Page 153 of Enthrall Ecstasy
I turned to follow her gaze.
De Sade was standing there.
Pushing up, I walked toward him, anger a snake curling in my belly, throat constricting with a firestorm of words.
He backed off. “I need to talk with you.”
“You should knock.”
“I knocked.”
“You should have knocked louder.”
“I can see why you didn’t hear.” He looked over at Rue with an awed expression.
The same expression I’d seen on the faces of so many others when they laid eyes on her.
I studied his reaction, as though seeing him bewitched would explain my reaction when I was in the room with her. I needed to understand this obsession.
“I’ll wait outside.” De Sade stepped back into the hallway.
We were alone again.
I faced Rue. “Get dressed.”
“I don’t think she’s finished, sir,” Rue said, her voice timid. “The seamstress, I mean.”
“She can come back later.”
Which was ridiculous—I was literally telling her to dress so that no part of her was exposed.
I ran my fingers through my hair. “You’ll eat lunch in your room.”
“Without you?”
“Yes, Rue, think you can handle that?”
She seemed hurt, but I was already closing in on the door. I paused and looked back at her. “You look…”
She gave a bright smile of understanding. Because she saw through me, too.
“Thank you for the bodice.”
“Try on the shoes.”
She grabbed the box off the bed, her mouth curling at the edges. “I like it when you choose what you want to see me in.”
“You like them?”
She peered under the lid. “They’re perfect.”
“That’s what I thought.” I dug deep into my kindness.
No, that wasn’t strictly true. Rue brought it out in me.
Looking back at her, I tried to say something to undo the harshness I felt when around her. I’d lost the ability to reason when she was in close proximity. She was like a goddess with the ability to break through my fake demeanor.
Heading into the hallway, I went after De Sade.
