AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I have been…resisting my grandfather’s machinations. I went to London for a spell to placate him. It bought me some time.”
“There were no gentlemen to your liking?”
“None that didn’t attempt to hide their paramours from the scandal sheets and the gossips. I was not about to harness myself with such a man. I found much of the season distasteful—the common acceptance of mistresses. Growing up in Scotland, I am mostly accustomed to matches that are at the very least, founded upon mutual respect. There is often genuine love, which negates the need of affairs with whores.”
An odd smile curled the corners of his lips. “There are no affairs in Scotland?”
She flitted her fingers in the air. “I am not a prude—of course there are plenty of husbands that stray. I ken it well. That does not mean I will be accepting of such a man for myself.”
Reiner nodded, the odd grin gone from his face.
She wasn’t sure if he was placating her or if he truly understood her desire for a match of mutual desire and affection. Regardless, he was sidetracking her from her purpose in his study. Jacob liked to do that when she was in a fit—change the topic until she was no longer railing.
“But this is not about me, this is about your niece—about you sending her in to try and extract information from me. It is about you using her.”
“I do think you overstep your judgement,” he said. “You have only spent several days with her.”
“And that is all it has taken. You’re the one that allowed me near her, Reiner. And I, for one, am not about to let an innocent fall to the mercy of an overbearing ogre if I can help it.”
Her intended barb hit as intended.
His hand on the desk curled into a fist. “If you were innocent, Sloane, you would have long since told me what you’re truly doing here.”
Her mouth clamped closed.
The blasted man still didn’t believe her.
Still didn’t believe she had no clue as to how she got to Wolfbridge and what she had intended to do there.
With a strained nod, she spun from him and went to the door.
He didn’t attempt to stop her.
{ Chapter 7 }
He’d managed to avoid her for two days.
Reiner opened the door of his study, glancing down the main hallway. Shadows hugged the corridor with only a few sconces lit so one didn’t stumble—beyond that, it was silent, not a soul nearby.
He opened the door fully with a shake of his head. What had he sunk to? Hiding in his own house.
But he wasn’t ready to see the exasperating woman again. Not after that kiss.
A kiss that had seared him with a fiery blade straight through his chest. A kiss that had too quickly sent his blood to boiling, his cock straining.
The scorn that she’d walked into the study with—that she’d blasted at him—should have sent him into a wrathful fury. Instead, it had sent his lips onto hers. His body aching to touch her.
And it wasn’t just because she was beautiful—he was a master at avoiding the snares of beautiful women. Or at least he had been once.
No, it was her bloody outrage at the injustice of what he’d done to his niece. Outrage on behalf of the one person that mattered to him in this life.
Sloane had raged into his study, defender of the innocent.
The worst part about it was that the blasted woman was right. He had used Vicky for his own purposes. An imbecilic plan.
Reiner stepped into the hallway, peering into the shadows at the far end of the corridor.
He didn’t want to risk another encounter with her tonight. Not when it was late and he was exhausted.
