Page 52 of A Raven Reborn

Ash shook his head and straightened. “Although that made me feel better, your valiant effort at self-sacrifice changes nothing about the consequences that Rosie will be enduring this week.”

"What is her punishment?" he asked through panting breaths.

"How about this, if you tell me why it matters so much, I'll tell you what the punishment is."

“What do you mean, Ash?”

“Well, you’ve never cared to know the details when any of the other ladies have been punished.”

“That’s different.”

“Why?” That’s when Patrick knew that what was coming was going to be more uncomfortable than that punch he’d just received. Ash had a way of looking into your soul and forcing out the truth.

“Because I care about her.”

“You don’t care about the other ladies in our employ?”

“Of course I do, but that’s different.”

Ash raised his brow and said the single word again. “Why?”

He was going to make Patrick say the words out loud. The words he hadn’t even dared to say in his own mind. His eyes slammed shut as he finally accepted that it was the truth. “I love her.” He opened his eyes again. “There. I said it. Are you happy now?”

One side of Ash’s mouth quirked up. “Have you told her?”

“No, of course I haven’t told her.” Patrick pushed past Ash and marched down the hall to his study.

“Why?” Ash asked again as he followed him through the door.

Patrick had a glass half filled with brandy before he stopped. He had to work tonight, and that meant he needed to remain sober. With a long sigh, he put the decanter back.

“Why?” Ash asked once more.

“In case you’ve forgotten, the last time I proposed, she snuck out of this house in the middle of the night and went to sell herself at a brothel, in order to get away from me.”

“Well when you put it that way, it does sound pretty bad, but she probably wasn’t running away from you. You had just threatened to send her off to live the rest of her life alone, on some strange estate.”

Patrick scoffed. “I had sex with her, Ash.”

"You've had sex with plenty of women and have never followed it with a marriage proposal."

“No, you don’t understand. This is different. She was raped.”

Ash furrowed his brow and placed a hand on Patrick’s shoulder. “But not by you. I know you, Patrick. You would never force yourself on a woman. You would never do anything unless she was as enthusiastic about it as you.”

“That’s just it, she wasn’t as enthusiastic about it as me. I mean,” He plunged his hands through his hair. “She was… and then she wasn’t.” He shook his head, irritated with himself. “I’m not going to share the details.”

“Have you already forgotten? I saw the pair of you together just a few hours ago. Rosie was definitely not trying to get away from you.”

After allowing that to sink in for a moment, he looked up at Ash. “You think she might actually want me?”

“She had her hands all over you, Patrick.”

“I don’t just mean like that.” He let out a sigh.

“I know what you mean. You want to know if she’ll want to marry you. If she actually wants you as a husband. The truth is,” he shrugged matter-of-factly. “I don’t know. And unfortunately, you won’t be able to talk to her about it for a week.”

“Why won’t I be able to talk to her?” But then he remembered how this conversation had started. Her punishment.

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