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Her heart gave a painful squeeze. He knew that Philippe was not here and yet he still had entered. Which meant he had deliberately desired to find her alone.
“What…?” She was forced to take a deep breath before she could continue. “What do you want?”
A violent tremor wrenched through his small body. “I want what has been taken from me, but for now you will do.”
“Me?” Her voice was thick but thankfully steady. “I have nothing to offer you.”
“On the contrary, you can offer me more than I dared to hope for.”
“And what is that?”
“With you my revenge shall be one step closer.”
Raine covertly backed nearer to the fireplace. There was a heavy candlestick on the mantel that she could use as a weapon. Not that it would halt a bullet if he decided to shoot her, but if he had other ghastly plans on his mind she could at least put up a decent fight.
“What could I possibly have to do with your revenge?” she demanded. “From my understanding, your quarrel is with the elder Monsieur Gautier, a gentleman I have never even met.”
His pale eyes flashed with a dangerous fury. “My revenge will be visited upon the entire Gautier family, beginning with Jean-Pierre and ending with Louis.”
Raine shivered at the shrill edge to his voice. Madness, indeed.
“I still do not understand what I have to do with this nasty business. I am not a member of the family.”
“Perhaps not, but Philippe is besotted with you.”
Even terrified Raine could not stop the sharp laugh. “You are mistaken, sir. I am just a woman who is currently sharing Philippe’s house. Soon enough I will be replaced by another.”
He gave a jerky shake of his head. “No, I have seen you together. I have seen how he looks at you.”
“And how does he look at me?”
“As if you are a precious treasure that he fears might slip from his grasp. To lose you would wound him more deeply than any reprisal I can devise.”
Bloody hell, the man truly was delusional if he thought Philippe looked at her as anything beyond a temporary convenience.
“I still do not understand what you want from me.”
Seurat gave a dangerous wave of the gun. “I need you to come with me.”
Her eyes widened in horror. Allow herself to be carried off by this madman to God knew where? Oh, no. She might be naive, but she possessed enough sense to know that was a very bad notion.
“I will not.”
With a low hiss he moved to stand directly before her, the sour smell of his desperation hitting Raine with a sickening force.
“You are in no position to argue with me.”
“Do you intend to shoot me?”
“If necessary.”
“Then shoot.” Her chin tilted. She would rather a clean death as opposed to whatever evil the man was plotting. “I will not go with you.”
“I had hoped we could be civilized, but…”
Her heart lodged in her throat as the hand holding the gun slowly lifted higher. Bloody hell, he was going to shoot her in the head. The thought had barely registered when his hand astonishingly flashed forward and the butt of the weapon connected with her chin.
Darkness engulfed her and, without so much as a sigh, she slid to the ground.
