Her throat hurt. Mostly a dull burn, she decided with a long stretch before she sat up in the middle of the bed. Kind of like just before a sore throat strikes. Two hands ran heavily over her face and hair. Fuzzy hair time, she thought, blinking and finding Nancy immediately at the side of the bed with a refilled glass of liquid.
Emma gazed around after taking a grateful drink.
“Thank you. I need a clock in here. Have you been here the whole time I was sleeping?” Emma set the glass down and slipped over the side of the bed. She continued on into the bathroom and sighed in relief.
“His lordship wanted me to be here if you needed anything, Miss.”
“He’s angry at me, isn’t he?” Emma asked after washing her hands and striding to the vanity seat. She reached for her brush after pulling the band from the end of her hair. Tomorrow, she was finding someone who could give a half decent haircut.
“Angry?” Nancy repeated in surprise. “No, Miss, not with you. He’s very worried about you.”
“I’m not fond of guys who behave like that,” Emma gave up the brush when Nancy came behind her and took it to take over the brushing. “I want it back in a braid, please. I’m going to town in the morning. I want to get my hair cut. But anyway…I’m okay. A little sore…” she peered into the mirror and winced. “And a little on the purple side. But it’ll go away,” she declared with a dismissing shrug. “I think I want to look at the room where the furniture is stored. We might find some good stuff there I need.”
Emma peered into the mirror when her statement met with silence and lowered eyes. “Nancy, what’s wrong?”
“His lordship thought you should stay in bed, Miss. I was to bring you dinner here,” Nancy said quietly, her hands working the long hair into a neat braid before tying off the end.
“I’m okay. And…to be honest, sitting around just makes me think of that person and I don’t want to do that. So…” Emma stood up and forced a bright smile to her lips. “Show me where the extra furniture is. Why is there extra?”
“His lordship has been repairing the house since he bought it. Some of the furniture is old and from the other buildings he removed,” Nancy explained. “He only kept the pieces in good condition. Some is from other buildings he bought and repaired for use and rental.”
“The bedroom is a little sparse. Two dressers, an armoire and bed. Oh and the two chairs and now the trunks, but the room is huge. Maybe I can find a book shelf and…I don’t know…I’ll know what I want when I see it.”
Maybe she shouldn’t have been surprised that Lucas wasn’t in the library. Nor did he appear in the dining hall when Nancy informed her dinner was ready.
They’d crawled among several rows of best described as stuff, Emma thought with a smile as she stood before the mirror in her bathroom and scrubbed her face. She found a clock that would sit nicely on the high bureau and Nancy promised would be repaired in a day or two. She pulled a very nice and dusty book shelf from behind another mirrored armoire. They managed to get those two pieces to her bedroom.
Which wasn’t all that difficult since they hadn’t seen anyone else inside the house. Nancy was even surprised when she opened the front door and found her father outside at the bottom of the stairs. Emma had listened when he gruffly ordered her to remain inside with her mistress. Which Emma realized was her. She set the clock near the front door and touched Nancy’s arm with a little nod inside.
“They’re out there because of Daniel,” Emma said quietly, instantly seeing the answer in Nancy’s face. “It’s alright. Let’s get the shelf into the bedroom and we can clean it. When I go to town tomorrow I want to visit the book shop. I missed that today.”
She knew she was keeping busy on purpose. No one would tell her where Lucas and Harris had disappeared to. She picked at her food until finally giving up and leaving the dining hall, striding down the corridor to the library. All the doors and windows were closed and locked from the inside. It was stifling.
She dug her nails into her palms because if she didn’t, she was positive she’d go over and throw the window panes wide. Instead, she turned and stomped up the stairs to her room. But standing in the doorway, her gaze immediately went to the open balcony window. She shuddered as she drew the doors closed and latched them.
But she wasn’t stupid. If someone wanted inside that room, the glass doors wouldn’t stop them. Emma curled on the edge of the bed, just staring. Some things don’t change, even when the time or place does.
She caused this. Her views, her opinions. She didn’t fit here anymore than she did anywhere else in her life. And now she’d brought something to Lucas’ door and she didn’t have a clue what it was about! At least before when she was in the middle of some mess, she knew how she got there and why.
Emma striped off her dress and quickly washed and pulled the chair in front of the window. She settled there with a sheet over her and listened to the sound of night falling around the house. She could see the figures walking around outside and knew them from sight.
She shivered slightly and decided this just wasn’t a comfortable room tonight. Not alone. And she definitely did not want to be alone. Thankfully, the lights had been lit so she didn’t have to wander the hall in the dark. Emma stood at the door, knocking lightly.
When there was no response, she slowly turned the knob and stepped inside. His was a normal square room and not nearly as big as the one he’d put her in. And very sparsely furnished.
A bed and a dresser and a mirrored armoire. She’d been in the room once but had been so excited about finding the money in her trunk, she’d barely noticed how empty it looked. He had a small vanity type thing with a basin on it and a mirror. That’s where he stood when he shaved. She walked inside the room, her fingers running over the surface of the vanity.
And everything in the room was amazingly neat, she thought with a brief shudder. Just like his workshop. Very orderly and precise. She wondered if he made love the same way.
Emma lowered the light, opened the window wide and crawled into the center of the bed. It was warm enough to just curl around a fluffy pillow. It smelled like Lucas. Spicy and clean. And safe. She might not know what was happening, but she knew where she felt safest.
She’d never been important to anyone before and taking care of herself had been priority in most of her life. She didn’t know if it was genuine or not, but for the moment, all she wanted was the feeling around her as she drifted off to sleep.
****
Lucas couldn’t remember being this angry in all his thirty-two years. He pulled his spectacles from his face and tossed them to the top of the vanity. He looked from the open window to the bundle lying in the center of his bed and breathed a sigh of relief.
He’d checked her room. Checked the whole house when he found her room empty. But hadn’t thought to check his own room. He’d thrown off his jacket hours ago in the search of the property, making certain everything was secure and inaccessible. He sat in the single straight backed chair, pulled his boots off, and dropped them quietly to the floor.
Evidently he hadn’t been quiet enough. He watched the limber, feminine form stretch her arms above her head, a soft sound like a kitten left her lips as she rolled to her back. Dark lashes blinked and focused on him, a momentary look of concern flashing over her features before she relaxed.
“Lucas…” Emma ran her tongue around her lips. “I couldn’t sleep in my room.”
“We haven’t found him, Emma,” Lucas had begun to open the buttons down his shirt. He moved toward the bed, his hands on the edge as he leaned forward. He’d worked most of the day to put thoughts of Emma out of his mind. But he never managed to remove her from his bed.
His cock surged against the coarse fabric of his trousers. She smelled like roses. She’d released her hair and it hung loosely around her face. Waves of dark brown draped across her shoulders and he could see the pebbled points of her nipples pressing against the crème fabric of her camisole.
“I think I was afraid to stay in my room alone.” Emma pulled in a slow breath.
Lucas stared into the wide, luminous eyes, his hand rising with only the barest of tremors as he stroked along her cheek and jaw. His thumb caught on the full bow of her lower lip, caressing along the softness. Neither of them seemed to breathe.
“Emma…” he watched her slide her knees beneath her and rise slowly. Lightning shot through him when her hands came forward and touched the buttons on his shirt. He should stop her. He should remain in his clothing and force her to lie back and go to sleep. She needed rest, he kept telling himself.
“Lucas, I’m not a child.”
He couldn’t stop the fury from bursting in a flash in his gaze when it landed on her throat. One hand rose to trail soft fingers around her temple, brushing the long hair behind her shoulder.
“It doesn’t really hurt,” she said softly. “It just looks pretty bad. Nancy gave me some kind of lotion and massaged it on for me.”
He wasn’t about to ruin the mood by telling her exactly how Daniel had sealed his fate by putting his hands on her.
“Emma, if you have any doubt about being here…I don’t believe I possess the strength to send you away again,” a low need vibrated in his voice and the room began to heat up.
“Why should I be afraid of you, Lucas?” Emma stared up at him as she moved closer on her knees, her fingers deftly opening the buttons down the front of his shirt.
The fabric parted and he felt her fingers touch his skin. Soft and cool. Small hands stroking over his chest and onto his shoulders, pushing the stiff shirt further open and down his arms. He straightened, shrugging absently until it fell forgotten to the floor.
“Emma, there are things about me you’re completely unaware of,” Lucas forced the words from his lips at the same time her caress became more insistent. Fingernails raked along his shoulders and down his chest, cool circles drawn around each male nipple.
“You have a really nice chest, Lucas. Strong and muscled…”
“Emma…”
Her name filled the room in a soft, plaintive groan and his hands were immediately on her shoulders when her fingers trailed around the band of his trousers.
“There’s nothing wrong with my hearing, Lucas,” Emma opened the button on his pants and looked up into his eyes.
Lucas knew he could very easily lose himself in the softness of her. His gaze followed the movement of her fingers when she placed them on the tiny ribbons holding the camisole together. He kept telling himself he’d seen her naked. But it didn’t stop the savage throbbing of his cock as it hardened even more with each ribbon she untied.
“What do you believe I should know about you?” Emma slipped past him and onto the floor. Her hands trailed over his sides. “I know you have a very nice, muscular chest and stomach,” she ran her hands up his arms to his shoulders. “Do you exercise?”
“I run the beach. I lift weights when I need to work out a problem,” he answered, his tongue getting thicker with each stroke of her hands. “I box occasionally.”
“Huh…now those are things I wouldn’t have thought of you. But you’re disciplined. And very tidy,” she murmured.
Lucas turned abruptly to face her. His hands gripped her wrists and held her hands away from him.
Emma pulled against his hold, surprise on her face when nothing gave.
“Hold still,” he snapped and waited.
“Why would you want to marry me, Lucas? You can’t even stand my touch,” Emma pulled again, her body twisting to the side to try and break his hold.
“I expected there would be time to discover if we suit, Emma.”
“Is that why you came to London? To give your wager time? Is that why you keep pushing me away? Time? Let me go!” She kicked out but he had stepped back enough to avoid her bare foot. “I don’t know why I came here. I felt safe with you. I trust you and you keep pushing me away! Let – me – go!”
Lucas moved swiftly. He pulled her wrists above her head, holding them tightly in one closed fist while the other arm wrapped around her middle and pulled her hard against his body. There was no mistaking his arousal, the hard length of his cock nestled against the rounded globes of her ass.
“Do you want to listen, Emma? Or would you rather I take you back to your room and tie you over the trunk and tan your arse until it glows a perfect shade of rose for me?”
****
Emma went still.
Okay, this was definitely a new side to Lucas. So why was her pussy heating up like a sidewalk in high summer? Aside from people wanting her dead and the whole antiquity thing, she had decided that Lucas was answering most requirements in her list for a lover. But this trait…this behavior wasn’t something she’d ever written in a list for anyone to see. Ever.
She gasped when Lucas hauled her against him. Seconds before he spun her around, she was aware of the heat of his body, the sinister gleam in his eyes, the cruel twist of his lips, the hard feel of every unyielding inch of his chest, his thick, powerful thighs, the spicy, male scent of him and the warmth of his breath fanning her face.
“I’m waiting, Emma. When I ask a question, I expect an answer,” Lucas informed her, his tone hard and callous.
“I was right to begin with,” she answered quietly. “I don’t belong here. Please release me and I’ll go to my room. I’ll leave in the morning or as soon as I find a place to stay.”
“And you believe I’ll simply allow you to run away?”
“What do you want from me? I can’t figure out what I’ve done over and over that makes you push me away.”
“I had decided to cancel our arrangement. I had believed I could pretend.”
Emma heard the faintest hint of remorse or sorrow and she tried to turn her head to look at him.
“What do you think I don’t know, Lucas?” She hated the weak sound of her own voice at the moment and really hated being unable to break free of his hold.
“Can you follow orders, Emma?”
Uh-oh…now where had she read something along these lines.
“Are you going to hurt me?”
Lucas sighed heavily. “I’d kill anyone who harmed you, Emma.”
“I understand if you don’t want to marry me, Lucas. I haven’t asked for it or…or think that’s it’s at all right because of our father’s…”
“I’m not doing a very good job at this. The truly amazing part of this is I’ve never had a difficult time explaining myself to anyone before in my life,” Lucas said with a hint of humor in his voice. “Until I met you. Now I find myself unable to make a firm decision and keep to it or even put the correct words in the proper places to explain myself.”
“I don’t understand what I’ve done. I don’t understand what you think has to be hidden from me.” Emma closed her eyes. “Are you a werewolf? A vampire? Do you prefer men? Explain it to me, Lucas. I’m fairly intelligent. I can comprehend what we talk about.”
She relaxed a little when he actually laughed, the sound soft and next to her ear.
“Do you know…the very first thing that attracted me to you was how you handled the entire situation with calm and aplomb. From the very moment you woke. No vapors. No hysteria,” he leaned his head against hers. “As for your imaginative perceptions, I can assure you, I am nothing more complex than a man, Emma.”
Emma breathed a sigh when he released her hands. Even if they did fall in a very unladylike rush to her sides. Her shoulders ached a little but she wasn’t about to say anything. She relaxed, her body sagging against his.
“Forget our fathers, Lucas, please. Whatever we feel is between us. No one else. And it’s no one’s business but ours what happens in our bedroom,” Emma felt his breathing catch. What was she missing? Why did he feel he had to hide something and what the heck could it be?”
Lucas moved his hands to her waist but only for a scant few seconds before his palms pressed upward. The camisole she’d untied parted over his hands, each one surrounding a small, rounded breast.
Emma held her breath. Dark lashes drifted closed when his thumbs rasp over the wrinkling areolas and then over nipples that pebbled slowly with each stroke over their surface.
“The only thing I can attribute to our fathers is bringing you to me,” Lucas whispered against her throat, his teeth biting down the length to her shoulder.
“Lucas…” Emma shuddered against him. “Please don’t send me away again.”
“I asked if you can follow orders, Emma.”