“I told you that’s done. Give money, host an event, but I won’t have you risking yourself, running all about Town.” Running right into one of Bleven’s traps.
Maddie paused mid-yawn and glared at him. “And I thought I told you not to give me orders. I’m not one of your servants.”
Jesus Christ. Jack felt like banging his skull on the headboard. The woman would drive him into Bedlam. She was going on again about orders and equality, and he knew it could continue all night.
So he did the only thing he could think of. He pushed her against the bedpost and kissed her.
She was less than receptive, so he kissed her again, then nuzzled her neck. Her arms came around him, pulling him closer. He bent to kiss her throat, his hands coming up to cup her breasts. “Sweetheart, I have another proposal for you.”
Her breathing quickened, and Jack had a feeling she wouldn’t be able to refuse.
Maddie frowned as she watched Jack’s valet help him into his coat. “I don’t see how I’ll choose just one charity, Lord Blackthorne,” she complained. “It’s not possible.”
Jack brushed at the sleeve of the coat and nodded to the valet, dismissing the man. “It’s only for a few months. And you agreed to the proposal.”
She pursed her lips. “You tricked me.”
Jack laughed. “You’re damn right I did. Ready for breakfast?”
The door closed behind the valet, and Maddie leaned back on the bed. “How can I think about food when I have so many other, much more important items on my mind?”
Jack shrugged. “Don’t think. Just eat.” He moved toward the door. “And you need have only one thing on your mind. Me.”
MADDIE SIGHED AND FELL back on the soft mattress. Why had she agreed to Jack’s stupid proposal? How could she possibly choose between the Widow’s Benevolent Society and the Orphan’s Munificent Society? Widows and orphans alike needed her.
And what about the war veterans and the animal societies? Who would help if she didn’t?
“Madeleine, I won’t change my mind. You actively participate in only one society for the time being.”
She looked up to see Jack towering triumphantly over her. All her life she’d fought her father for the right to pursue her charitable interests, and then in a moment of blind lust she’d lost all she’d worked so hard for. Or perhaps she’d lost it long before—the first moment Jack jumped into her carriage.
“You really have no heart, do you?” she said, raising herself on her elbows. “How can you be so callous? How can you stand there, looking so smug, as though winning a wager with me is more important than helping children?”
“Because my first priority is protecting you. You want to help children? Fine, we’ll give all the societies in the country a donation.” He took her roughly by the shoulders. “But I won’t risk you.”
“And I won’t be locked up like a pretty bird, all show and no value. That’s not a life.”
Jack’s dark eyes turned stormy, his eyebrows coming together in a black slash. “It’s better than the alternative. You think you’re invincible, that nothing can touch you.” He was shaking now, shaking her shoulders and shaking with fury. “But you’re not invincible. You’re not safe. And I’ll be damned if I lose you the same way I lost—”
With a growl, he released her, pushing her back and turning away. Maddie sat stunned for a long moment and then bounded off the bed, darting under Jack’s arm and blocking the door before he could open it. “Wait, Jack. Finish your sentence. Who did you lose?”
“No one.” He tried to push her aside, but she wedged her shoulder against the door tightly and reached out to place her hand on his chest.
“Tell me.”
She saw his jaw clench, and for a moment she was certain he would sweep past her, shutting her out once again. Forever.
And then his eyes softened and his features relaxed. The pain she saw in his face sliced through her, and she put her arms around him. “Oh, Jack,” she whispered.
“You say I have no heart.” His voice was raspy, but the deep bass rumbled through her. “Do you know how many times I’ve heard that whispered about me?”
She hugged him tighter. “I didn’t mean it. Of course you have a heart.”
He pulled back, a sneer on his lips. “You think so? You don’t know me. No one ever told you that I watched my mother die and did nothing to save her, did they?”
Maddie swallowed hard but refused to pull away from him. That was what he wanted—to distance himself from her and his feelings. And yet, she knew if she were ever to understand him, ever to claim a piece of his heart, she had to break down this last defense. “Jack, I don’t believe you. I do know you. You would never stand by when someone needed your help. Please, tell me what happened.”
He stepped back, shook his head and ran a hand through his hair. The style the valet had spent so much time taming was instantly in disarray, sections of dark hair falling over Jack’s forehead. But it was his expression that pained her the most. Had she ever seen a man with so much pain in his eyes? He looked shattered.
