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“What business do you and I have?” she demanded.
He smiled. He’d come to a decision on the ride over, one that would suit them both if she had the sense to agree to it.
“Come with me to my study and we shall discuss it.” He released her wrist and started to walk toward the stairs, knowing she would be too curious not to follow him.
* * *
Matilda staredat Lord Castleton’s retreating form for a moment, then rushed after him. She caught up with him at the top of the stairs. They proceeded down to the study in silence until he closed the door and gestured for her to sit in a chair facing his desk. It all felt so formal as he seated himself opposite her. Yet she knew somehow he was going to say something scandalous.
She’d never been alone with a man before. Lord Castleton was tall, handsome, and imposing in an arrogant sort of way that instantly made her dislike him. Yet that arrogance was mixed with a natural masculine seduction—a potent combination that left her on edge. She felt like she was standing beneath clouds charged with a coming storm. The silence between them stretched and yawned until it filled the room, adding to that brewing tempest she sensed was coming.
“Lord Castleton,” she began uncertainly, only to be interrupted.
“After seeing the state of Meadow Cross cottage when I went to collect your aunt, I am shocked to find the cottage is not, in my opinion, properly habitable. Even if I evicted you in five days’ time, no other tenants would pay the rent I am asking, not until suitable improvements can be made to the house.” He paused, his eyes locked with hers, and Matilda dared not breathe. He must have seen the pots full of water catching the roof leaks… among other things that she didn’t wish to think about.
When he didn’t continue, she dared to speak. “What are you trying to say, Lord Castleton?”
He tapped his long fingers on his desk as he watched her. “I find myself trapped here for the holidays, given the weather and the need to see to my new duties. I am used to a level of companionship, and I have no easy way to find someone here.” He steepled his fingers and his gray eyes pierced her.
“Companionship?” she echoed uncertainly. “You mean you wish to have someone read to you or walk with you in the gardens or…”
Oh no, he didn’t meanthat, did he? He was a man, after all, and men had very different ideas of companionship.
Lord Castleton’s chuckle was soft, and his gaze made her body flush with an unexpected heat.
“I suppose you could do those things. I certainly wouldn’t object to them. But what I would like is a warm, willing woman in my bed.” He leaned forward ever so slightly. “Agree to belong to me for the next two weeks, and I shall give you and your aunt an extra five months at Meadow Cross cottage with no rent. That will give me time to make needed repairs and search for new tenants in the late spring.”
Matilda’s mind halted on the phrase:a warm, willing woman in bed.And she wasn’t sure she fully understood what he meant. Surely he couldn’t mean that he wanted her to be his mistress.
“You want me to be…?”
“My mistress. Just for a few weeks. In return, you would have five more months to live rent free at Meadow Cross cottage. It would give you plenty of time to find a new home, or to come up with a way to pay the rent I’ve settled on.”
Matilda stared at him. The man was seriously suggesting she become a… She couldn’t even think the word, let alone say it.
“Howdareyou ask that of me?” She rose from her chair and took two steps toward the door, only to have him block her path so quickly that she gasped.
“I am well aware that you are a lady, Miss Matthews, but you are also in a desperate position—”
“Only becauseyouare the monster that put me there with your heartless eviction.” She jabbed a finger into his chest. That same fire which had caused her to throw a snowball at his head was crackling to life again.
“All of life is a series of desperate acts to see to our baser needs,” he said calmly. “You define your life by the choices you make to survive. I have needs. You have needs. Your needs can be met by me and mine can be met by you. It would be a mutual arrangement.”
He reached up to cup her cheek in one hand and she tried to pull away, but a spark of something powerful kept her still as he brushed the pad of his thumb over her lips. It felt rather nice when she didn’t think about how much she hated him.
“I won’t force you to agree. It would be your choice, but consider this—you might spend the rest of your life never knowing a man’s touch, a man’s kiss. I assume you don’t get many suitors out here.”
She stared back at him, just as defiant as she’d been a minute ago. “Who says my life needs a man’s touch or kiss to be fulfilled? That’s a rather pompous assumption, isn’t it?”
His lips quirked as he leaned down, his head now inches from hers. “Aren’t youcuriousto know what it’s like? To feel the power of a physical release so great that your body bows with it and you scream from the exquisite torture of experiencing too much pleasure?” He was whispering now. “Yes, you would have sold your body and soul to me for a few weeks, but you would never have to wonder, never feel incomplete. You would know what it meant to belong to a man and to experience something not all women do… true passion. That fire and hate you feel for me right now, it makes you burn, doesn’t it? I can promise that when you take that feeling to bed with someone like me, it will only ever bring you pleasure.”
He traced her mouth again, and she found herself staring at the sensual curve of his full lips, wondering if they were as soft as they looked.
Pulses of warmth deep in her belly, confusing and unfamiliar, made it hard for her to think. He wanted her body for two weeks. He wanted her willing cooperation in a secret affair. But what didshewant? That was what she needed to focus on. Ever since she had met him only a few hours ago, she’d found her sensible, rational world turned on its head.
Could she do something like this? Could she give herself over to him to secure a roof over her head and her aunt’s a little longer? She might have said no… except for that dark whisper inside her head that wanted to know what it would feel like to belong to this man. She wanted to feel the answer to the ancient call in her blood, to join her body with his. She knew little of such things, but the desire to learn burned hotter in her by the minute.
I want to know… I want to feel his touch, his kiss…It was as simple as that, and yet she knew it would change her life forever if she agreed. It might even ruin it.
