Page 62 of Unbound Duchess

Ellen’s brows furrowed in confusion.

“I could have stopped you any time,” he explained, tucking her loosened tendrils behind her ear. “I train. Solomon and I, we train for attacks such as this. I could have blocked every blow if I’d wanted to. I just did not want to stop you. I wanted you to defend yourself.”

Ellen's confusion shifted to irritation as she sat up a little straighter. She swiped at her tears and glowered at him.

“You let this happen to you?” she asked, dropping her gaze down his body.

Laurence followed, taking in the rips in his shirt, the scratches on the back of his hands and his forearms, his jacket thrown onto the back of his desk chair right before they’d started. There was still a bit of sting ebbing in his right cheek from her last slap, and there was a throbbing pain in his groin from where she’d landed another successful kick.

“I did,” he admitted, raising his eyes back to hers. “And it was worth it to see you fight for yourself. Next time, if Benedict has you cornered… If he reaches for you, you will not freeze. You will fight, and that makes me proud.”

Laurence watched as several emotions passed through Ellen’s bright eyes. Gratitude. Fear. Triumph. Irritation.

“You cad!” she yelled, slamming both of her palms into his chest.

Laurence expelled a laughing breath as the force of her push caught him off guard, but he smiled as he rubbed at his chest.

“Maybe a bit,” he admitted with a sheepish grin.

She glowered at him for a moment longer, then she closed her eyes as a breathy laugh broke from her lips, and she shook her head. Then she snuggled back into him, laying her head on his chest as if it was something she’d always done as her arms snaked around his waist.

He could not help himself. He drew his arms tighter around her, and dropped another kiss to her forehead in a startling act of comfortable familiarity. Settling into the cuddle, he began to stroke his fingers languidly up and down her back.

“This is not going to end, is it?” she asked after a moment of comfortable silence. “Not for a while, at least.”

Laurence’s fingers stilled.

“I am afraid not,” he muttered, looking down at her. “We might want to take down the auction. But Benedict? He wants you. He made that clear last night, and I do not believe that he is going to give you up so easily.”

Ellen’s brows furrowed, pain and confusion flashing through her eyes.

“I do not understand why,” she sighed. “Why me? He cannot love me, can he? A man does not strike or sell a woman he loves, does he?”

“No,” Laurence quickly replied, rage lancing through his veins for just a moment. “No, he does not. But there is a difference between love and obsession, and I believe your cousin might feel the latter.”

“But why?” Ellen asked, sitting up in his lap. “Why be obsessed with me? There is nothing special about me. I was not—I am not—I was the laughing stock of my courtship years!”

“Did you ever think that they were laughing at you because they did not know what else to do with you?” he asked, his grip tightening around her.

Ellen’s answering look was one of pure confusion.

“You are kind, sweet, and capable. And you do not indulge in self-importance as the others do. Your differences mirrored how shallow and empty they felt,” he said, a hard edge slipping into his voice.

Ellen’s eyes widened.

“I am not,” she whispered.

“You are everything they want to be but cannot,” he urged on, sliding his hand from her back to her throat. He felt her pulse quicken beneath his palm, and it throbbed through the wall he’d firmly built between himself and his growing lust.

“You are special, Ellen,” he rasped out, gliding his thumb over her pulse point, up her chin, and to her bottom lip. He caressed the plump flesh there, and his muscles tensed as her lip obediently parted for him. He swallowed, trying to rein in his growing need.

“More than you know,” he murmured, pushing his thumb gently past her parted lips. His breath hitched as her small tongue, warm and wet, slid slowly over the tip of his thumb. He gritted his jaw as he hissed out a low breath, fighting the primal urges that had come roaring back with a vengeance. He drew his thumb away and closed his eyes, willing himself to maintain control.

“I believe we have had enough lessons for today,” he choked out. “You should go. Relax for the rest of the day.”

He tried to ease her off of his lap, but Ellen’s arms tightened around him. He opened his eyes, thinking that if he glared at her, she would jump off him freely. Instead, he was met with blue pools of sparkling desire and challenge.

“The lesson was to teach me to say no when I wanted to, yes?” she asked, her soft voice dripping with sensuality as she stared boldly up at him. “To ask for what I desire instead of just taking whatever I am given?”