like that, I cannot help but fear that—”
“That I’d do something foolish?” she snapped. “Yes, you’ve made that perfectly clear. Quite obviously, I cannot be trusted to act like a reasonable adult.” This time, she was the one to take a step toward him and her right hand flew up, her forefinger pointed at him accusingly. “Yes, I take risks, but I do so willingly, not because I don’t see them. I’m not blind. Everything I do is part of a well thought out plan. Yes, sometimes things go wrong, and then I need to improvise. But I’m not a fool.”
“I never said you were!”
“But you implied it!” Furious, she jabbed her finger into his chest. “You’ve been implying it ever since we first met. Yes, I’m grateful that you helped me, but that doesn’t mean I’m not capable. Sometimes we all need help.” Her brows rose challengingly as she regarded him. “As do you.”
Overwhelmed by her fire, Pierce stared at her, torn between the urge to yell back at her and the deep need to kiss her senseless. “Me?”
“It was I who found Daphne that night and brought her home,” she pointed out. “If I hadn’t left the house in the middle of the night to do what I thought was right, who knows where she would have ended up? Coleridge might even have found her when he left your house. Have you ever thought of that?”
Panting, she stood before him, and Pierce had never seen her so beautiful. It wasn’t the gown or the glimmering pearls in her dark hair. It was the way she stood tall, the way she held her own and all but told him to go to hell if he could not respect her for the woman she was.
A smile tugged on the corners of his mouth. “You’re magnificent,” he mumbled, enjoying the way the angry scowl on her face all but froze and then slipped away, replaced by something he couldn’t quite grasp. “I’m sorry,” Pierce told her then. “I was wrong to suggest you weren’t capable. I never meant to. I was angry because I…” He inhaled a deep breath as her blue eyes watched him, watched him find the right words. “I was afraid that something might happen to you. Your convictions place you in danger, and…and it kills me. I cannot bear the thought of losing you.” His heart beat so fast that Pierce felt certain any moment now it would trip and fall.
A soft watchfulness lingered on her features as she regarded him like a scientist would regard a new specimen, curiosity resting in her blue eyes. “I’m afraid for you as well,” she told him then. “Has that ever occurred to you? The night you realized that it had been Coleridge who’d killed Daphne’s parents, I was terrified you would do something foolish.”
“I remember,” Pierce whispered, recalling that night in exquisite detail. “And you stopped me.”
A small smile tugged on her lips as she no doubt remembered how she’d gone about stopping him. “I did.”
“Then why am I not allowed to do the same for you?” Pierce asked as he moved closer, no longer able to bear the distance between them.
Her chest rose and fell with a slow breath and, for a moment, Pierce forgot what they were even speaking about. “I don’t mind you worrying about me,” she told him with a soft curl to her lips. “I don’t mind you coming to my aid. I don’t mind you stepping in my way when I’m lost in fear or anger and I can’t think straight.” Her blue eyes held his as she moved to grasp his lapels, pulling him closer. “But you cannot keep me locked away for fear something might happen.”
Pierce sighed, knowing she was right.
“No one can live like that,” she whispered. “I’m my own person, and I need you to respect me for who I am. I don’t expect you to agree with everything I say or do, but you need to accept that I can make my own decisions.” She sighed. “I thought we were in this together. You helped me with the orphanage, and I wanted to help you as well.”
His hands snaked around her waist, holding her close. “How?”
“I spoke to Coleridge,” she replied, a daring look in her eyes that only intensified when he tensed at the mention of the man’s name. Still, when he remained silent, swallowing the anger that surged in his blood, his little mouse continued. “He