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“Ms. Gwen is requesting an audience, my lord.”
Anticipation licked through him like fire on wood. While wanting nothing more than to pump his fist in the air and yell, he reached for his drink. As he sipped, he tried to figure out why she’d shown up.
But she’d been clear as she avoided him as best she could, that she didn’t want to be near him.
A truthful fact, even as it was a painful one.
“Show her in, Keating.”
He spent the short time he had left alone in a desperate attempt to get himself back under control. Something he’d learned he was in short supply of when it came to this woman.
She trailed Keating back into the room and gave him a small curtsey even as she thanked the butler. Then her focus was on him.
Completely.
How it should be.
“Have a seat. May I have them bring you something to eat? Drink?”
She sat away from him and shook her head. “No thank you, my lord. I appreciate you taking the time to see me.”
He picked up his fork only to set it right back down. Something was off with her. She fidgeted. One thing he’d never known her to be was fidgety.
“What is the problem?”
“No, problem, my lord. I was just wondering if perhaps…” She shook her head. “Never mind, my lord. I do apologize for the interruption.”
“Sit down.”
His command came out something far more like a growl than a request, but something had happened to him when she’d begun to move back from the table. And him.
She listened without hesitation, her hands out of sight so he couldn’t see if she shook or not.
“Tell me, Fyre, what the blazes is going on. I do not want to hear that you figured it out, that you had made a mistake, nothing like that.”
She chewed on the inside of her cheek and gave a small shake of her head.
“It is nothing, my lord.”
Phillip pushed back from the table and walked toward her. Fyre held his gaze until he was over halfway to her side, then that brown stare darted away from him, focusing everywhere else in the room.
Dragging the chair right beside her around a bit, so he could see her when he sat, he did so with a groan as her subtle scent washed over him. That did it. She flashed her gaze back to him, concern leeching in.
“Are you all right, my lord?”
Not giving a fuck about where they were or who of his staff may be watching, he reached out and dragged his knuckles down her cheek. God, her skin was so smooth.
“If I say no, will you play doctor with me?”
The silence between them was charged with sexual tension. He hoped he’d not pushed too far too fast.
Fyre leaned infinitesimally closer. “All I know about doctoring is the bloodletting.”
His heart skipped more than a few beats. She was teasing him, and doing so with a small smile on her face. This woman continued to amaze him.
“You are a fast learner, you can pick up something else…more…gentle.” He tucked some of the loose hair from her bun behind her ear. “Tell me how I can help you, Fyre.”
Her retreat from him was complete before she moved. Walls snapped up around her and he mourned the loss of the moment.
“I had wanted to know if we could postpone the session tomorrow.”
He sniffed and leaned back in his chair. “What is so important you need to shove me aside?”
She looked generally appalled by his question. Phillip didn’t try to assuage her feelings. In his mind, that’s exactly what she was doing.
“I was not trying to make you feel…”
He raised one eyebrow, wanting to push. So much. Push his tongue into her mouth. Push her body into his. Push into her.
“Maybe if it was an hour later? The same day.”
Her distress was genuine, but Phillip knew he wasn’t a completely nice guy. Barely nice would be far closer. What he was, was possessive. Especially when it came time to his time with Fyre. With her, he wanted to hoard it all and not share.
“Why?”
“Why what, my lord?”
He stretched out his legs, crowding her in her seat. Trapping her unless she scrambled away and over the table. His lips twitched. He could be very happy with this woman on the table.
His staff would have gossip for days.
“Who is so important that you are shoving me aside?” He glared at her. “And do not lie to me.”
Fyre closed her eyes and her shoulders slumped. This was supposed to have been easy. Come out here on an unscheduled day and ask him to change their meeting time.
How do I constantly underestimate this man?
“Is it Caulfield?”
She couldn’t explain away the anger and jealousy she picked up in his tone. It never failed when Albie came up in the conversation.
