“Freedom,” Caroline bit out. “From my stepmother. From an unwanted marriage toyou.”
She all but spat the last word out as she ducked under his arm and kept walking.
“I have made a new life for myself here, and I am not going back,” she said over her shoulder. “I quite enjoy my freedom.” She paused, her curiosity getting the best of her, and asked, “How did you even find me?”
“Freedom,” Damien said with a dark chuckle, pushing his hands off the wall. “You believethisis freedom?”
He ignored her question as, with long, casual strides, Damien caught up to her, increasing Caroline’s annoyance as several of her steps only required two or three of his.
“What that man was about to do to you... Is that the cost you are willing to pay for your freedom?”
Caroline’s footsteps faltered, the fear she had felt from the encounter shivering back into her bones.
“He... He is not the first man I have had to fight off,” she muttered as her stomach twisted. “It is not as if thetonis any safer.”
She was about to take another step, but Damien’s fingers curled around her upper arm and whirled her around. Now that they were closer to the street, the dim light of the oil street lamps cast over the rigid features of his face. Rage burned in his amber eyes, nearly making them red.
“What do you mean?” Damien demanded. “Did someone hurt you?”
Caroline blinked, taken aback by his questions. Healmostsounded worried. She shook her head, banishing the thought as she wrenched her arm free from the grip.
“Do not act as if you care about me,” she snapped, taking another step away from him. “We have been around one another for years, yet you have barely spoken to me. All you do is stare at me from afar, making me feel like a mouse being hunted by a lion. What does a lion want from a mouse other than to devour it?”
Another deep chuckle rumbled from Damien’s chest as he once more fell into step with her.
“Careful, little mouse, you speak of things you do not know,” he warned.
She scoffed, her annoyance turning to rage at how he seemed to find her refusal comical.
“Then tell me,Your Grace,”she taunted, feeling strangely bold with him by her side. “Why would you care to go to such lengths for me? If Lilian was at the altar for you, why not take her as your bride instead?”
“Lilian is not my responsibility,” Damien replied.
“And I am?” Caroline quipped.
“You are the first cousin of my friends. It is my duty to extend my protection to you just as much as I do to them,” Damien replied.
Caroline froze, heat prickling at the back of her neck. Slowly, she turned to look at him as they stood out in the quiet street.
“What would I need your protection for?” she asked carefully.
No one, not even Elara, knew what her life inside her house had turned into.
“I may not have spoken in the past, but that does not mean I did not see you,” Damien stated, capturing her chin as he took a step closer.
She bucked out of his touch, and again to her surprise, Damien let her.
“You have changed since your father died. Slowly. Subtly. But youhavechanged. I knew something was wrong inside that house, and I decided that if your cousins were not going to do anything about it, then I was.”
Discomfort quivered through her chest as she realized just how closely Damien had been watching her.
“Do not use my cousins to justify your actions,” she whispered hoarsely, walking away from him. “They do not know. Besides, I do not need their protection, and I certainly do not need yours.”
She turned, ready to lift up her skirts and flee, but something caught her foot less than two steps later, causing her to stumble forward. She extended her hands, bracing for the pain and embarrassment of tripping in front of him—when his thick,muscular arm wrapped around her waist, fitting snugly beneath her ribcage, and she was pulled backward in an instant. She felt the air rush out of her lungs as her back struck his chiseled, warm chest, and his muscular arm held her tight.
“Clearly you do,” Damien murmured against her ear.
A shuddered breath left Caroline’s lips as her mind and body clashed. One side urged her to run and be afraid of the man holding her. The other reveled in his touch, sinking into the warmth and strength of a grip she had never felt before. She had hugged Elara. Occasionally, she had hugged Adrian, too. But not like this. Not with their bodies pressed so tightly that their heartbeats matched.
