Chapter 10 #2
Opening his mouth, Will tried to say something, but the words died in a harsh growl. “Damn it, Lena.” His gaze skittered away. He pushed her firmly away and sat back, arms spread over the back of the daybed. “Learnin’ how to do what I’m here for. That’s what interests me.”
Just like that, she’d lost him. Confusion and frustration yawned like a gaping pit within her. Unfulfilled need. She’d never had any trouble wrapping men around her fingers, but Will constantly defied her.
She could barely breathe. Gave it one last attempt. “Of course, as with the throat, a covered wrist has different meanings also.” Gesturing to her gloves on the table. “You’ll notice I wear full-length for evening or gloves that cover my wrists quite decently.”
“As you should,” he muttered.
She shot him a glance, but his expression was flat, unreadable. He leaned his elbows on his knees and glared stonily at her.
“A lady wearing half gloves is another matter. It bares the wrist to a blue blood’s lips. A sure sign that she’s available, perhaps even a little fast.”
“And bare wrists?”
“Never. Only a patron sees a woman with bare wrists. It’s considered highly personal.”
“Yet you ain’t wearin’ them now.”
“You said yourself you’re not interested in my blood.”
His expression darkened. Lena leaned against the back of the daybed, her fingers toying with his sleeve. “You might be more interested in the distinction between blood rights and rights of the flesh,” she murmured.
The muscles in his arm coiled. “What’s that mean?”
“A woman offers her blood rights to her patron when she becomes his thrall in exchange for protection and provision. Her flesh rights are another matter. That’s one of the mistakes the middle class makes. They assume a patron may take his thrall to bed as well as drink from her body.”
Will’s gaze shot to hers.
“Not unless she agrees,” she added softly, knowing she was treading dangerous ground. “Her flesh rights are hers to give freely. Perhaps this is more to your area of interest?” Leaning closer, she licked her lips, watched his gaze drop to them. “Do you crave flesh, Will?”
“Are you offerin’ it?” His voice was harsh. “Cause we’ve a word for that, where I come from.” Jerking away from her, he found his feet as if hunted.
“You’re confusing the two,” she replied. “Flesh rights are given freely. For nothing more than the cost of pleasure.”
Hot color burnished Will’s cheeks. He shoved his hands into his pockets. “And how does a patron know if they’re bein’ offered?”
Lena arched a brow. Stroked her finger across the smooth arch of her collarbone. “He finds her naked in his bed.”
The bold statement drew a hiss from him. For a moment she was wondering if he pictured it. The way she was. The thought sent a thrill through her.
“It’s not generally spoken of,” Lena continued, “but as well as lessons in etiquette and sewing and music, a young woman is often…given hints…in how to please a man, should she decide to offer him her flesh rights.”
Not that she’d learned much before her father was murdered and she was dragged to Whitechapel. But he didn’t need to know that.
His eyes narrowed. “I’m fairly sure you shouldn’t be speakin’ o’ this with a man who ain’t your patron.”
“True.” Another shrug, displaying the smooth creamy skin of her shoulder. “I’m just teasing.”
“More games,” he said in disgust. Hands clasped behind him, he paced the small rug in front of her. “Perhaps you need a lesson in what a man’d do in my world, were a women so bold with him.”
“You wouldn’t dare.” It was a statement, not a challenge. She knew how far she could push him. Knew he’d back away the moment she turned the game sexual.
Will turned around. Met her gaze. “Wouldn’t I?”
He leaned forward, resting his knuckles on either side of her hips.
One knee pressed between her legs, parting her thighs and pinning her skirts.
Lena froze as he reached out and captured a lock of the dark hair that tumbled over her shoulder.
“All these games you play… I wonder what you’d do if I played ’em back? ”
Excitement raced through her veins. He’d never flirted back before. “Don’t tell me I’m getting under your skin?” she whispered.
“On me nerves, more like it.” His fingers gently rubbed her hair. Then sank into the pile of curls prettily knotted at the base of her nape. It drew a gasp from her lips as he tilted her face toward his. Their breath mingled. Uncomfortably close.
And Lena was aware that she was pinned, trapped neatly beneath him. Catching a handful of his shirt, she stared up at him. His gaze was hard, almost cruel. Suddenly she didn’t like this game anymore.
“Let me go,” she whispered.
“Why? Ain’t this what you want? Me hands on your body? Ain’t that what you been playin’ at this last hour? Or have I pushed the boundaries? Either say what you mean, Lena. Or I’ll take this little game of yours where you don’t mean to take it.”
One word. Yes. One word and he’d do it. But as she met the steely look in those extraordinary eyes, she realized he wasn’t playing. When had this become more than a game? More than a light flirtation?
I’ll stake a hundred pounds that you’re wrong, Adele’s voice whispered in her head. That he’ll kiss you next time.
Yes? Or no? Lena’s heart hammered in her chest. She’d kissed him once. A game, nothing more. But his message now was very clear. Will wouldn’t stand for any more games. And a part of her was afraid to play for real.
She wasn’t that brave. Because if it meant nothing to him, if he used her and then discarded her without a care, she suddenly realized that it would matter. To her.
“No,” she whispered.
Will’s gaze shuttered. “No more of this then. I’ve had enough games. Enough of these lessons for the day. Most of it’s useless anyway.” He let her go and straightened.
That drew her ire. She still felt shaky, surreal. As if the world had turned on its axis and she couldn’t quite keep up. “It’s not useless. I’m trying to help you, yet you don’t give a damn about anything I’m saying.”
“The Echelon ain’t gonna accept me anyway. They want a beast, and I’ll give ’em one.” A derisive look as he unrolled his sleeves.
Lena struggled to sit up. Her skirts were awry.
So too her emotions. Will had taken their little game and turned it on its head.
He’d never dared respond before. Years of pricking at him, needling him whilst he ignored her…
She’d thought that was the worst he could do—to pretend she didn’t exist—but it wasn’t.
The worst thing he could do was play back, to utterly destroy her defenses and then stand here unrolling his sleeves as though the moment hadn’t bothered him half as much as her.
“Then there’s no point to these lessons,” she found herself saying. Amazing how her voice barely trembled.
Will froze, halfway through one sleeve.
“No point,” she whispered, “and therefore no reason for you to continue coming here. Or escorting me in society.”
She could see the thought churning in his eyes. “No,” he said gruffly. “No. I’ll continue with it.”
“Why should I waste my time?” She managed to gather herself to her feet, resettling her skirts and smoothing her bodice. A swift glance in the mirror showed her hair tumbling free of its pins. She fixed them ruthlessly, feeling his eyes on her.
Her skin pricked. Damn him.
“You won’t listen to anything I say, you deride all of the rules of society and mock my efforts,” she continued, trying to ignore the feeling.
Her skin still felt too small, itchy. “Do you know the worst thing, Will? The worst thing is that they see you as a beast and you let them.” She turned then, met his gaze.
“You do everything in your power to live up to the image, the reputation, and then you scorn them for sneering down at you.”
Heat flared in his gaze. He took a step toward her. “That reputation might be all as keeps us safe,” he snarled. “Besides, I’m verwulfen. They ain’t ever gonna see me as anythin’ else.”
“And neither will you!”
The outburst shocked both of them. Lena let out her breath, staring at him defiantly.
“You call yourself a beast, Will, because you believe it. A part of you thinks you’re nothing better than what they claim.
” Taking a shuddery breath, she continued.
“You’re fighting me at every step of these lessons because you hate the Echelon, but I’m not only trying to help you learn to fit in, I’m trying to show you another way to live. ”
Silence quivered in the air between them. Will stared at her in shock, instead of anger. Encouraged, Lena took a step toward him.
“Take my lessons,” she whispered. “Use them to be who you want to be. Force the Echelon to look you in the eye. Dare them to treat you as a man. A dangerous man, if need be, but not…not an animal.”
He looked away, as if the truth of her words had struck him a blow. Then his eyes narrowed. “And what of you?”
“What of me?”
“How will you treat me?”
Lena shook her head, her mouth working silently. “I’m not quite sure I—”
His expression hardened. “You know what they’ll say.
What they’ll think when they see you with me.
Will you play along? Will you laugh behind your hand with ’em, to assure your own place in their world ain’t at risk?
Or will you risk their censure? Risk everythin’ to prove the worth of your words?
For there’ll be a cost to this, you mark me words. And you’ll be the one as pays it.”
She stared up at him, the nearness of his body unnerving her. Not once had she thought of the cost to herself of squiring him about. To be seen with him, with a verwulfen, was tantamount to social suicide.