Page 32 of A Stolen Heart

“I wasn’t hurt—not really.”

“Who knows what might have happened if you had not been able to escape him.”

“But I was. That’s what I mean—I can take care of myself. I don’t need your valet trailing about after me and frightening all the servants.”

“You’ve heard about Murdock?”

“Well, Mr. Jones did tell me that he was a trifle unusual.”

He let out a short bark of laughter. “He looks as if he’s been in a few fights. Not a bad sort of way to look when someone is after you.”

“Still, it’s quite unnecessary. I wouldn’t dream of taking your valet from you.”

Thorpe grimaced. “You are an exasperating female. I presume you’ve been told that.”

“A few times.” Alexandra smiled.

“Why are you so stubborn?”

“I’m not stubborn. I simply don’t want or need your valet to protect me.”

“It’s a very little thing. Why are you so set against him?”

“Because I am an independent woman. I like to take care of things myself instead of depending on someone else. I am in charge of this household, and I don’t want someone working in it who is working for someone else, not me,” Alexandra told him lightly.

He looked at her in offended astonishment. “You think that I would have him do anything against you?”

“I certainly hope not. However, I do not think it is a good policy to have employees who are loyal to someone else.”

She wasn’t about to tell him that she had another reason—she did not want one of his servants in the house, listening to all the stories of her servants and reporting to Thorpe that Alexandra’s mother was mad. Rhea wasn’t mad, only a trifle…odd. She chose not to examine why it seemed so important that Thorpe not think badly of Rhea.

Thorpe glowered at her, and Alexandra gazed back imperturbably. He was surprised at the little stab of pain her words had brought. She didn’t trust him! He thought that it would give him a distinct sense of pleasure to grab her by the shoulders and shake her until she agreed to his plan. Another part of him wanted equally to grab her and kiss that faintly smug look off her face.

Finally he gave in to the latter emotion, grasping her shoulders and jerking her to him for a quick, hard kiss. He was gratified to see that, when he released her, her eyes were darker and faintly dazed.

“If one more suspicious thing happens, I am going to put Murdock here to guard your house, even if he has to loiter about in the street to do it. Is that clear?”

“Abundantly.” Alexandra’s tongue stole out to touch her upper lip. “Is that always the way you make your point?”

His eyes went to her mouth, and heat rippled through him. “Only if I have to.”

He leaned down and kissed her again, this time more slowly and thoroughly. Memories of the night before flooded his brain, and his skin flamed. He wanted to go on kissing her until neither of them could stop, but finally, reluctantly, he pulled away. “I must leave now.”

Much as he wanted to stay, there were things Thorpe had to do. His valet, Murdock, had quite a few connections with certain criminal elements here in London—Thorpe had always found it wiser not to enquire too closely into the hows and whys of those connections—and Thorpe was going to set him to nosing out whatever he could about anyone attacking a beautiful American woman. Alexandra might refuse to let him provide a guard for her, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t going to protect her some other way. Alexandra would find out that he could be every bit as stubborn as she was.

AFTER THORPE LEFT, ALEXANDRA MADE her way upstairs to her mother’s room. She had not wanted Thorpe to leave—However much she might insist on handling things herself, she could not deny that the events of the past two days had left her shaken, and that Thorpe’s presence had made it all seem not quite so bad. However, she certainly could not ask him to stay when she had just been telling him how capable she was of taking care of things.

Besides, whenever she was around the man, she felt confused and uncertain, emotions she was not accustomed to experiencing. She had made up her mind that the passion she had felt for him last night had been a fluke, something caused by her state of nerves. But when he had kissed her this afternoon, she had felt the same welling of desire, the same rush of fire through her veins and pulsing heat in her loins. Alexandra was not used to such feelings, and they unsettled her. Even more confusing was the fact that she had such conflicting emotions about the man, irritated one moment and pulsing with desire the next. It was better that she have some time alone to collect herself and decide how she felt and what she wanted.

Right now, she knew, she had to talk to her mother. Her visit with the Countess had left her troubled and uncertain, and her mother was the only person who could help her. She sighed, thinking that her mother was rather a weak reed upon which to rely, but she pushed such thoughts away and, summoning a cheerful smile, she knocked on Rhea’s door and went in.

“Ah, Miss Alexandra.” Nancy looked up from the sewing in her lap and smiled. “I was just about to go down and fetch your mother a cup of cocoa.”

There had been an unspoken conspiracy among the three of them, Aunt Hortense, Alexandra and Nancy, not to leave Rhea alone since the incident with the teapot. Nancy got up, put her sewing aside, and left the room.

Rhea leaned toward her daughter and whispered, “Thank heavens, she’s gone. I can’t think what is the matter with Nancy. She has scarcely left this room all day. I practically had to kick her out of the room when I wanted to take a nap. I think the servants frighten her.”

“They do?”