Chapter 9 #4
Satisfied she’d done the best she could to repair her appearance, she slipped past him and headed toward the door.
All she wanted was to go home and cry herself to sleep.
Genevieve had only gone a few steps before firm fingers wrapped around her arms and brought her to a halt, but she kept her back to him.
As if aware of the tumultuous emotions bubbling up inside her, he pulled her back into his chest.
“Genevieve, you misunderstand. I lost my head. It was dangerous to make love to you here.”
Soft and soothing, his voice whispered with something she was afraid to acknowledge.
She turned her head to look over her shoulder at him.
The regret she’d heard in his voice a moment before was now reflected on his face.
The sight of his remorse filled her with anger.
She glared up at him, trying to pull free of his hold to no avail.
“Let me go,” she said, her voice as frosty as a frigid winter wind on the moors.
“Damnit, Genevieve, listen to me.” Theo returned her antagonistic scowl with one of his own as he released her and spun her around. “Don’t you realize someone might have discovered us? Neither one of us would have heard anyone knock, let alone someone unlocking the door and entering.”
“But then you would have achieved your goal, wouldn’t you?
I would have been forced to marry you if we’d been found in the throes of passion,” she said with icy precision, her heart aching as though it were being sliced out of her.
“I’d have been ruined, even though we both know I was ruined long before I met you. ”
“I did not make love to you for that reason. I’m amazed I had half a brain to even think of locking the door to begin with,” he said between clenched teeth. “Seeing Ansbach touching you clouded my judgement. I don’t want the man anywhere near you.”
“The man is suspected of being a spy,” Genevieve snapped. “I was attempting to become better acquainted with him, gaining his trust, doing what I am supposed to do.”
“What I saw on that patio did not even begin to look like you were working for the Crown. Ansbach was trying to seduce you, and he appeared to have been succeeding.”
“I admit the man took me by surprise, but I could have easily handled the situation if you’d not charged in and acted like a brute.
” Genevieve tilted her chin upward, while a voice in her head called her a liar.
“You do not own me, Lord Selbourne. While I might be forced to work with you, it doesn’t mean I am under your control. ”
“And yet you just said you belonged to me,” he said with a menacing smile.
“Something I said in the heat of the moment. I have not hidden my desire for you, nor do I want any other man touching me. In fact, I’ve been trying for weeks to tempt you into doing precisely what we did moments ago. Yet you’ve resisted, quite admirably I might add.”
“And you have no idea how close I’ve come dozens of times to give way to my need for you, like I did a moment ago,” he snarled. “But if sacrificing my honor and compromising you beyond any reasonable doubt is what it will take, so be it. Protest all you want, but I will win the war, Genevieve.”
The resolute note in his voice alarmed her because she knew in the long run he would succeed. Worse, she wasn’t sure how much longer she could resist him. What had happened between them just now had had a greater impact on her emotions than she cared to admit.
She also wasn’t sure how to keep herself from falling in love with the man.
The thought sent an icy chill creeping across her skin.
She was far closer to tumbling over that cliff than she liked.
Genevieve tried not to shiver as an invisible coat of frost wrapped around her body.
This time she couldn’t suppress the tremor, and the odd emotion she’d witnessed on Theo’s face after they’d finished making love swept across his handsome features once more.
Would he actually do what he’d threatened?
Another shiver raced through her. Genevieve didn’t know what terrified her the most, the idea of marrying Theo or the idea that she might enjoy being Lady Selbourne.
Dear God, had she just thought she might find it pleasurable to be Theo’s wife?
Terror swept over her as she realized her life was spiraling out-of-control.
Genevieve whirled about and raced for the door.
As she fumbled with the skeleton key in the lock, Theo’s hard, muscular frame pressed into her back, pinning her between him and the door.
The heat of him ignited a wildfire of sensations that rushed through her with the speed and force of a hurricane.
Strong, firm fingers pushed her hand aside as he unlocked the door for her. The instant she reached for the doorknob, he stopped her, his mouth nipping at her shoulder.
“Remember, Genevieve. You’re mine,” he said softly as he kissed the side of her neck. “You will be Lady Selbourne, Genevieve, no matter how hard you try to stop the inevitable.”
A second later, the heat of his body was no longer warming her as he retreated a step. Theo pulled the door open for her, and she darted out of the small library as if fleeing for her life.