‘It still is. I may have made it difficult for you to refuse to honour the forfeit, but I did not believe you would be so petty or mean spirited as to retaliate and sell a property that is still viable merely to punish me.’
‘And if I had told you I meant to sell it, would you really have backed down?’
‘Of course I would. Without Larkhill there was no point in any of it.’
Relinquishing his perch Julius stood up and moved closer, a cynical twist curling his lips. ‘You never fail to amaze me, Beatrice. You are the only woman who has not been drawn to me by my title or my gold. All you care about is that damned house. Well, all your scheming has come to nothing. No matter how much money it brings in every year from the rents and the land, the sooner it’s out of our lives the better. The mistake is yours. Accept it. There is no going back so you will have to learn to live with the consequences of your actions—however painful that will be.’
Beatrice looked at him for a long time and then she nodded slightly. ‘Yes—yes, you’re right, Julius. The mistake is mine.’ Without another word she turned from him and went to the door.
‘Where are you going?’
‘To have a bath and a change of clothes.’
Julius’s strong mouth began to smile. It turned into an audacious grin, his temper replaced by something else. ‘That’s the first sensible thing you’ve said since coming home. It will be my pleasure to get you out of those clothes.’
Chapter Eight
Beatrice spun round, shocked by the implication of his words and that he expected her to tumble into bed with him after all the hurtful things he had said to her. ‘Shame on you, Julius,’ she retorted, her cheeks aflame. ‘I have not been in the house two minutes and already you are thinking of…’
His black brows crept upwards and with a defiant look he sauntered towards her with the predatory grace of a panther. When he spoke his voice was silky smooth. ‘What, Beatrice? Of what am I thinking?’
‘Of—of bedding me after all you have just said… Can you not think of anything else?’ Her heart was pounding with wild confusion and she was flustered now he was so close.
She was determined to deny him, but inside her that treacherous spark ignited. Trying to deny her attraction to him was useless. There was a churning sensation in her stomach, like the fluttering wings of a captive butterfly, and a mounting heat swept through her and her body began to stir.
Julius chuckled softly, wondering why, from the very first, she’d had the power to attract him—wondering why he felt this consuming, unquenchable need now to possess and gentle her without breaking her spirit.
Placing a finger beneath her chin, he tilted her face to his. ‘I’m afraid not, my love. But then after an absence of four months and relatively a new bridegroom, it is not unusual.’
She swallowed and quivered when his finger ran over the curve of her cheek, knowing that in no time at all she would lose her ability to resist him. ‘Please allow me to leave, Julius.’
‘I will,’ he breathed, his whisper fraught with wicked seduction, ‘in a moment.’ He bent his head to kiss the place where his finger had been before, teasing her senses into a wild awakening for him. Beatrice closed her eyes, unable to move. ‘I know you want me.’ Taking her arms, he drew her against the solid wall of his chest. ‘I intend to see if I can still make you respond to me as you did before I left your bed on our wedding night.’
‘Please don’t,’ she gasped, turning her head aside, drowning in humiliation at the brutal reminder of how wantonly she had behaved then.
By the time his lips caressed her earlobe, she was overcome with the need for his kiss. Unable to stop herself, with a low moan she turned her face to his and offered him her mouth. He claimed it immediately and she revelled in his embrace, despite her earlier determination not to let this happen. Ending the kiss, he held her fevered stare before lowering his head to her breast. She watched in hazy silence as he gathered her waist in his hands and gently kissed her breast through her gown, his warm breath permeating the fabric. Her heart slammed into her