Beauty Tempts the Beast (Sins for All Seasons #6) - Lorraine Heath Page 0,77
where she went. He was not to be involved in so much of her life. He was not to make it difficult for her to walk away from this residence without looking back, without misgivings.
He didn’t join them for dinner.
Nor was he in the library when she arrived at ten. She poured her own sherry and a glass of scotch for him. But his remained untouched.
Why had he not told her he wouldn’t be available that evening? Where the devil was he? What was he doing?
Perhaps he’d gotten lost in his writing. She certainly never liked to leave a letter unfinished. Maybe he felt the same about a scene or a chapter.
When the clock struck eleven, she went to his study and knocked. No answer. She opened the door. No Benedict.
Some urgent matter must have arisen that required his undivided attention. Surely, he would explain himself on the morrow.
Only he was as noticeably absent, not joining them for any of the meals. Jewel assured her that he’d slept in the residence but had left that morning to attend to some matters.
But that evening, once again, he didn’t join her in the library. She was beginning to suspect he was never going to join her, that he was making himself scarce for a reason, and the reason was her.
The following morning, she was in the library when she heard his heavy footsteps on the stairs and the closing of the door to his study. But he failed to join them for the midday meal. If his behavior of the past couple of days wasn’t avoidance, she didn’t know what was. And she wasn’t having it.
She didn’t bother knocking. She simply opened the door to his study and strode in.
Wearing only shirtsleeves and trousers, he was standing at the window, arms raised, hands braced on either side of the window casing, reminding her of the stance of a prisoner chained to a wall in a dungeon that she’d seen depicted somewhere.
Lowering one arm, he glanced back at her without fully turning. “I’m not to be disturbed when I’m working unless fire or blood is involved. Which is it?”
Well, he was in a right mood, which suited her just fine because so was she.
“What work are you engaged in? Holding up a wall?”
With a huge sigh, he faced her and flung his hand toward his desk. “I’m trying to write.”
“I would think you’d have more success if you were dipping your pen into the inkwell.”
His eyes darkened with heat. He squeezed them shut, opened them. “You don’t understand the process. What do you want?”
She marched over until she was halfway between him and the door. “The lessons we agreed to, the ones you promised.”
He couldn’t have looked more stunned or irritated if she’d smacked him. “Speaking of lessons, aren’t you supposed to be teaching the ladies at this moment?”
“I’ve given them the afternoon off.”
“Why the bloody hell would you do that?”
“Because I think you’re avoiding me. You’re not joining us for meals and for two nights now, you failed to join me in the library at our agreed-upon time for a lesson.”
“I have work to do.”
“I think it’s more than that.” Was afraid it was more than that. “When you kissed me, you said it wasn’t a bloody lesson. The other night in the carriage, what happened, you said it wasn’t a bloody lesson. I don’t think you ever intended to give me any lessons. I think that’s the reason you had the agreement state that you’d pay a thousand pounds if I determined you hadn’t upheld your end of the bargain. You planned to take only what you needed from me without giving me what I needed from you.”
“That’s not true.”
“Then when are you going to give me a proper lesson?”
His hands fisted at his sides, and she didn’t want to think about the power he could unleash. A muscle ticked in his jaw. His eyes were fairly smoldering. “You want a bloody lesson?”
“It’s what we agreed to.”
“Close and lock the door.”
Those words effectively doused her irritation with him. “Pardon?”
“Like you, Jewel is wont to barge in. The last thing you’re going to want is to be interrupted. Lock the door.”
She licked her lips. “You’re going to give me a proper lesson now?”
He didn’t respond with words, but the answer was evident in his intense focus, and she wondered if he’d looked at her like that in the carriage after they’d left Aiden’s club. She might have burst into flames if she’d