Page 95 of Frankly, My Dear

He literally growled with frustration and took her hand, pulling her up the wide staircase in front of the house and then down the hallway toward the library. Selene looked down at their twined fingers and felt an inordinate thrill at the pressure of his palm against hers.

“What?”

“I like holding hands with you,” she said in a soft voice.

He immediately dropped her hand.

She smiled.

He frowned.

Selene was having fun.

James was not.

“Do you know what I would like even more?” she said.

“No! I don’t want to know.” He pushed her in front of him into the library and closed the door after him.

“Are we going to make love on the desk now? Like you mentioned the other night?”

His eyes went wide and his chin dropped like a lead weight. Then he caught himself, and shook his head to clear it of whatever erotic images must have been floating about.

Hey, this teasing business is sort of neat. I think I could develop a real knack for this.

“Selene, what are you doing with my mother?” he asked with exasperation, drawing her attention back to his anger. “She’s frail, and I cannot allow you to involve her in your schemes.”

“My schemes! Listen here, James. Your mother is a strong woman, don’t you ever doubt it. And I don’t need to involve her in any schemes, believe me. She’s got intrigues coming out the kazoo.”

“What intrigues? Oh, Good Lord, don’t tell me that she told you about my father’s will.”

Selene folded her arms over her chest, remaining stubbornly silent.

“If she’d just give me the damn papers, I’d hand them over to Victor gladly, and perhaps all the ghosts and treachery about this plantation would finally end.”

“Treachery?”

He nodded grimly. “Someone bashed in the new sugar boiler last night. The day before, there was an attempt to burn some of the northern fields.”

“Oh, James! But do you really think returning the document will stop Victor’s evil?” Selene asked, feeling in her deep pocket for the paper in question.

“Non. Victor will not stop till I’m dead, but I won’t give him that satisfaction. I’ve had men posted about the house at night for the past year, and I’ve increased their vigilance now, so I’m not too worried about you and Etienne and my mother,” he pointed out, as if thinking aloud.

But what about you, James? Who’s going to protect you?

“Now I’ll have to take much-needed manpower from my day labor to guard the fields and equipment at night,” he continued. “Well, there’s nothing to be done about…What? Why are you looking at me like that?”

Tears welled in Selene’s eyes as she gazed at James. He had so many problems weighing him down. She wished he would let her help him. Well, perhaps she could…indirectly…by working with his mother in her plot.

“I don’t want your pity,” he snarled, misreading her tears.

“You don’t have it.”

He blinked with confusion.

She took one step toward him, and he backed up one step.

“I don’t want you, Selene.”