Page 67 of Teach a Rogue New Tricks
“I have a choice. I chose to let you touch me. I chose to kiss you. I’ll choose to not—”
“Of course you have a choice. If you’ll remember, I’ve given up on abducting women and bending them to my will. I’d rather jump off the balcony than take away your choice.”
“Then why?” She had to know. She knew his heart could not be involved, but she needed to understand him so she could tell him no in the right way.
He shoved his hands through his hair once more, but it fell right down over his brow. His every thought flitted across his face until he tamed it into marble and faced her. “I could tell you I love you. Would your reaction change if you heard those words?”
Would it? She imagined the man before her a picture of sincerity, offering her his heart. Her own heart tightened, thumped. Heavens, yes, it might change her reaction. But his question suggested the fantasy held no truth, and that made her next words much easier to speak.
“I am not going to marry anyone, Cassius. Not Lucas, not you. I cut my fetters yesterday and found my courage, and I think I owe some of that to you. I know I do. But that does not mean I am obligated to marry you.”
“I would do my best to make you happy.”
She had no doubt of that. He did not love her now, and he’d spent the last several days teasing her, learning about her, kissing her, and touching her until nothing existed in the world but pleasure and happiness.
She took a tentative step toward him, pulling the sleeve he’d ripped down her arm back up over her shoulder. “I believe you would try to do so, attempt to make me happy.”
Her lurched toward her, a single step, bending his arm at the elbow as if he meant to reach for her. “My family would adore you.”
Ah. That reason made sense. It clicked all the bolts in place. His family. She’d always been valued by how she could serve others, but no more. She would be valued for herself alone or not at all. “We do not desire the same thing, Cassius. You want your world to contract until it is you and those you love most. That you love your family that much—” She snapped her lips closed, swallowed back a cry.
Love grew like an uncontrollable garden of wildflowers around this man. He could not stop the blooms from springing up, straight out of his heart. One day, a flower might even bloom for her in that field. And in turn, her world would contract—to England, to London, to the family estate.
She could not survive such a contraction.
She took a breath and tried again. “You love your family so very much, and you wish to be with them. I am off to explore the world. We cannot marry.”
His jaw tightened. He looked down the dark hall. “I must return you to your family.”
“But if it is marriage you wish, you should wed. Just… not me.”
“Because you wish to travel.”
“And you wish to make a cozy place at home.”
If his jaw tightened any more, it might break. “I don’t wish to marry another woman.”
He strode toward her. “Do you remember what Willow said about me yesterday?”
They stood shoulder to shoulder, side by side, and his chin almost brushed against her temple as he leaned toward her.
“Willow said much. Specifics, please, Cassius.”
“I’m selfish, Ada. I’ve spent most of my life getting exactly what I want.”
“What you want is your family’s love.”
His lips shaped into a smile that offered no mirth. “Yes. But now I want you, too.” He strode away, leaving her breathless.
She rushed after him, panic, anger, and indignation tightening in her veins into knots that strangled every inch of her body. “You cannot force me to marry you.”
“Forceis not the right verb, love,” he grumbled. His shoulders slumped and his hands fisted, then he turned around and she saw it—surrender. “You look a little mussed, but you’ll do. I mostly succeeded in keeping my hands from that luscious hair of yours, so your tresses are fine. I can always replace a pin or two if necessary.”
Curiosity joined the mixture of emotions boiling in her chest. “You can do ladies’ hair? Of course you can.”
“Your hair is the only hair I’d like to do from now on.” He put his hand where the door should be and pushed. A sliver of light flooded the hallway.
Ada stopped him before he could step through. “I must know you understand, Cass. We are not betrothed.”
