Chapter 28
Twenty-Eight
SARAH
Itensed against Theo at the sight of Angeline Potter.
Angeline was a long-standing member of Ardnoch. A bit of a British rom-com sweetheart, the world would never guess that she was so horrible.
I’d never complained about her to Mrs. Hutchinson, even though my boss had seemed to sense I was always a wee bit off-kilter after an encounter with Angeline.
I should have complained. Lachlan didn’t put up with members who behaved abhorrently.
What did she want?
Theo’s hand flexed on my lower back, and I felt the tension in his body as he stared at Angeline with a blank expression.
A dreadful knowing settled nervously in my stomach.
“I wondered if you’d be here tonight.” Angeline flicked me a look before turning back to Theo. “Though I rather hoped you’d be alone.”
I stiffened, the heat rushing out of my body.
Theo must have sensed it because he pulled me even closer. “I can’t imagine why.”
It was difficult for me to look at her and see beauty, but she was considered very attractive.
A tall, leggy brunette with a big white smile and “adorable” brown eyes.
Tonight, she wore a red dress that showcased her slender curves and ample bosom.
Of course, Theo had found her attractive. Hadn’t he?
She threw my date a dirty look. “I suppose it’s true what they say about you, Cavendish. You never come back for seconds.” She looked at me pointedly. Then her eyes narrowed in thought. “Have we met?”
I didn’t reply, too busy trying not to imagine Theo in bed with this awful human.
“Didn’t we work on Much Ado together a few years back?”
Swallowing hard, I lifted my chin. “No. I used to work here at Ardnoch.” The fact that she couldn’t remember me after the way she’d treated me … I didn’t hate many people. But she was one of them.
And Theo had obviously slept with her.
Instinctually, I withdrew from him.
Theo’s hand tensed on my back, trying to pull me to him, but I stepped out of his touch.
Recognition lit Angeline’s eyes. “You’re that mousy little housemaid. Does Lachlan know you’ve crashed his party?”
“Unlike some people, Sarah was invited because she’s liked, not because she spends so much money here, it’s hard to turn her away. Even when she’s not particularly wanted,” Theo drawled pointedly.
Angeline blanched, gave Theo the middle finger, and stormed off, almost going over on her spiked heels in her rush to leave.
I stared blindly after her, unable to look at Theo now that I knew he’d been with Angeline Potter of all people. It brought back to harsh reality how much of a player he’d been.
Theo suddenly stepped in front of me, a dark scowl marring his handsome face. “Sarah—”
“Did you have sex with Angeline?”
“Yes,” he gritted out without hesitation.
I flinched, looking down. There were people around us, laughing, talking, drinking, eating. Christmas songs played. It all blurred and fell away.
Theo gripped my upper arms, forcing me to meet his gaze. “It was before you,” he explained impatiently. “So get that wounded look off your face. I won’t apologize for having a sex life before you, Sarah. You know who I was. We can’t keep going back there.”
Fury rushed through me. “I don’t need you to apologize for having a sex life before me, Theo.
But I can judge you for having no discernible taste whatsoever and putting your cock in anything that offered itself up.
” I yanked my arms out of his hands in disgust and marched away. I needed space—and I needed a drink.
Is this what it would be like with him?
Bumping into women he’d fucked every five minutes? Women I despised.
I knew it wasn’t rational or fair, but this hurt.
Grabbing a glass of champagne off a passing server’s tray, I threw it back as I hurried out of the dining hall. Maybe I’d find Aria and North. They were kind. A shelter among these people.
The music was so loud, I didn’t hear the footsteps behind me. Suddenly, a strong, familiar hand gripped my arm and I looked up to find a furious Theo. He tugged me toward the library and my champagne spilled out of the glass with the movement.
“What are you doing?” I hissed.
Two men were enjoying a whisky in the library.
“Gentlemen, apologies, but I require the room for some privacy.” Theo gestured to the door with all the imperiousness of the son of a viscount. “If you please.”
The two men shared a look and then smirked at me as they passed us.
I trembled with fury.
Theo shut the library door behind them and turned to me.
“You know what they think we came in here to do, don’t you?” I cried in outrage. “Let me out of here!”
Theo wore a mask of hard determination that made my heart beat fast and caused an impossible tingle between my legs that I shouldn’t be feeling when I was this pissed off at him!
He prowled toward me, and I stumbled back on my heels until I hit the bookshelves. With nowhere to go, I lifted a hand. He pressed his stomach into my palm, bracing his hands on the shelves above my head.
Caging me in.
Dominating.
A thrill coursed through me, and my breathing grew shallow.
“Do not walk away in the middle of a discussion. It’s rude.”
Indignation overtook my desire. “If I want to walk away from you, I can, Theo. At any time.”
“But over this?” he hissed, and I saw the fear and hurt blazing in his eyes.
“Sarah … I can’t change my past. Fuck, do I wish I could now.
It’s just a bloody reminder that I’m not good enough for you.
I wish I could wipe away every second, so you didn’t have to come face-to-face with it.
And so I didn’t have to witness that look when you do. ”
Stung with remorse, I slumped against the shelves.
“I’m sorry. I … I know you have a past. I know why you have a past. You don’t have to apologize to me about other women from before we met.
I don’t want to make you feel guilty about it.
It’s just … I just … it’s her.” Tears burned my eyes and I looked away.
But Theo caught my chin, forcing me to meet his gaze. “What happened there?” he murmured, concerned.
“I hate her,” I confessed. “She … she was so cruel to me while I worked here.”
The concern on his face transformed rapidly into outrage. “Cruel to you how?”
“She would always be in the room when I came to clean it. Most guests leave when they know housekeeping is coming. But she deliberately stayed and she would mock me the entire time I cleaned her suite.” I mimicked her, “Ooh, how awful it must be to be an invisible little mouse, cleaning up after everyone’s shit. ”
Theo blanched. “Little mouse?”
I smiled sadly. “It hurt when you first called me that, but it’s different now. You actually made me like the pet name.”
“I know, but …” He glowered. “What else did she do?”
“She would spill things after I cleaned. Deliberately. Maliciously. She … she once … I was cleaning the toilet, and she sat down on it while my arm was in there with the … with the toilet brush.” I bit back the tears as shame filled me.
“She … she bloody peed on me and then laughed like she hadn’t realized I was there.
And I didn’t tell anyone. Because I’m a coward. ”
A tear slipped free, and Theo caught it. When our eyes met, I froze at the rage in his.
“I’m going to fucking ruin her,” he bit out slowly.
I shook my head. “Don’t. She’s not worth it. The housekeepers got paired up after what happened with Sloane last year. She couldn’t treat me like that once there were two housekeepers in the rooms. She didn’t want witnesses. She doesn’t want anyone to know what she’s really like.”
“I know now, Sarah. She humiliated and bullied you. Do you think for one second that Lachlan Adair will put up with that?”
“I should have told him when I was here. I didn’t. So it’s done.”
“And what about the next timid young housekeeper she decides to target? You were never powerless, Sarah, but you definitely are not now. If you speak up, something will be done about it.”
The idea of her humiliating someone else the way she did me was sickening. “Okay. I’ll … I’ll tell Agnes. My old boss. But later.”
Theo clasped my face in his hands and pressed his forehead to mine.
His voice was harsh with emotion. “I feel violated to have touched her even more than I did. Because I can promise you, Sarah—and trust that this is no lie—Angeline Potter is the worst fucking lay I’ve ever had in my life.
I regretted it from the moment it started, and our encounter did not end well.
I regret it … God, I regret it even more now.
I’d like to scrub every inch of my fucking body, actually. ”
I curled my hands into his tuxedo jacket. “It’s not your fault. You weren’t to know.”
“The thought of her hurting you … of anyone hurting you … I want to kill her. First, I want to shower, though. With scalding water.”
Running a soothing hand down his back, I whispered, “Or … you could let me wipe away the memory of her.”
Before he could respond, I reached for his mouth.
Theo groaned, the sound somehow as emotional as it was sexual. He kissed me back with so much feeling.
I loved the taste of him, the way he kissed, like I was oxygen to him. I sucked his tongue hard and he shuddered, his rumble of pleasure making me shiver in turn. Possessiveness filled me. I really did want to wipe every last thought of her from him. To make him mine and only mine.
His hands grabbed at my waist, the touch desperate. “I can’t wait.” Theo broke the kiss. “I need you. Please tell me you need me too. I feel like I haven’t been inside you in decades.”
We were in the library where anyone might walk in, and yet the thought of waiting one more second was like being asked to wait one more year.
His warm, rough hands skimmed over my outer thighs, pushing my dress up to my waist. With a growl of want, Theo curled his hands around my lace underwear and tugged, the sudden air between my legs making me tingle with desire.
My urgency hit a new level and so did his. We wanted to erase Angeline. To erase the murders. To erase everything bad and hold on to the good.
Our lips collided, biting, nipping, licking, as we both reached for the closure on his tuxedo trousers.
He took his wallet out and removed a condom, fingers fumbling a little, and then he shoved down his trousers and boxer briefs just far enough to free his cock.
My breathing increased, the fabric of my dress constricting.
My nipples chafed against the velvet, wanting to be bare.
Wanting his mouth. I wanted him everywhere.
Then suddenly Theo, sheathed and ready, gripped my legs, spread them, and thrust into me.
“Theo!” I cried out in pleasured shock, his throbbing heat overwhelming me.
He stretched me perfectly.
I’d missed this.
I’d missed this connection.
Theo grabbed the back of my thighs and I followed his lead, jumping into his arms to wrap my legs around him. It caused him to slide deeper into me and we gasped against each other’s mouths.
“Fuck, you’re so perfect, so right. This is everything. You’re everything,” he whispered harshly before kissing me hungrily.
He grunted into my mouth as he began to thrust. Hard. Our lips parted as he picked up speed, his features tight with need.
“Yes!” I cried out, my fingernails digging into his shoulders as he pounded us into the bookshelves, jostling books, gliding in and out of my snug channel, the slap of flesh against flesh spurring us toward climax.
All the time I was aware someone might walk in and find him fucking me against the shelves. It excited me beyond bearing.
His thumb pressed down on my clit and I blew apart, my cry of release triggering his.
Theo grasped my face in his hand, his thumb beneath my chin, his fingers on my cheek, holding me there.
Forcing me to look into his eyes as his hips juddered, his cock pulsing inside me with his climax.
He let out a guttural groan as I held his gaze through it.
Theo panted for breath as he rested his forehead against mine. “Phenomenal,” he whispered. “It’s always phenomenal with you.”
I smiled as he pulled back to kiss me. Soft. Tender. Then he released me, gaze searching mine. “But that wasn’t how this was supposed to go.” Gently, he lowered me to my feet, and I made a mewling noise as he pulled out.
His breath hitched as he cupped my face in both hands. “I wanted our first time together again to be …I wanted …”
Frowning, I smoothed my dress. I thought it had been phenomenal, like he said, so why did he look … regretful? “To be?”
Theo smirked self-deprecatingly. “I wanted to make love to you.”
Wonder and hope warred with fear. I bit my lip shyly. “The night is still young.”