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“What do you suppose Hun—His Grace, is talking to Mr. Harker about in his study for such a long time?” Evie paced up and down her bedchamber, having seen her erstwhile kidnapper being given admittance to the house almost an hour ago.
“No doubt His Grace and Harker have much to talk about,” Lady Margaret dismissed unhelpfully.
By tacit agreement, the two ladies had not discussed the happenings of yesterday evening.
Lady Margaret, no doubt because that spinster lady was too shocked still to wish to talk about it any further.
Evie, because try as she might, she could not completely dismiss the thought that at the time, Hunter had seemed as intensely invested in their lovemaking as she had. It had only been during the conversation afterward that their rapport had deteriorated into such a state of resentment it had resulted in the opening of a gaping chasm between them.
But how dare Hunter suggest she go to London with him as his mistress! How dare he…
Evie stilled as her thoughts, now that she was no longer befuddled by overwhelming pleasure, took on more clarity.
Hunter had notsaidhe wished her to accompany him to London as his mistress.
Maybe not, but for what other reason could he have wished to take her back to London with him? A penniless orphan and the daughter of his late father’s mistress, and whose guardianship had been foisted upon him?
Perhaps she would know the answer to that question if she had listened to what Hunter had to say instead of jumping headlong into conclusions. It was something she always seemed to do where he was concerned. Indeed, they were both in the habit of misunderstanding each other, whether accidentally or willfully.
Too late now, of course. The conversation had taken place, her position made clear. After her previous attempt to travel to London and remind Hunter of her existence, she had now refused to accompany him back to the capital.
Foolish girl, she admonished herself.
Pride, her mother had often teased her, goeth before a fall. Evie had certainly allowed her wounded pride to get the better of her when she acted in such a rash manner as to deny herself what she truly wanted. Which was to go to London. To see the people and fashions there, even if her station in life said she could not be a part of them.
How could she now expect to be allowed to go to London with Hunter when she had rained such insults upon him when she initially refused the suggestion?
She could not. Indeed, she had no idea when or on what subject the two of them would ever talk again. It was…
“Mr. Harker looks… Well, I am not sure what he looks. There is such an expression of shock on his face,” Lady Margaret remarked from where she sat in a chair placed so that she could gaze out at the back of the house.
Evie rushed across the room to peer out the window. Just in time to see Paul Harker as he walked away from the house toward the stables, where he and his men had slept the previous night. As Lady Margaret had observed, from Mr. Harker’s unsmiling countenance, his conversation with the duke did not appear to have been a pleasant one.
Well, if Hunter had threatened Paul Harker with prosecution over her kidnapping and demand for ransom, Evie had no intention of supporting or confirming that accusation. Of course, there was still the question of the poaching perpetrated by Paul and his men this past year. An offense punishable by either a long prison sentence or deportation or hanging, depending on the mood of the magistrate—or in the case of their local magistrate, his digestion—on the day of the trial.
Perhaps so, but Evie still intended to inform Hunter thatshewould not be a party to convincing a magistrate of any of it.
CHAPTERTEN
Hunter looked up in surprise as the door to his study was flung open, without a warning knock and with such force, it hit the wall and then bounced back to slam loudly behind the virago who now stormed across his study to stand in front of his desk.
“You shall not do it.” There was a light of battle in Evie’s eyes, an angry flush to her cheeks. “I shall not let you.”
This was the first time Hunter had set eyes on her since their intimacies the previous evening.
Setting aside those obvious indications of her temper, Evie looked beautiful in a gown the same crystalline blue of her eyes, her magnificent breasts swelling over the top of that gown each time she drew in an angry breath. Her hair was fashionably styled and secured at her crown, with several loose curls at her temples and nape.
As now seemed to be Hunter’s lot in life, his cock had sprung into action the moment she stepped into the room. It was long, hard, and throbbing inside his pantaloons. Preventing him from standing, as he so wanted to do, unless he wished to reveal his physical response to seeing Evie again.
“Well?” she challenged at his silence. “What do you have to say for yourself?”
Hunter had never allowedanyoneto speak to him with the lack of respect Evie constantly showed toward him. If a man had done so, Hunter would have cut him down, either verbally or physically. If another woman had dared to do so, he would have given her the glacial edge of his tongue.
But this was Evie. The woman who now occupied all his thoughts and emotions. He would sooner cut off his own hand than say or do anything that might hurt her. Anythingmorethat would hurt her, he reminded himself heavily.
So, instead of standing to his intimidating height of several inches over six feet, or silencing her with the coldness of his gaze or manner, he answered her accusations in a pleasant tone. “What do you wish me to say?” He remembered his mother had once told him that he would garner far more approval of his behavior with honey than with vinegar. Although he doubted his mother had a woman like Evie in mind when she made that comment.
He doubted that his frivolous but socially correct mother had ever known such an outspoken young woman as Evie!
