Lord Kahoth took a single step back, opening up enough space for her to climb to the floor. The move would take her closer to freedom, but it would also put her level with his nipples, and far too close to his chest. Neither of those things would do, so she stayed put and ignored his meager retreat.
“Who do you think you are?”
His lips quivered, and she grunted.
Aristocrats! So pretentious.“I spend the majority of my time with the prince and princess, attempting to coach them to learn some semblance of control. I amalwaysavailable should they—my charges—need me. My days are busy, I have little free time for reading, or other such pastimes. And when Idofind something I enjoy, you’re there looming over me! You are not myfather, Lord Kahoth! What right do you have—do youthinkyou have to—” Rage boiled in her, bumping and bouncing her mind, making her stumble over words.
He stared at her, somehow looking utterly gormless, which made her want to grab him by the shoulders and give him a good shake.
“What right do you think you have to dictate who I spend my free time with?!”
“Miss Kiap—”
“Oh, I see you found your words. You dimwitted, foolish, asinine—”
“Let me speak.” The duke’s voice crashed through her, fiercerthan the thunderstorm a few nights before.
It took everything in her to hold back a yelp.
ten
Kas walks through a hedge maze.
KaspinnedNesrinawitha focused stare while he parsed through his racing thoughts. He’d demanded to speak, and she’d unexpectedly listened. She stood atop his chaise lounge, a volcano waiting to explode, and he had no idea where to begin. The moment he heard her angry footsteps approaching his office, he knew she’d learned about the guard. But she didn’t understand his reasons and was full of misplaced rage.
“MissKiappa,” he began, forcing some explanation forth; anger at that lecherous guard, envy that it hadn’t been him she preferred flowed through his system, fueling his ire. “I’m well aware I’mnotyour employer. But you’re a guest in myhome. You’reunder the employ of my sister, who, I don’t think I need to remind you, is theQueenof Selwas.”
She scowled, affixing her hands to her hips. It was a wonder steam wasn’t escaping the top of her curly head.
Three times, she knocked on his office door. He couldn’t have ignored her longer? Kas had stood like a ninny on the far side of the room, frozen behind his desk, the breath sitting stale in his lungs while she knocked and knocked, then stomped into the library and climbed on the chaise. When she shouted his name through the vent—his full name—in that delicious accent of hers, he’d dashed around the desk and came running like one of his hounds. He wished he hadn’t.
He had to listen to her say she washappywith that cad of a soldier. Hehad to hear her reasonable, though harshly delivered, explanation on why he had no right to involve himself in her life.
Frankly, he disagreed with both sentiments, but that didn’t stop him from bungling things again when he could have stayed safe in his study. She wasn’t understanding his motives. He tried again, “You’repartially responsible for the well-being of my niece and nephew. I recognize I’mnotyour bloody father,thank the gods, but I am responsible for—”
“What of mybloodyfather?” she spat.
Shit.
“Howdareyou speak of my late papa in such a way?” Her eyes burned fiercely, and he knew he’d done it again.
Tossing his hands up in defeat, Kas inadvertently blasted her with a wave of cold air that whipped her hair back and pressed the fabric of her dress against her shapely thighs. “That’s not what I meant.”
He’d grown tired of the way the guard followed her into the gardens each afternoon, and he’d grown repulsed when he saw the man spending time with another woman. Kas even assigned Sarma to odd locations on the property, putting him with the twins now and again to make good on his promise to Ehmet. But he never once put him on guard whilst Nesrina was with the children. And still, they managed to find one another daily.
He had swallowed his envy day in and day out, fighting off apoplexy each time they came out from beneath that blasted willow tree, until that idiotic man gave him a reason to act. When the guard had the gall to press Miss Kiappa against the rough stone wall ofhishouse, directly outsidehisstudy, Kas nearly ground his molars right out of his mouth. Then Sarma began pawing at her, and that was the last straw. Kas knew predatory behavior when he saw it, and that man could not stay on his property.
“Oh, and how did you mean it? I’m not some objectto be passed around from father to king toduke,” she spat his title out and stomped on the cushion. “I am not a child. I’m a free woman bound tono man,at the moment.And now—” her voice faltered, and she swallowed, setting her sights on something past his shoulder.
Does shelovethat poor excuse for a soldier?The man had no honor, no empathy. Rage and envy roiled Kas’s gut.
“Now what?” he taunted, distantly aware that his foot was launching toward his mouth. “I sent away your little plaything, your littledistraction,and you no longer want to remain a Guest of the King, tutor to the prince and princess?” His wind continued to whip around, despite his efforts to pull it away. He was too riled up. It tugged loose every last strand of Nesrina’s already-failing braid, and childishly, he hoped that would irk her further. How could she possibly be choosing that baby-faced weasel over—
“Howdareyou imply Rihan was a plaything to me!” Her hand lifted like she was about to jab him in the chest before she smashed it back to her hip. “What right do you have to pass judgment on me? Do you think I flit around from man to man taking what I want? Howdareyou imply I’d choose to leave my job for a relationship!”
Her ire was rather fear-inducing, and Kas found himself stepping back. It was the wrong move, sending her nostrils flaring and tension skittering up his back.
He’d sent Sarma away before nightfall, lying about a summons from King Hethtar. While the guard hadn’t openly balked at the thinly veiled dismissal, Kas was fairly certain he knew there’d been no such missive from the capital. When the soldier was gone from his estate, he hastily penned a note to Hevva—sent by bird to ensure a swift delivery. In it, he informed her she needed to cover for him and tell the guard he’d been recalled for duties related to hosting the Domossan delegation. He begged her to get Ehmet on board too.
