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He leaned closer to me. “Say it,” he whispered in my ear. “Tonight, I want to show you what kind of husband I will be. I need you to be honest, and I will do the same.”
“If a man resorts to blackmail or extortion to obtain a bride, whatever the reasons, can his word be trusted? I don’t know. I heard you say to Mr. Dubois that it’s just business, and I don’t know what that means for your character.”
“Have I ever lied to you?”
I thought about that for a moment.
He hadn’t lied. He had spanked me, pushed me well past my limits, and taken what wasn’t rightfully his until after the ceremony, but I had ended up reveling in his depravity.
I liked the way he took me, and he made sure that I found my pleasure in his touch, a trait not common among powerful men, if the maids were to be believed.
He was right. Every time he gave me pain, it added to the pleasure. Even when he was angry, that anger never fueled his strikes. He left me with a sore ass, but never really hurt me.
He had also let me think he cared, when all he had done was have his assistant spy on me.
But wasn’t that caring? His assistant must’ve had more important things to attend to, and even if his assistant had set up everything, he had made the time to do something he knew I would enjoy.
I was so confused.
This man was a tycoon in his own right. He had an empire he was preparing to run. He wasn’t a prince sent to save me from an evil queen, but maybe he was the king who would protect me from everyone but himself.
There was no way of escaping him, not really, so maybe the smart move was to embrace him, let him protect me, and then learn to live within his rules. I’d end up there, anyway. Why not make it easier on everyone?
“No, you have never lied to me, but you scare me,” I admitted.
“I will never break a promise to you, Amelia. This may not be a love match. This union may have started in order to stop a business deal from happening, but the result is still that you are going to be my wife. I will never break my word to you, and I will always protect what is mine. Now tell me what happened in this room before I got here.”
“Mother was forcing me to try on awful dresses. She was degrading me, but you’re right. I barely feel it anymore...” I swallowed, not sure how much I should tell him.
“Keep going.” It was more of a command than a request.
“She was drinking. She said that I was a disappointment, and my father is ashamed of me. She called me a whore and said that I ruined a more lucrative match.”
“This is because you’re going to marry me and not Dubois.”
I pulled his jacket around me tighter, wincing as my sore hand twinged, and nodded.
“She struck you because she thinks you are the one that let that happen,” he repeated like he didn’t quite believe me.
“I may have…” I did not want to anger him further.
“You what?” he pressed.
“I said she was the one that ruined the match by having whatever secret you are holding over her head.”
He raised one eyebrow as his mouth lifted in a grin. “You fought back?”
I nodded.
“Then what happened?”
“She hit me. I was stupid. I wasn’t watching out for it. She had drunk almost a full bottle of champagne. I thought she was too drunk to?—”
“Did you pick out a dress?”
“No.”
“Which of these do you like?” He turned abruptly to rifle through the racks.
