Chapter 12
Twig Snapping
Leo was nodding for the past five minutes at least. Something was said, probably nothing important, but he wouldn’t be able to focus even if they were handing out the secret to eternal life.
All his focus, his attention, essential all that he was, were given totally to one thing.
A material thing. Something in comparison, trivial.
That blasted blue necklace around Prim’s neck.
“And is your estate in the countryside in-” Lady Wexham tried.
“Yes,” he gave her a curt answer that rendered all other questions towards him a really bad idea.
Lady Wexham was wise enough to see the danger and excused herself. The others around him were not that wise. They kept droning about the government and their usual complaints over basically everything. Leo didn’t even bother with the nodding anymore.
Why did she wear the necklace?
That question came back to him again and again, demanding an answer like a debt collector.
Nathaniel gave her the necklace, darn him.
That obnoxious exhibition of his wealth, his power, his…
His claim. That was his right, to give her whatever his cold heart desired.
To him Prim was an eligible lady, fit for the role he was hoping to fill.
Why would Prim wear it, though? Why would she choose to wear that open symbol of possession for all the ton to see? Why would she parade herself among the ton with his gift?
Prim wasn’t one for superficial things. She wouldn’t wear it just to show off the precious stones.
No, if she wore it out in public, it was because she wanted to make a statement.
There were only a few things she could be conveying with that limited vocabulary.
And one of them was that she was seriously considering Nathaniel’s offer.
Clever girl.
And yet it was not pride or relief that he felt.
Leo was vexed by a simple piece of jewelry.
It irritated him immensely to see it around her neck.
It was an irrefutable fact. The moment he found out that this was Greyhaven’s gift, he had to fight with himself not to pull that thing off her neck and throw it away.
“There you are, Leo.”
If there was ever prize for worst timing, this one would be by far the best candidate. Because still lost in his irrational rage, Leo heard the last voice he wanted or needed. Aaron.
Slowly, afraid that he would for sure snap in the middle of the ton, Leo turned only to see his half-brother regard him with a smile on his face.
Leo ground his jaw, his hands curled in fists, quite eager for a demonstration of all that he had learned in the ring.
Surely, it was a shame to leave these lessons go to waste.
“Aaron,” Leo said with a warmth reserved for tombs.
“Always so sour, Leo,” Aaron chuckled. “Are you not enjoying the splendid party?”
“I was merely seconds ago. A pity you had to ruin the effect by arriving.”
“Ah. The Duke of Mildenhall.” Aaron said with a smirk. “Tell me, does it ever get tiring, playing the part of the unmovable mountain? Or do you enjoy watching the rest of us scramble at your feet?”
“I wouldn’t know,” Leo hissed, and he looked at the man with a cold look that would have frozen the sunrays touching the grass around them. “I rarely look down.”
This barb hit the mark. Aaron’s charming face dissolved into resentment, raw, ugly, deep. Aaron was not quick enough to hide it and Leo was certain he was not even trying. The younger man gathered his senses quickly and smoothed his expression.
“Oh, but I hear that you do look down.” Aaron’s voice administered venom in the right dosage, not to kill immediately but to poison slowly. “At a certain Viscount’s daughter.”
Leo’s blood boiled. Today would be the day he would occupy the ton’s rumor mill for a different kind of scandal. He was going to pulp this insolent, insufferable cub to the ground. To think that he can put Prim in his mouth.
“Aaron, I would strongly advise you to choose your next words with the outmost care for your well-being. In fact, it would be most prudent not to talk at all.”
If Aaron heard the very real threat in Leo’s voice, he chose to ignore it.
Leo starting writing in his mind the letter that his mother would receive, informing that one of her sons met an untimely, if entirely justified, demise.
A small, cruel smile played on Aaron’s lips, relishing the sight of Leo’s formidable composure stretched to its most flimsy, gossamer threads.
“I was merely going to point out that the poor girl has been tangled in a very nasty business, wouldn’t you say?”
Aaron moved, circling just at the edge of Leo’s reach, his voice dark and muted and deceptively light.
“First the sheets” Aaron hissed over Leo’s shoulder. “Who knows what other threats may befall on her?”
Leo’s fury gave way to razor-sharp focus. This was not just Aaron coming to gloat that he tangled Prim in a scandal with him. No, this was something new, worse, darker. He turned around and eyed Aaron. Seeing the pure panic in his eyes, Aaron let out a chilling sneer.
“Aaron, what did you do?” Leo’s voice carried deep.
Such was his fury that others that didn’t her clearly what he was saying, they moved away to avoid the menacing energy he was exuding.
“Me?” Aaron said, bringing his glass to his lips, looking at Leo over the brim. “I am simply appreciating the hospitality.”
“Talk or I will make sure this is the last thing you will ever appreciate,” Leo hissed.
“Perhaps you had better focus on your courtship. You shouldn’t neglect her for too long.”
Leo felt cold sweat run down his spine. This scoundrel was threatening Prim.
He had the nerve! Leo looked at the spot she last saw Prim.
She was not there. He scanned the gardens to locate her blonde hair.
Nowhere. Breathing heavily, still pinned on the spot, he looked for the twins.
Where the twins were, she would be by their side.
He breathed with ease when he found the girls by the biscuits table.
Only for his heart to drop once more. The twins were alone.
“A crowded party is such a labyrinth, isn’t it?” Aaron’s voice dripped hatred, closer to Leo now. “So easy for a young lady to get lost.”
The control that Leo was clinging on, snapped.
Still, he didn’t waste his time with Aaron.
It was a complete waste of time and Leo dreaded with a primal fear that Prim was running out of it.
Without another word, without a glance back at his brother’s triumphant face, Leo turned and plunged into the crowd.
Where are you, Prim?
His jaw was ready to crack, the tension in his body unbearable. No matter where he looked, he couldn’t find Prim anywhere. Aaron was right, damn him. The gardens were vast, the estate big. It was truly a labyrinth. A labyrinth! The maze!
Leo turned, his movements losing all aristocratic grace as he almost run to the direction of the maze, the one their host warned that it was disused. This was his half-brother’s doing. He lured her there. Leo didn’t even want to think what his purpose was. It soon wouldn’t matter.
He made his way swiftly to the maze, his breath coming in ragged, shallow pulls.
On the outside he saw nothing. He hoped Prim didn’t venture forth in a disused maze, filled with unattended traps.
Then he heard it. A voice. Her voice. Close.
Then another voice. A male one. White-hot rage came over him.
If Aaron sent someone to hurt Prim, he would see the range of his wrath.
Easily he found the entrance to the maze and turned following the path. And that’s when he saw them. At a small clearing, between broken branches and marble benches filled with fallen leaves, was Prim. And before her, on one knee was Greyhaven.
Leo’s wrath didn’t dissipate. It was transformed. It curdled into something sharper, colder. He looked between them, assessing. No, Nathaniel would never cross any line of propriety. This was not a lover’s meeting. This was a negotiation and Leo just walked in on the closing arguments.
“Your Grace!” Prim said, startled and relieved at the same time.
But Leo couldn’t bring himself to concentrate on her. Not right now. Not even on the relief he felt that she was safe. All his focus was on Greyhaven. The man rose to his height and regarded Leo with the passiveness of inevitability.
“Leave! Now!” Leo growled, the sound echoing around them.
Nathaniel studied him for a few seconds.
“Do not make me repeat myself, Greyhaven. Leave.”
The Duke bowed to Prim without words and walked away. As he passed by Leo, he looked in his eyes. Leo needed one word. The slightest provocation to unleash the storm that has been brewing inside him.
In his infinite wisdom or bottomless indifference, Nathaniel offered none. He simply walked past Leo, brushing shoulders with him on his way out of the maze. When the Duke’s steps were nothing but an echo in the silence the maze offered, Leo turned to look at her.
If he was expecting to be apprehensive or anxious, she was neither. She looked at him with a deep frown and an expression of disbelief.
“Have you lost your senses completely?” Prim’s voice reached him in icy reproach. “What in the name of all that is decent was that?”
Leo seethed but didn’t answer. Instead, he took a step towards her. Prim was still glaring at him, her chest drawing deep breaths. He kept approaching her.
“I suppose you find it perfectly sane to barge and bellow commands. Your behavior was utterly-”
“Take it off!” He barked.
Prim stopped talking. She raised her chin to meet his fury.
“Excuse me?”
“You heard me, Prim. Take it off.”
Prim realized quickly what she was talking about. She touched the necklace for a fleeting second before she looked up at him with defiance.
“No.”
Leo dropped his chin, his eyes still pinned in hers. He knew he looked utterly uncivilized right this moment, yet he didn’t care.
“Take. It. Off.”
“You think you can issue orders and I will rush to do your bidding?”
“I am telling you, Prim. I am not asking you”
“I don’t remember requesting for your permission,” she fired back.
“Do not test me.”
“Am I supposed to be scared?”
“Positively.”
Prim smirked and took one step to him, invading his personal space. She looked steadily at him, her eyes, her body, her stance bold before him.
“I hate to disappoint you, Your Grace.”
“You think I am going to allow you to walk around with another’s man brand on you?”
She chuckled and raised her eyebrow.
“You do not own me, Leo.”
He leaned, blinking slowly, his gaze travelling from her defiant eyes, down to her mouth, then to the frantic pulse at the base of her throat, before returning to hold her captive.
“Don’t I, Prim?”
Her breath stuttered, her lower lip trembled before she tried to control it, biting her jaw down.
“Perhaps I should brand you, so you remember it.”
Only then did Prim realized the grave danger she was in. She dared one small step back, but it was too late. Leo, grabbed her by the waist and pulled her to him.
“I will make sure you wear me, Prim.”
His mouth captured hers with restrained violence.
His free hand went in her hair keeping her in place, as his lips devoured hers.
He stopped to look in her eyes only to find her totally disoriented.
His teeth found her lower lip, dragging along the soft flesh before soothing the sting with a slow, deliberate swipe of his tongue.
He did it again. A sharp nip, a long, languid lick.
Prim swayed, all balance lost. Her finger dug in his chest to steady her body, his arm around her waist, anchoring her to him.
His mouth pathed a hot, scorching path to her jaw.
His hand moved, fingers curling around her throat, his thumb under her chin, keeping her trembling body where he wanted it.
He nipped at her jaw, slowly making his way down her neck. He deftly found the clasp of the necklace and the precious jewel fell with a thud on the ground. Where the cold metal had touched, now his lips were with wet, open-mouthed kissed.
“I own this,” he growled in her neck.
Her response was a muffled moan as her hand flew to her mouth, to stop the treacherous sound, her eyes half-lidded in a haze.
He chuckled on her skin, waking shudder with each breath.
His lips went behind her ear, and his deft tongue found the sensitive spot there, making her fold into him with a deep sigh.
“This. I own this too.”
His teeth caught her earlobe and Prim moaned into the stillness no matter how she bit her lip. A lick claimed her perfect little ear, till Prim abandoned her body to him, unable to stand anymore.
“This belongs to me.”
He moved fast, sat on the marble bench, her on his lap sideways, his lips still on her neck, right where it met her shoulder. His fingers moved to reveal more of her skin to him, more land to claim. He bit down softly on her shoulder, barely holding his instincts in check.
“I will claim it all, Miss P.J.”
She looked up to him, her eyes level to his in this position. Through the haze of desire, Leo could still see it. Her defiance transformed into something new. A fierce, silent challenge. If Leo was on fire before, now he was ablaze. And he decided he would not burn alone.
His mouth punished her with a hot, wet kiss.
He lingered there, his tongue battling with hers, their sighs and moans mingling in the shared air between them.
His hand on her waist made sure she wouldn’t escape him.
His other hand combed through her hair, the sound of her pins falling like raindrops on the marble bench held the tempo of unbridled desire.
His mouth explored her more, waking a deep sigh from within her.
“This sigh is now mine.”
Slowly, he undid the fastenings of the dress, the soft fabric pooling around her waist. Only her chemise remained, the fabric deliciously thin, the swell of her breast a shadow under the summer sun.
One hand skittered down her shoulder, and then his fingertips teased her collarbone. The slow, agonizing descent of his heavy hand made her arch her body into is touch.
“Everywhere. All of it,” he growled in her ear.
A sharp, involuntary intake of breath was her only response. Encouraged, Leo dared more as his lips kissed her neck. He leaned to the skin on her back his breath caressing her skin. Then a bite, leaving a red mark he soothed with a soft kiss.
She bit her lip lost in the sensation. But Leo was greedy. He found the soft mound of her breast, heavy in his palm. Leisurely, his fingers found the hard center. A feather touch with his thumb was enough for her.
“Leo!”
“That,” he roared against her neck, nipping on it. “My name on your lips.”
He moved to her ear, his lips brushing her inflamed skin.
“That too is mine.”