was here to be used as a toy. A walking, talking fleshlight.
She dropped her chin and tried to shake off the chill seeping through her clothes. She wanted to reprimand him for discounting her as a person. But what was the point?
She kept her hurt feelings to herself, worked her head back up where she’d vowed always to hold it, and left him standing there while she continued down the drafty corridor on her own.
THIRTEEN
Lucian watched his oversensitive pet leave him. She walked with the grace of a dancer. Her back long and straight, head high. She was a proud woman, and he was damaging that pride by keeping her at arm’s length. She wanted to mean something to him, and by not allowing her in, he was making her feel bad.
He looked down at his shoes. He understood pride. Because of that, he would appease her. He would let her know how much he…liked her. How much he liked having her with him. As Sorin had said, she was amusing. He would let her know he thought so. But he would let her wait for it because he didn’t want her thinking she would be rewarded for sulking.
He pushed off the wall and followed, taking no time to reach the reception area at the end of the hallway just outside the ballroom.
“Returning to our earlier conversation, this castle was given to me to pay a debt.” A blip of amusement poked at him when she didn’t turn from the window to acknowledge his presence. He accepted the slight because he’d upset her. She was human, and he had to allow for hurt feelings. To a point. “The owner frequented one of my casinos. When he maxed out the advance we generously allowed him, he moved onto another, and then another. Those two gambling houses also happened to be mine, and my employees were dispatched to collect what was due to us. Because the man was foolish and couldn’t pay his debt that was now six figures, he was given the option of a trade. His life for something of value. When I refused to take his only daughter, he signed over the castle.” Lucian thought of the subtle changes he’d authorized over the last while. “I have had a team refurbishing it for over eight years now. They are doing a satisfactory job, but it will not be complete for at least two more years.”
“So you would have killed the disgusting asshole for being poor?”
He joined her at the window, looking at her in the reflection rather than at the gloomy, snow-covered grounds. “I would have had him killed for using my money to feed his habit, and then not being man enough to take responsibility for his actions. The fact that he attempted to use his child as a bargaining piece was nothing but sad.”
“No kidding.”
Her lack of reaction had his focus going to her profile. “I would have had him killed if he hadn’t paid his debt,” he repeated, feeling a stirring somewhere in his gut because she wasn’t shrinking back from him over that admission.
“If I do something, own it, or you end me. Got it.”
The corner of his mouth twitched. “I would not end you.”
Her head tilted, and she gazed up at him. Her lashes were thick and long, and the two plumes feathered over her high cheeks with every blink of her dark eyes. “Right. You would roll up a newspaper and swat me on the nose until I learned my lesson. Forgot.” Her look was just shy of withering as she walked away. She waited at the tall doors of the ballroom without being rude by barging in on her own. Never would he have thought manners could be sexy.
He watched her for a moment. Would he prefer she merely stood in his vicinity, silent, waiting for him to use her? Or should he continue to allow her to voice her catty barbs and snooty comments? “Where did you pick up this caustic disposition?”
“Hunts Point. Wasn’t that detail in the report you got from your employees?”
“Do you speak with such insolence to everyone you know?”
“No, Lucian.” She flashed him a dazzling smile that was exceptionally fake. “Only you, because you’re so very special.”
Suddenly, like a portal had opened in his mind, Lucian saw his twelve-year-old self standing in the study of his home in Bucharest, his beloved father seated on the chaise lounger before him.
“Let go of this urge you have to follow