible his own desires became.

And Margaret, infuriatingly, seemed determined to make him live with every one of them.

Pierce stepped into the corridor. He stood there for a moment, staring at the polished panelling as though it might provide him with an explanation for the strange irritation that had followed him from the room. Margaret had done nothing wrong. Indeed, she had done precisely what he had asked of her.

That is the problem. I had wanted her to respect the boundaries of the arrangement, and now that she did, I find myself absurdly dissatisfied.

I want her. I want to take her in my arms and make her mine, completely. I must stop myself from these notions. But how?

Mrs. Norris appeared at the far end of the corridor carrying a small stack of linens, and Pierce immediately straightened.

"Mrs. Norris," he called, and the housekeeper stopped at once. "Have my steward summoned to my study. I need to discuss an upcoming trip."

Her eyes brightened with such immediate interest that Pierce knew he had made a tactical error. "An upcoming trip, Your Grace?" she asked, setting the linens upon a nearby table. "How exciting."

"It is business," Pierce replied, fixing her with a warning stare. "Nothing more."

Mrs. Norris smiled knowingly. "Of course, Your Grace. Business."

Pierce narrowed his eyes. "And before your imagination begins constructing some elaborate story, I will tell you now that Her Grace is not involved."

"Oh, I would never presume…"

"You would," he interrupted dryly. "You absolutely would."

"So," she said carefully, "not a family trip, then?"

"No. It is not a holiday," he replied.

"Of course not."

"And," Pierce added, stepping closer, "I will expect you to keep this information entirely to yourself."

Mrs. Norris gave him an innocent nod. "Naturally, Your Grace."