Chapter 26 #2
“Jacob,” he called out the door, “could you bring them in, please?”
A moment later, Jacob, now Sarah’s husband, walked into the parlor holding a rather impressive stack of invitations.
Ellen’s heart fluttered with relief as she saw her father’s old valet.
She smiled at him fondly as he bowed to her, and he gave her a quick wink.
Sarah had told them they were married now, and Ellen felt nothing but happiness and relief that the two were as far away from Benedict as she was.
“Madalene, could you please be so kind as to respond to these?” Laurence asked as Jacob held the invitations out to her. “I am afraid with my schedule I do not have the time to do so. Now that I am expected to have my evenings free, I must get as much done during the day as possible.”
“Of course, brother,” Madalene said readily, her eyes alight with excitement as she took the stack of invitations. “I shall see to it right now. Unless there is anything else?”
Laurence’s gaze flitted to Ellen for the briefest of seconds before he shook his head.
“No,” he stated. “There is nothing else.”
Madalene turned to Ellen.
“Would you be terribly disappointed if I left to tend to this?” she asked.
Ellen feigned a smile.
“Not at all. See you at dinner?”
Madalene’s answering smile was positively brilliant.
“Of course. Ta-ta you two!” she said happily, wiggling her fingers in goodbye before she dashed out of the room. Jacob followed her in a far more resigned fashion.
A thick cloud of silent tension settled into the room as Laurence and Ellen were left alone. She looked up at him expectantly, but his gaze was caught on the floor.
“Well,” he said after a long moment, “I suppose I should allow you to get on with your day.”
He moved to take a step toward the doorway, but unable to stay still any longer, Ellen rushed toward him, wrapping her hand around his arm.
As her fingers dug into the fabric of his jacket, she felt his muscles tense beneath, and a flash of their last moment together arose in her mind.
Her grip tight around his muscled forearms, her head thrown back in ecstasy, their moans of pleasure ringing throughout his study.
She let go of him as if he’d burned her, a deep crimson blush blooming into her cheeks.
“Wait, please,” she implored quietly.
Laurence’s gaze remained on the floor for a moment longer before it slowly drew up to her face. A flash of longing sparked in his green pools before they settled back into their usual sternness.
“Is there something you need, Ellen?”
His tone was not exactly cold, but it was numb, and she flinched at it.
“You said you would not ignore me anymore,” she replied, and hated how childish she sounded. Like a child whimpering for a toy that had been taken away.
“I am not ignoring you,” he replied coolly.
Annoyance flared through her.
“Avoiding me, then,” she retorted. “Because you are avoiding me. I thought we had an understanding?”
Laurence’s jaw tensed, but he said nothing.
She wondered then how often he locked such a chiseled jaw, and how much more pressure his teeth could take before he’d grind them to dust. It was more often than not she caught that little nerve below his right ear twitching away, and she wondered when that tether would snap too.
“I do not love you, Ellen,” he said quietly.
He had said it before, and she’d felt nothing. In fact, she had laughed at him. Now though, a wave of unwelcome hurt passed through her.
“I am well aware,” she answered, trying to sound nonchalant, “and I do not love you. However, you must admit, something is forming between us.”
His eyes were dilated and full of hunger as he finally looked at her, sending a shiver of anticipation down her spine.
“It is called lust, and it is dangerous,” he gritted out. He shook his head, and his nostrils flared, as if he were a wolf scenting his prey in the air. “What happened last time was…”
He shook his head, as if he did not want to say the word.
“Dangerous,” he finally punched out. “I have never lost myself with a woman the way I lost myself with you. The things I did. The things I still want to do to you. They are monstrous. And after everything you have already gone through with Benedict—”
“You are not Benedict,” she said, cutting him off.
She reached for him, not giving him a second thought, and captured his jaw as she stepped closer to him. There was a sudden rage seething through her blood. She did not know why it was there or where it came from, but it was so hot it could not be ignored.
“Do you hear me?” she demanded, staring deep into his eyes. “You are nothing like that man.”
Something softened in Laurence’s gaze. Guilt? Fear?
“Not yet,” he rasped, slowly bringing his hand up to wrap around hers. “But you bring something out in me. Something that terrifies me.”
He pulled her hand away, brushing his lips across the heel of her palm as he did so, and sent sparks flying through her veins.
“You deserve gentleness. Sweetness,” he continued, his deep voice raw with ache. “And every moment we spend together, I find myself pulling further away from those things and drawing more toward something more untamed.”
Lightning forked through Ellen’s veins, sending volts of dark desire licking down to harden her nipples and draw wetness between the apex of her thighs.
“And what if I enjoy those untamed things?” she breathed, her fingers closing around his. “If I want to receive them as much as you want to give them?”
Laurence’s pupils dilated further, eating away at the green she was starting to adore.
“Do you want to sell me?” she asked, feeling emboldened by the look in Laurence’s eyes.
He flinched, his entire body hardening to marble.
“What?” he said in disbelief.
“Teach me a lesson by giving me to another man?”
Rage sparked as some of that green in his eye returned.
“Over my dead body,” he growled, his tone feral.
Oh. She liked that response. She liked it very much. The idea that he would not let any other man—not just Benedict—touch her.
“Do you want to slap me? Hear my cries of pain instead of pleasure?” she asked.
A battle was forming in Laurence’s mind at the question. She should have been scared then. Instead, she was only intrigued.
“Well?” she pressed.
Laurence’s gaze dipped to her throat.
“What if I want both?” he rasped, his other hand drawing up to her throat, his fingers lacing around it like a collar.
He squeezed, slightly. A moan poured from Ellen’s parted lips as she felt the threatening pressure. Her lashes fluttered as his thumb smoothed just under her chin and forced her head to tip back just a little further.
Laurence dipped his head and inhaled deeply as he slowly traced the tip of his nose up the column of her throat.
“What if I want to find that wicked place between pleasure and pain and keep you there until you forget anything else exists?” he growled softly.
Need coursed through Ellen’s veins at his words. Her entire body suddenly felt slaked with liquid heat as she imagined what sort of things he’d do to accomplish such tasks.
“And what if I want that too?” she whispered, feeling heat roiling from Laurence’s taut muscles in waves.
A vicious snarl ripped from Laurence’s throat, and suddenly his hold- and his warmth was gone.
Ellen’s lashes flew up as she wrapped a hand around her throat, and saw that Laurence had somehow made it to the open doorway in the single second it took to open her eyes.
He looked like a man tortured as he heaved in deep breaths.
“You have no idea what you are asking, Ellen,” he struggled to say. “And I strongly suggest you do not talk of such things again.”
She stared at him with widened eyes, her body on fire and her mind a mess.
“This marriage is to protect you. Nothing else,” he stated, his deep voice sharp with command. “We will not be taking any more liberties. From now on, you have one task, one task alone. Help me put Benedict in prison where he belongs.”
She frowned at him, feeling embarrassed and hurt and still on the edge of arousal.
“And after we accomplish that?” she asked. “What becomes of me then?”
Something dark and tortured passed through Laurence’s eyes before he looked out into the hall and scowled. Without a word, he gripped the doorframe and pushed himself forward. It was as if part of him was willing him to stay, but still he left.