Page 36 of A Proposition for the Comte
‘The revenge mentioned is because I killed my husband.’ These words fell into the night between them, sharp-edged with meaning.
‘Why?’
‘He hit me. I hit him back.’ She kept it simple, the lie, kept it pared to the minimum.
‘Addington was much bigger than you by all accounts.’
‘A hammer is unforgiving and he did not expect it.’
More untruth, but he would see the horror of it all on her face, she was sure. What she did not expect was the sadness on his. The price of the life of her family. She would pay it gladly if it meant Amaryllis and the boys stayed safe.
‘Perhaps you lie, Lady Addington?’
His words were soft, but the execution made them doubly potent.
‘But you cannot know it, truly.’ She gave him this without reserve.
‘Which leaves us...where?’ The gold in his eyes ran molten.
‘Right here,’ she said and leaned forward, touching the back of his good hand with her fingers, feeling the heat and the competence and the sheer strength of him. ‘Here in this room together with all of our secrets and lies. I need protection and I am willing to pay for it.’
His fingers turned and curled over hers, eyes rising to lock on to her own.
‘How?’
‘I can see that you want me. You would not have come here otherwise.’
He laughed at that. ‘You are bold, Violet Addington, but are you also foolish?’
‘I am a twenty-seven-year-old widow who is soon to be twenty-eight. It is not permanence I am petitioning you for,mon comte. Only safety. If I am to live at all, I need to be close to you.’
‘Close?’
‘I have not offered my body to any other and there have been many who have asked, even before my husband died.’ She could not make it any plainer.
She pulled away her hand and stood.
If she were to do it, the time would be now. If she faltered, she would lose him and she had no other way of saving all that she had built up. The fury in her made her swallow as did the sheer and utter barrage of nerves.
Unlacing the bodice of her gown, she let the wool slip off one shoulder. Her heart beat like a drum, but too much talking was dangerous. She needed a connection and a truth and this was the only way she might be able to find it. If he refused what she offered, there was no other way to save her world.
Hell.She was beautiful in the candlelight, a burnished flame of fire and ivory and silk and shadow. He had never in all his life seen another like her and the breath rushed from him.
She was tendering herself to him for protection after admitting she had killed her husband. He should be running away from all her complications, but he found he could not.
Tears glistened in her eyes, the grey of them mixed with green as she spoke, her words soft.
‘If you are going to risk your life for me, Aurelian, like you did today, then I want to give you something in return.’
‘As a duty?’
She shook her head.
‘As a troth. I am not a virgin. I am not a green girl. There is nothing innocent you could take from me.’
He frowned. Did she not know that lovemaking was not all about taking? There was giving in it, too, and such things created bindings.
The fury in him had settled a little. She was scared and she was lonely and fright made her pupils larger.
