Damien glowered at her for another moment, then guilt clouded his gaze, if only a little, and he looked toward the window.
“The day after he arrived, Adrian came over for our usual boxing practice,” Damien begrudgingly explained. “I had not yet hired a nurse for the boy, so I had entrusted one of the maids to look after him. I do not know how, but the boy must have gotten awayfrom her and wandered to my practice room.
“It was a rough day for Adrian. He still had not...has notfully dealt with Evander being the way he is. He was particularly aggressive that day, and we fought harder than we had in a very long time. By the time we were finished practicing, we were both worn out and covered in blood and bruises. That is when I turned around and discovered that the boy had been watching us. I do not know precisely what he saw or how long he had watched, but the moment I faced him, he let out a scream and ran away crying. He has been the way he is now ever since.”
Damien’s gaze moved back to Caroline then, his amber eyes a mask of numbness.
“That is all I know. I swear it,” he stated. “I never laid a hand on him, nor would Ieverlay a hand on a child.”
“Be that as it may,” Caroline said carefully, “what he saw must have scared him. Whatever he has been through before he came to you, he carries it with him.”
Damien’s jaw tightened.
“He is a boy,” he said flatly. “He will need to grow into a man one day. These things are not something he can afford to shy away from. On the contrary, he needs to face them. It will only make him stronger.”
“Or it will break him,” Caroline shot back, her voice rising before she could stop it. “George is only a child. You speak of hardship as though it is a gift, but a privileged man like you cannot possibly know what it is like for a boy like George, at the mercy of everyone.”
Something shifted behind Damien’s eyes, dark and quick.
“You know nothing about me,” he said quietly.
“I know what people say about you,” Caroline replied.
His eyes narrowed. “And what is it that people say about me?”
She lifted her chin. “That you are not a man who receives violence, Your Grace. You are a man who inflicts it.”
The silence that followed was suffocating. Damien moved toward her slowly, deliberately, until he was close enough that she had to tip her head back to hold his gaze.
“And is that what you are afraid of, then?” he asked, his voice dropping low. “That I will be violent with you?”
Caroline’s heart hammered, but she did not step back.
“You have a contract sitting on that desk with your signature on it,” she said, her voice steady despite everything. “You are not allowed to lay a hand on me.”
Pain crossed his face then, quieter and far more unsettling than anger. He stepped back, his expression shuttering completely as he turned toward the door.
“Where are you going?” she called after him.
“None of your business. Just see to the boy,” he coldly commanded over his shoulder. “That is what you are here for.”
Caroline stood alone in the large study for a long moment after that, trying to process all she had just seen, heard, and felt in the last couple of hours. Then, though she did not want to obey him, Caroline left the room and went on her search for George’s room, hoping to learn more about the terrified boy left on the Duke of Ravenshaw’sdoorstep.
He is the sole reason I am here, after all.
Chapter 11
“Go on, Georgie,” Caroline coaxed tenderly, “I believe in you.”
Caroline gave the boy a warm smile and an eager nod, hoping to give him the courage and sense of safety to come out of his shell just a little more. A sheepish smile played on the little one’s lips as his cherubic cheeks turned pink. For a moment, he just stood by his table and chair, swaying in slight discomfort on his feet. Then he pulled his tiny hands from behind his back and unfurled them, revealing the miniature paper dolls he had made.
“Oh my days,” Caroline said quietly, her tone laced with marvel as she looked at the tiny creations.
She leaned forward, slowly so as not to scare the child, and her smile grew as she met his big brown eyes. There was still a glint of uncertainty in his gaze, but now, there was also a look of eagerness, and maybe even pride.
“May I?” Caroline asked politely.
George nodded his little head vigorously, and though he had not worked up the courage to allow Caroline to hold him yet, andthough he still did not speak much, he took a bold step forward and offered the doll in his left hand.
