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“So, why, milord, have you stayed in this province if you hate it so? You’re free to leave.”
“To find you,” he said simply.
“Me?”
“Revenge.”
“That’s all I am, revenge?”
“I can think of no better revenge than to fall in love with Mountbane’s wife and have her return my love.”
Charlotte turned away from him, pondering his statement—unsure how she should feel… was this affair nothing but revenge for a terrible crime? That simply couldn’t be. There was his love, and that was genuine. She may not be schooled in such things, but no man would give a slave so much affection and not feel it with his whole heart.
“You are a sly rogue,” she finally snickered as she turned around. “Perhaps you are more madman than he?”
“Perhaps I am.”
“And perhaps you’ll throw me over once your revenge is finished?”
His eyes gleamed with both wildness and love. “That is the chance you’ll have to take. You can believe me or be wary, but you know the whole truth now.”
Charlotte pondered silently, until Tristan finally spoke again, “So, what is it, now that you know all my motives? Will you cleave to your husband in the hopes he’ll take you back?”
Charlotte’s pensive look brightened. “No, sir. I can no longer cleave to a man I do not love—I’m sure that Mountbane would betray me as easily as he did your cousin.” She thought longer, remembering what seemed like an eon ago, though it was only a few years. “I was betrayed by a man I loved once—my father,” she said sadly. “You are right. I may not wish to believe it so, but the truth is, I’m in this hovel now because he has some plans afoot.” Her mood darkened even more. “I suppose I should call myself guilty for his change of passion. It’s been a steady shift in temperament, but a natural one. He finds other flesh more entertaining than me now because I have subtly risen from surrender to become a real woman once again. Mountbane, at heart, is a simple man, and I have complicated his sense of order.” She looked up at Tristan without one hint of a slave’s disposition in her lovely countenance. “Whatever it is, your plan is likely as sound a one as returning to find myself imprisoned in his dungeon.”
Tristan nodded. She would have thought that he would welcome her decision but it was his turn to brood.
“Something troubles you, sir?” she noted.
“Tell me, Charlotte, is surrender just a game for you, or is it real?”
“You cannot tell yourself?”
“At the moment, the answer isn’t obvious to me,” he confessed. “But the question is an important one. Do you deny your surrender as slave?”
She thought a moment. “Only the principle on which it is founded, sir,” she replied. “I am not a maid who is too afraid to fend for herself. I made accommodations when I came here because I had no choice but to relent. When I did, I learned the surprising truth. I relish surrender, but,” she hastened to add, “not to fools, or those who regard me as an object to reject on whims and throw away.”
“Perhaps you hate what Mountbane has made of you? Perhaps submission denies your real nature?”
Her eyes brightened, “I made me who I am to survive this Ilusia. I have found surrender sweet, but make no mistake, I am not a mindless slave.”
“I never considered you such,” he said with understanding. “But make no mistake, Lady Charlotte,” his eyes pierced her, “you go with me, you will surrender to me.” He stood now, his expression grave. “I will come for you in a fortnight, you can make your decision then.”
His boots were on. His clothes fixed well. And the tenderness that had so filled their hideaway with love seemed to have been replaced by the tense anticipation of the crime they were about.
“But I have made my decision!” she came to him, now more sure of herself than ever.
“Hush! Our friends arrive,” he glanced toward the window where his eager pupils were walking up the path. “Change takes time—and in this case, some preparation. We are not going to steal into the night without a place to go. It’s better that I’m gone now, than betray us both. You put on whatever cloaks of surrender that please you, Charlotte, and do not give our secret away. Mind these fellows well, like the first hours of your submission when it was the sweetest thing in your world. If not,” he spoke more intently, “I’m likely to take you to the dungeon myself and torture you for days.”
She shivered wantingly at the very thought of that, but then sent her heart fleeing
. By the time the two young masters strode into the hovel, she was on the floor with her face pressed to the dusty surface—as though she’d been that way for hours.
“She’s had enough reprieve, gentlemen. Practice with her. Let her serve you as you wish. But do remember that she’s the property of Lord Mountbane. She’s not to be damaged goods or he’ll have your heads—after I remove your cocks with a butcher knife.”
Chapter Eleven
Mountbane was busy in his chambers when he heard the knocking on his door.
