“No. As that implies a personal relationship, and you and I have none. Now I am asking you to please leave.”
Rather than obey her wishes, the Baron lifted the lid of the box. His expression still pleased and hopeful, he pulled out a stunning diamond necklace. Thea felt her tense jaw loosen as she stared at the richness in stunned amazement. “I brought this for you,” he said. “Will, you not accept it as a gesture of my affection for you?”
Thea longed to take it. It gleamed and sparkled in the sunlight where the Baron held it, as he no doubt planned it that way. However, should she accept it, it also meant a tacit consent that she would allow him to court her. If she took that step, the Baron would also be that much closer to hearing her say yes to his marriage proposal.
Disgust filled her. Disgust and rage. “No,” she growled, stepping lightly toward him with her fists clenched. She craved to strike him square in his grinning, sneering mouth. “I willnotaccept it, and youwillleave. This instant, Baron.”
His happy countenance faded. “But, this necklace is priceless.”
“So is my virtue. Now I am asking you again, politely, to leave. Do not force me to become impolite.”
Anger lowered his brows and thinned his lips. “You will regret this, Thea. No one scorns me, girl. No one.”
Spinning on his heel, he stamped from the solar, the sound of his boots fading as he stalked down the corridor until she heard his steps no longer. Fear warred with her anger as she folded her arms across her chest and rubbed the goose pimples that rose on them. Glancing up into Liam’s cold and furious eyes, she shook her head without speaking to him.
Bowing low, Liam stepped back into the corridor and shut the door behind him.Surely he would not hurt me. Did my imagination put that deadly rage in his eyes? He vowed to marry me, and what if it happens? What if Freddie consents to it, and forces me to marry him?Suspecting she had just made a mortal enemy of the Baron by her rejection of him and his gift, Thea shuddered to think of what would happen to her if she married the man.
He would hurt her and badly.
Chapter 11
Waiting for Thea in the stand of trees, all but invisible in the dark, Liam fretted. He paced, thinking of what he had witnessed, of the Baron’s dark and feral expression when he stormed from the solar and Thea’s presence. No man liked rejection, of course, but the Baron’s face informed him the man tilted close to the edge of reason. Liam knew the Baron was infatuated with her, but he now feared for her safety.
The sound of breaking twigs broke into his thoughts, and he spun around. Thea stepped delicately amid the trees and wild bramble, catching her gown on tiny thorns and branches. “Miss Miller,” he said, bowing.
“I thought we were beyond all that,” she said, but he heard the lack of fire in her words. He then knew she was afraid.
Not caring that it broke all bounds of protocol, Liam took her hand in his. “Thea.”
“Much better.”
Close to him, she stared up into his face, and he felt her fingers tremble. Her impish grin held no true emotion, he saw, and he wanted so much to take her in his arms and tell her everything would be all right. Except they both knew he would be lying.
“I am so sorry you had to witness that scene earlier,” Thea said.
“No. I am glad I did. Now I know I may need to protect you.”
Her fingers squeezed his. “You do not truly think – he meant it? Do you?”
“Yes,” Liam replied, knowing his voice had grown cold but he could not stop it. “Just as you know he did. The man is dangerous, Thea.”
“I am so scared,” she whispered, turning her face from his.
“I will protect you. I will die to protect you.”
“You cannot save me from my own husband, Liam.”
Liam felt the blood drain from his face. “You are not going to marry him?”
“Of course, I do not want to.”
Thea pulled away from him and walked to the edge of the lake, and the water that lapped at the gravel. “I am so frightened that Freddie will force me to. He has the authority. Of course, he does not believe anything but good can come from that horrid man.”
“But – I heard him say it himself,” Liam stated, trying to keep his voice from shaking. “He wants you to be happy, and will permit you to choose.”
Bending, Thea picked up a pebble and tossed it into the lake. It sank with a faint plop, and the outreaching ripples touched the shore at her feet. “True. But I am afraid his generosity in that regard may soon run out. He wants me married, and he wants me to marry the Baron.”
“Inform your brother the Baron threatened to harm you. I am a witness.”
