Chapter 6 #3
The last thing he needed was for Genevieve to realize how easily she stirred his blood without even lifting a finger.
Theo held her elbow snug in the palm of his hand as he escorted her toward the front door.
As they entered the main foyer of Balderstone House, Theo bent his head until his mouth was close to Genevieve’s ear.
“The man isn’t to be trusted.”
“Of course, he’s not to be trusted,” she snapped in a hushed voice.
“But I was making headway with him. All you did was make my task more difficult, while letting Ansbach know you don’t want him near me.
Although I suppose I might be able to find a way to turn your overly protective behavior to my advantage. ”
“To your—Christ almighty, Genevieve. This isn’t a game.”
“Yes, it is a game, my lord. It’s a very deadly game, and I learned the rules at an early age.”
Flat and emotionless, her soft reply was a blow to his chest. She shouldn’t even know the rules, let alone have learned them at the age of seven.
Theo inhaled a deep breath and released it, but he didn’t try to continue their argument.
In less than ten minutes, they were seated in the carriage that bore the Rockwood family crest. The vehicle rocked forward with a small lurch, and the silence between them was fraught with tension as Theo studied her profile from where he sat opposite her, while she stared out the window.
“You’re staring, my lord. Are you trying to think of some new way to hinder my efforts to learn more about Lord Ansbach?”
“What?”
Startled by the mockery in her words, Theo’s muscles tightened as Genevieve turned her head toward him. Cynical amusement shimmered in her green eyes as she arched a delicate, perfectly shaped eyebrow at him.
“You were staring at me…again. You’ve done so all night long.”
“I apologize,” he said stiffly. Damn, he hadn’t realized he’d been watching her so closely this evening. He must have done if she’d noticed.
“For what? Staring at me or interfering with my efforts to do my job?”
Theo ignored the scornful challenge in her voice.
When he didn’t answer, Genevieve studied him for a long moment, then leaned forward.
The sensual smile touching her lips pulled Theo’s muscles taut with lust as she leaned forward to press her fingers against his mouth.
“Or perhaps you’re staring because you’re imagining how wonderful it would be to have me in your bed.
Something I confess I would enjoy very much.
“I did not interfere or attempt to prevent you from doing anything,” Theo growled, not bothering to even acknowledge her provocative words.
Eyes narrowed, he caught her wrist and pushed her hand away from him, while fighting the urge to pull her into his lap and kiss her until she was whimpering with need.
Exasperation erased her sultry expression as she threw herself back into the seat cushions.
“What do you call it when you told Lord Ansbach I would be unavailable for the rest of the week?”
“Protecting you.”
“No, that’s not what you’re doing. You’re trying to control me.” Genevieve’s eyes met his, and Theo grimaced at the accusation he saw in the green depths.
“I’m not trying to control you, Genevieve,” he sighed heavily, knowing there was some truth to her accusation. “I made a promise to Peter that I’d protect you. I swore it by the sword and blood of Angus Stewart I would keep you safe, and I’m trying to do that, but you’re not helping things.”
“I’m not—you can go to hell, Lord Selbourne,” she bit out fiercely. “I didn’t ask for your protection. Nor did I ask to be your partner.”
“The reason you have a partner is because you were almost killed several weeks ago.”
“And a true partner wouldn’t prevent me from doing my job, my lord.
You thwarted my intention of going into the East End the other night, and you were out of line this evening.
Ansbach is a suspect, and if I have the ability to learn more about the man, you need to let me do that. The man likes me.”
“The man doesn’t just like you, Genevieve. He’d bed you the instant you gave him even the slightest bit of encouragement.”
“Of course he would. But the least you could do is realize I have a good head on my shoulders and have no intention of giving myself to the man.” Genevieve’s voice was sharp with condemnation as she met Theo’s gaze.
“It’s not your intelligence I question, Genevieve. It’s the risks you take that trouble me.”
“Any risks I take are calculated ones.” Her eyes narrowed at him. “What is it you’re really worried about, my lord? Are you worried Lord Ansbach will seduce me?”
“I’m worried you might be willing to take drastic measures if you think it will gain you something.”
“Then you’re wrong. The only man I’ll allow to touch me is you, Lord Selbourne.”
The soft words floated in the space between them, and Theo swallowed hard to keep his throat from closing. There wasn’t a single note of innuendo in her voice. Her reply merely indicated her position where he was concerned.
He didn’t know whether to feel relieved that he was the only man she would allow to touch her, or be concerned that her efforts to entice and beguile him into making love to her again had begun to weaken his resolve. Leaning forward once more, Genevieve pressed her hand into his chest.
“In fact, every night when you take me home, I wonder if this will be the moment when you give way. Will this be the night you surrender and pleasure me all the way home? Because I am most definitely interested in learning how one makes love in a carriage.”
Genevieve’s candid words made him start as he met her steady gaze. Christ almighty, the woman was a witch. How the devil did she know how badly he wanted to seduce her on their way back to Chester Square every time he escorted her home?
The thought of playing with her, stroking her until he had to kiss her to silence her screams of delight had been torturing him for weeks now.
Theo stared at her for a long moment before turning his head to look out the window.
When he remained silent, Genevieve muttered an oath beneath her breath, and he jerked his attention back to her.
The woman was determined to drive him to an early grave.
“Christ almighty, I miss Peter,” he growled with frustration and a wave of unexpected grief. “If he were here, I’d have to hold him back to keep him from tanning your hide right now.”
“But he’s not, is he?” Bitterness and pain echoed in her words, and it twisted Theo’s insides.
“No. He’s not.”
Resignation lingered in his throat, choking him until it was difficult to breathe.
Head pressed into the padding of the carriage seat behind him, Theo closed his eyes.
The silence between them was colder than a wintery day, and when he darted a look at Genevieve, she was huddled in the corner of the carriage, her face turned away from him and hidden by the shadows.
“Genevieve, I’m sorry.”
“For what?” Her voice sounded small as it drifted out into the space between them.
“I know how much you miss Peter,” he said quietly as a vise wrapped around his chest.
“Do you? I thought you did, but I’m no longer sure. And I thought you of all people would understand.” Despite her dispassionate tone of voice, Theo heard the suffering threading its way through her words.
“I do, Genevieve. I do understand.”
“No, you understand nothing,” she whispered fiercely, her sorrow dark and distinct beneath her harsh words.
“Enough, Genevieve. Do not presume to think my grief is any less devastating than yours,” he exclaimed harshly.
Genevieve’s suggestion that he didn’t understand her sorrow stung.
He understood better than anyone else what Peter’s death meant to her.
To him. The instant he leaned forward to invade her space, she pressed herself back from him and deeper into the squabs of her seat.
Her retreat infuriated him all the more as the chains holding his sorrow in check broke with a vicious snap.
“Peter was my brother. Perhaps not by blood, but I loved him as if he were. He was no less dear to me than Angus or Tilly are. You have no idea how many times I’ve wished it had been me, and not Peter, who’d been in that dark alley that night.
So do not sit there and pass judgement on me because of the circumstances of my birth.
I would have given my life for Peter, and for you to even suggest that my sorrow isn’t as crushing as yours is an insult to me and to Peter’s memory. ”
Green eyes wide with shock, Genevieve stared at him in stunned horror at his razor-sharp condemnation.
Consumed by the darkness he’d kept buried inside him for months, Theo tried to rein in his anger, guilt, and sorrow and failed.
If anything, his attempt to regain control only increased his fury that she’d thought to claim she was the sole person overwhelmed with grief.
“I…I didn’t—”