“Yes!” His upper lip curled up in a snarl.
They stared at each other, their breathing uneven.
“What do you want from me? What can I do to convince you to stop?” she asked. “Name your price.”
He didn’t answer.
She took a step closer, desperate to cause a reaction from him. Anything. Even anger would be better than his coldness. “I’m ready to give you anything you want to make you stop.”
“What? Money? I don’t need it.” Deep lines appeared on his brow.
“There must be something. You’ve always liked me,” she added in a clumsy attempt to remind him he’d wanted to marry her. He was supposed to listen to the woman who would be his wife.
Perhaps she wasn’t so different from her father. She was using his feelings towards her to get something in return.
His frown deepened. “Yes, but what does that have to do with anything?”
“Well…” She tried not to lose her composure as she racked her brain for words. “Surely, you can think of something you would be happy for me to do for you.” She winced inwardly. That sounded as convoluted as her messy thoughts.
“I want to marry you. You know that.”
She straightened but hesitated before talking. “Then you can have me.”
The offer had slipped out of her mouth before she could think it through. It came out wrong like everything else she’d tried to say in the last five minutes. Although why not? He’d shown interest in her. He’d wanted to marry her. If she could use that to save her family, she would.
Finally, his cold mask cracked, and emotions slipped through. His sapphire eyes widened, and she could swear a light blush coloured his cheeks. Had she shocked him? She forced herself not to lower her gaze or to shiver.
“You don’t mean it,” he said, lacking his usual confidence.
“I do.” She jutted out her chin. “I would do anything to make you stop this absurd revenge on my father, and I know you have plenty of money. I don’t have much to offer aside from myself.”
He had the decency to lower his gaze for a moment.
“So here I am.” She stepped closer. “You can have me,” she said again, sounding more confident after seeing his composure crack.
A tendon in his neck ticked. “What do you mean exactly? Are you proposing a marriage?”
“No.” She didn’t hesitate in her answer. Nothing good would come from a marriage born under duress. “I propose…”
Now her confidence wavered. Her offer was born on the spur of the moment, and the details were rather blurred.
What exactly was she offering? To become his mistress? No, that wouldn’t suit her. Besides, he’d told her he didn’t want a mistress. Then what? A single night of passion? She doubted that would be enough for him. A month, perhaps, or a week.
“I’ll provide for you once I finish with your father,” he said with shocking honesty when she didn’t add a word. “You don’t have to do this. You’ll never starve.”
“I don’t want your charity.”
“There’s nothing wrong with accepting charity. I did it.”
She should be more careful with her words. “I want you to stop torturing my father.”
He straightened, gaining a few inches of menace. She had never negotiated a deal, and she was competing with a honed businessman in a field where negotiation skills were everything. Great plan so far.
“No marriage, so you want to be my mistress.” He looked puzzled.
That made two of them.
“No.” She wrung her hands but stopped quickly; the gesture would make her look weak.
