“Field Savage,” Selena called out her brother’s full name, “don’t lose your manners!”
“What bloody manners? I find you in his house and you dare say such a thing! Are you trying to anger me to death?” Saville stopped struggling. “Why are you here? What the hell have you been doing in this house?”
“It’s not what it looks like,” Warrick said, trying hard to keep the curses from flying from his lips, even though he knew that no explanation could appease the wrath contorting the lines of Saville’s face. Damn it, he was being punished, wasn’t he? This was the curse.
Shewas his curse.
“Yes, this can easily be explained,” Selena said. “I seduced your best friend. What are you going to do about it?”
Warrick’s jaw dropped as his head whipped to her. Admitting to a kiss was one thing, but this... There was no coming back from an admission like that. Not a path that he could see.
Unless . . .
Unless he married her.
Unless she married him.
Unless they both loved each other.
But all his thoughts with drowned out by a deafening roar.
Chapter Fifteen
No good deedgoes unpunished.
The lists of her regrets today kept growing and growing. She should not have given into the temptation of the scent covering Warrick’s robe and worn it. She should not have wandered about the house and struck up conversations with servants to tease out information about their employer instead of thinking about the consequences of acting as though this were her house, and these her servants. She should not have admitted to seducing Warrick, angering her brother to the point of being dragged back home and locked in her chamber.
Locked.
As in he had turned the key andlockedher inside.
Insufferable man!
Did he honestly believe a locked door could keep her inside their house? Had he forgotten she’d had learned to climb through windows and up and down trees as a child? She also had a meeting she could not miss. Yet another thing she regretted—this meeting.
Also coming alone.
Selena sighed. The chaos of this morning must have addled her brain. Amidst all the shouting, as she’d had been hauled off by her brother, she had not missed the unfathomable look in Warrick’s gaze. There was no emotion, as though he had suppressed every last drop. Yet his gaze had remained so intensethat the hairs on the back of her neck had only settled back down in the familiar setting of her bedchamber.
Why can’t I say yes?
Yes to marriage, yes to him.
He was a good match, and she was quite fond of him. More than fond. He brought out in her a passion no other could claim to accomplish. And yet she could not utter the words that would clear the mess they were now mired in. Not even after acting the lady in his house!
She’d almost given in.
Almost.
Him standing strong, not allowing his closest friends rob them of her choice... it was so appealing that she’d almost acquiesced. But she would rather die than allow anyone to browbeat her into marriage.
Her gaze surveyed the ramshackle building falling to pieces brick by brick. Late afternoon, night had not yet claimed the day, but an overcast sky brought with it a light drizzle and moody feeling.
Well, it’s now or never, Selena.
She cast one last look at the hired coach, the driver having promised to wait for her, before she entered the building.
The temperature dropped a degree.
