Page 120 of The Wolf of Mayfair
Grief did strange things to people. Having lost her parents, Helia knew that all too well.
“I ...” It was too much being this close to him. Needing to stretch, needing to move, needing distance from him, Helia stood and presented him her back.
“Yes?” he snapped.
“I thought you might prefer it?” That slight uptilt managed to turn her response into a question.
“Preferit?” he asked bluntly. “And why would I?”
That brought her up short. A sliver of hope slipped inside her breast.
She faced him once more.
“I know you feel as if you are responsible when those close to you suffer.” She held her palms up. “Just as I know I’m the one responsible for your father’s fit and resulting impairment.”
With every word that flew from her lips, Anthony’s gaze darkened.
Missing a beat, Helia stumbled back a step. “And if you wish for me to go away ...” Her voice broke.
Oh, God, how she’d miss him. Her heart would cease to beat and then wither and die in her breast.
He glared for her to continue.
“If you wish for me to leave, I understand. I’ve already asked for my belongings to be packed.”
Anthony said nothing for a long while, and Helia sat in the misery of his silence.
Then a low, murderous rumble shook his frame.
“You’ve packed your bags,” he said between tightly gritted teeth.
Biting her lower lip, Helia nodded.
Suddenly, he shot a hand out, caught her by the waist, and hauled her against him.
She gasped ... and then made the mistake of meeting his gaze. Those nearly black irises gleamed with a raw ferocity.
He lowered his head, so that she had to tip her neck back.
“You better have packed for two, love, because if you think for one moment I intend to let you leave me, I will track you down to the ends of the earth, and claw my way to heaven and snatch you back from the hands of God himself.”
Tears blurred his beautiful, beloved visage. Her mouth trembled furiously.
He wasn’t done with her.
“You are mine,” he rasped. Anthony gave her a slight shake, and the chain bearing his signet ring rattled about her neck as if to add further weight to his affirmation. “And I am yours. Do you hear that?”
Helia gave a small nod.
“Do youhearthat?” he repeated, this time more forcefully and with another greater shake.
A sob escaped her, and Helia caught it too late behind her fingers. “A-aye.”
Anthony searched her face like one in seek of the veracity of her confirmation, and with a harsh growl, he again snatched her close.
Helia wept; her tears dampened the front of his shirt. She cried so that her entire body shook, and still she could not stop, not even with the quiet, soothing words Anthony whispered into her ear.
“I th-thought you would blame me,” she said between tears.
