The Secret Wallflower Society - Jillian Eaton Page 0,55

believe all of your expenses were being paid for out of sheer generosity?” he asked, genuinely curious of the answer. He wanted to know how that clever mind of hers worked. How the gears spun and whirled. How she rationalized giving nothing and receiving everything.

“No,” she bit out. “I knew there would be a price to pay. I just never imagined I’d be paying it to you.” The corners of her mouth pinched. “What do you want, Stephen? Besides gloating, of course. Which is a little beneath a man of your station, don’t you think?” She tapped her finger against her chin. “Then again, it is you we’re talking about.”

Impertinent wench. Even in defeat, she refused to show any humility. And he had defeated her, whether she was ready to admit it or not. If this were a game of chess, he’d have her king pinned with nowhere to turn. But even with her back against the wall, she wasn’t ready to surrender. A trait he found both infuriating…and admirable.

“I am not gloating,” he growled.

“Aren’t you?” A russet brow, several shades darker than her fiery hair, arched upwards. “That is why you’ve come here, isn’t it? To rub my nose in the fact that you’re the one who has been keeping the roof over my head these past two years. And to…what?” Her head canted. “Demand I beg you on my knees for it to remain there?”

Desire struck him like a punch to the gut as he imagined her dropping to the ground in front of him, her plump lips right at the perfect height to–

No.

His knuckles gleamed white as he gripped the top of the chair. He was not going to allow himself to venture down that road again. Helena was his enemy. She’d hurt him, embarrassed him, and broken his heart. Which was why he should not have been imagining her on her knees, her nails digging into his buttocks as her mouth slid eagerly over his–

Bloody hell.

What the devil was wrong with him?

It’s her fault, he thought, jaw clenching as he glared at her. Helena was a goddamned temptress, and if he wasn’t careful, he was going to find himself snared in her web all over again. Except he was no longer the same naïve idiot who had fallen for a titian-haired goddess in the moonlight, and she certainly wasn’t the wide-eyed innocent she had pretended to be.

“While the idea of you on your knees has merit, that’s not why I’m here.” Abandoning the chair, he advanced on her with the long, silent strides of a large cat.

She held her ground but couldn’t quite hide the small flicker of alarm when he put his hands on either side of the windowsill, effectively pinning her between his body and the glass.

“You have a debt to pay, lamb. And I’ve come to collect it.”

Chapter Six

Every instinct Helena possessed was screaming at her to duck under Stephen’s arm and flee as far and as fast as she could. That would be the wisest course of action. Some might say the only course of action, given the cards she held. Which was to say, no cards at all.

If Stephen’s goal in all this had been to humiliate her, he’d done a bang-up job. Not that she would ever admit as much. But even worse than the humiliation was how he had managed to pin her a corner from which she saw no easy way out. And for that she hated him. She despised him. But she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of admitting defeat.

And she would never give up without a fight.

“I do not owe anyone anything, least of all you.” She angled her head. “I don’t know what you are doing here or what you think to gain with this little benefactor charade, but I suggest you do us both a favor and go crawl back into whatever swamp you came out of.”

“Oh, lamb.” Chuckling darkly, he reached out and tucked a curl behind her ear. “If I did that, who would pay for your allowance? Your rent? The clothes on your back and the food on your table?”

“While your concern is touching,” she gritted, “what I do is none of your concern. So kindly take your money and bugger off.”

Stephen grunted and stumbled back when she closed her hand into a fist and drove it into the middle of his stomach. Taking advantage of his temporary imbalance, she darted away from the window. But instead of running to the