Page 87 of The Lyon Whisperer
“And then?”
“I really do not see—”
“Humor me, I beg of you. What did the two of you discuss? I really must insist you tell me.”
She closed her eyes briefly. She may as well relent. He would not give up his interrogation until she did. “He brought up his wife. He said some things concerning your mutual past which you will likely not appreciate.”
He drew his other hand to her nape. She felt his fingers prodding at her bound hair, removing pins. After a moment, the knot of her bun partially unwound. His fingers tugged at the twisted mound of hair, combing through the mass.
She laughed self-consciously. “What are you—”
“Do you mind?”
“No.” In fact, having him play with her hair was akin to heaven.
“Continue with your tale.” His voice was rough and low but held no menace.
It was hard to think while his fingers pulled and sifted. He’d inched closer, bracketing her legs with his. With every ministration, his inner thighs flexed.
“He told me you seduced Lady Millicent and then abandoned her. He said he was forced to step in a marry her.”
Abruptly his fingers stopped moving. Everything about him froze. Then he laughed softly. “That’s his story, is it?”
He released her and moved to the window, taking all the warmth in the chamber with him. He gazed out, his back to her.
She had the impression he saw not the grassy fields and trees and night-dark sky, but the past.
“You believed him, Amelia?”
“No, of course not.”
He turned. “No? Then why did you refuse to tell me what he’d said?”
“I don’t know,” she lied.
She knew very well why she hadn’t wanted to tell him. She didn’t want to discuss what the man had said about Chase’s reasons for marrying her. With any luck, he would be satisfied she’d told him everything and cease questioning her.
“In truth, Tully’s animosity toward me has roots that go back to our Eton days.”
“He mentioned you’d known each other since then.”
“We were in the same class, though the two of us did not move in the same circles. Tully’s father, the earl, and my father were both still alive, making Tully an heir to an earldom and me, nobody. No one had any reason to suspect my aunt and uncle would not conceive an heir, least of all me.
“He had his friends, if you could call them that, I had mine. His consisted more of sycophants rather than actual comrades because, even as a boy, he had no care for anyone other than himself and it showed. He was a bully and a tyrant.”
“With everyone but you?” she asked, somehow knowing it to be true.
Chase shrugged and began pacing the dark room, his steps sure as if he had the night vision of a cat. “One day, my friends and I came upon him teasing the headmaster’s daughter. She was a simple creature, having been born lacking the capacity to understand he wasn’t being her friend when he told her to remove her garments and dance. She thought they were playing a great game.”
“How perfectly horrid,” she said. “No one tried to stop him?”
Chase approached the foot of the bed. He leaned against a post, crossing his arms over his chest. The lapels of his robe had parted to reveal a good amount of burnished skin and a dusting of dark hair.
“I have no notion what happened before I came on the scene. I only know I could not abide such nonsense. I told him to leave her alone.”
Pride swelled in her chest. Of course he had.
“He declined. I made my suggestion again, with a bit more force.”
