Page 88 of Pride: The Rogue
That booming order brought her crashing to the moment.
“…guess the lady did not want his attentions, after all…” one man said.
That supposition was met with a bevy of laughter, that grew distant, and then faded altogether, until only the harsh rasp of her and Lachlan’s mingled breaths, remained.
Then, the weight of the last words those men had spoken, hit Livian.
“…guess the lady did not want his attentions, after all…”
Stunned, Livian aid her palms upon Lachlan’s chest. “You knew he intended to hurt me,” she whispered. “You followed him and beat him to protect me.”
He grunted.
Livian opened her mouth, but couldn’t find the words to speak, as a new discovery occurred to her.
“You didn’t leave,” she whispered.
His expression turned black. “Do you believe I’d let anyone harm you?”
That protective, possessive counter-question liquified her. “N-No,” she said, unsteady as she’d never been. “That isn’t…what I…you didn’t leave this afternoon.”
Latimer stared dumbly back. He had the look of a proud buck who’d just found himself in a hunter’s crosshairs.
“You stayed because of me,” she repeated, her voice catching.
Oh, God, help me. I am never going to be the same…
The icy smile to curve his lips quashed all that foolish, romantic, hope.
“You’re making more of it than there was, darlin’. I was in the right place at the right time. Like you, I had problems that kept me from getting on the road today.”
“Oh,” she said dumbly.
Of course.
Livian stuck her hand out. “I wanted to thank you again, for coming to my rescue.”
He gave a gentle smile. “I don’t need your thanks, Livian.”
Had he been curt, it would have been easier to bear than this heart-wrenching tenderness.
When he made no move to accept Livian’s handshake, she let her arm fall.
She drew in a steadying breath. “Either way, you have my g-gratitude.”
And here she’d been doing a fine-enough job of holding herself together, only to have that quaver to her last word, give her away.
Maybe he didn’t hear it.
No, he heard everything.
Maybe he’dpretendhe hadn’t heard it.
Maybe he wouldn’t say anything.
And, there was a Lord, after all.
Or maybe there wasn’t. For Lachlan released her.
