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As he watched, her fingers began to loosen upon the fabric of her skirts. “Keep those skirts up high,” he called across the room.
“‘Tis humiliating,” she whimpered, “to have you look upon me in this manner.”
“‘Tis part of your punishment, naughty girl. I shall look all I want and if you do not behave, I shall spank you again and again, and watch your skin redden with my handprints. Now, do as you have been told.”
He glanced at the clock. He fully intended to leave her in that position for at least a quarter hour, the better to calm the situation between them and, with any luck, give the stubborn girl a chance to see reason.
He could not look away, much as he told himself he had to. The wet lips of her cunny were visible between her thighs as she bent forward in order to lean against the wall.
Lascivious thoughts crowded his mind but he refused to give in to them. Picking up a ledger, he stared at the household finances, though all he could see in his mind’s eye was the swollen folds of Tallie’s pussy.
He turned the page of the ledger and forced himself to focus. The effort proved pointless. He closed the book and moved to stand behind her. The scent of her arousal nearly sent him into a frenzy, but he refrained.
Grabbing the layers of fabric from her fists, he shoved her skirts to the floor, took hold of her shoulders, and turned her to look at him.
“You will marry Lord Banyon.” His voice was filled with resolve, whether for her benefit or his own, he could not say for certain. “And you will clean up the mess you made with the newspaper scraps. After that, I expect you to apologize for throwing rubbish at me and for generally being obstinate and disobedient.”
Tallie scrubbed the back of her hand across her face, her reddened eyes barely attempting to meet his gaze. “Y-yes, sir,” she said with a sniffle. Keeping her head down, she walked carefully to the center of the room where the scraps of newspaper lay upon the carpet.
Though she was more chastened than he had ever seen her, as Tallie walked away from him, Zander noticed that within just a few steps, she gradually regained her usual feisty personality, though still a bit subdued. He crossed his arms over his chest, waiting to see if she complied with all of his instructions.
With a pained and pouting expression on her face, she bent to retrieve the papers from the floor and deposited them in the bin. She turned back to him and said, “I ought not to have thrown anything at you. I apologize.” She tilted her chin up with a bit of her usual hauteur. “I am Lady Natalia Waltham and I shall not forget my manners.”
He fought against the smile pulling at his mouth. Any gains he’d made would be shattered if she believed him to be making sport of her, though the sight of a humbled Tallie was something uniquely enjoyable for him. He nodded in acknowledgement of her statement. “I accept your apology. Now, it is time for you to retire. Lord Banyon and his mother will be here tomorrow and you will need plenty of rest to be on your best behavior.”
In a flash, her entire countenance changed and Tallie’s eyes flashed with anger. “As I said a moment ago, I ought not to have assaulted you with newspapers or poor attitude. However, I still refuse to marry a man I have neither met nor have any reason to believe I would ever care for.”
“Your comments are duly noted. Be ready for greet your future husband by ten o’clock tomorrow morning.”
With one final glare, Tallie turned and left the room, head held high, jaw set with determination.
* * *
Zander had mournedhis friend and cursed him at the same time for having left him the unenviable task of caring for his only child, Tallie. The girl had been the apple of her father’s eye since the day she was born and when her mother died a few years later, having produced no other heirs, the father and daughter had clung to one and other in their grief and mutual affinity for reading and the constant exchange of ideas.
Others had attempted to tear the girl away from her father, citing his inability to raise a child on his own, let alone a daughter who needed to be brought up in the ways of a proper lady, but her father had refused. When governesses had attempted to discipline the willful child, she complained to her father of their cruelty and he took on her education himself. Unconventional and often the subject of a fair amount of whispering throughout society, the father and daughter had been inseparable and when his dearest friend, Zander, came to dinner, the three of them conversed on all matters of the day. Initially, Zander had indulged his friend, assuming his unconventional treatment of his only daughter was a reaction to profound grief, but when the child showed an affinity for history and politics, Zander looked upon the girl with respect for her thoughtful and often caustically accurate assessment of current events.
Somehow, she had morphed from a gangly girl to a beautiful young woman and his feelings for her had been transformed as well.
Zander chuckled as he remembered an evening when Tallie was about fourteen years old. He could scarce believe more than seven years had passed since that time. Dinner had ended and the three of them were seated in the drawing room, which had doors intended to separate one side from the other. When Lady Waltham had been living, the doors would be drawn closed and the ladies would socialize on one side while the men enjoyed after dinner drinks and cigars in the other.
As there were no women with whom Natalia could converse, she had taken up the habit of including herself with the gentlemen. Shortly after she attained the age of fourteen, she decided it was time for her to join the ranks of alcohol consumers and had boldly poured herself a stiff glass of amber liquid.
Zander had braced himself, preparing to assist her when she found the drink offensive to her palate, but to his surprise, she had taken to it like a fish to water.
He feared, however, she had taken to it a bit too well of late.
In many ways, he blamed himself. He had known for quite some time, in fact since before her father’s untimely demise, that Natalia fancied herself attracted to him. He had even separated himself from the area by traveling to South America in search of investments and adventure, but mostly to remove himself from the temptation of her determined flirtations.
She was but a girl. Young enough to be his daughter. Of course, it was not unheard of for a man to marry a girl half his age, but he cared too much for Tallie to saddle her with the likes of himself. He learned long ago he was not husband material. His desires were too dark. His yearnings too depraved.
Though technically an adult, in all practical ways, she was a child, inexperienced and without much interaction with young men of her own age. He felt certain once she had an opportunity to meet more appropriate suitors, she would realize any feelings she had for him were simply a girlish crush.
His own feelings were not so fleeting. He was resolved to live out his life with the desperate longing for the raven-haired beauty who could never be his. His heart clutched with pain, but it was as it had to be.
Once Natalia married, his obligation would be satisfied and he would again be off to South America. His stated reason for going was to attend to his investments there, which he had neglected over the last few months. And though that was important, as they were his primary source of income, his ultimate goal was to be far, far away from the young lady who had captured his soul.
While he had been away he purposely did not respond to his friend’s letters as promptly as he might have otherwise, doing all in his power to distance himself from the temptation of Lady Natalia Waltham. He hoped his friend would understand, though of course he never discussed the matter of Tallie’s flirtations with her father. Surely her girlish infatuation with him would fade. His feelings for her... well, he hoped that they too would fade but he had less confidence on that score.
