“Robert! If someone sees us…”
“Why the hell are you always so concerned about appearances?”
Victoria's anger grew to the point where she was shaking. “How dare you ask that?” she hissed.
“I dare a lot, darling.”
Her hand itched. His cheek was very close, and it would look so good with a nice red welt on it. “I will ask you one last time—”
“Only one more time? Good. You're getting most tedious.”
“I shall scream.”
“And alert the masses whom you are so assiduously trying to avoid? I think not.”
“Robert…”
“Oh, for God's sake.” He whipped open a door, snatched her hand, and hauled her into a room, slamming the door behind him. “There. Now we're alone.”
“Are you mad?” she screeched. She looked wildly about her surroundings, trying to figure out where she was.
“Do try to calm down,” he said, standing in front of the door, looking very much like an implacable god. “This is my room. No one will walk in on us.”
Victoria snorted. “This isn't the guest wing.”
“Lady H. ran out of room,” he said with a shrug. “She put me near the family quarters. Because I'm an earl, she said.”
“I am well aware of your rank and all it entails,” she said, her voice pure ice.
Robert let that barb pass. “As I said, we are now alone, and we can finish this conversation without your incessant worrying that we will be discovered.”
“Did it ever occur to you that perhaps I just don't like you? That perhaps you are the reason I do not want to be alone with you?”
“No.”
“Robert, I have chores I must attend to. I can't be here.”
“I don't see how you're going to leave,” he said, leaning against the door.
“Stop jeopardizing my position. You may be able to return to your privileged life in London,” she said in a furious, low voice, “but I do not have that option.”
He stroked her cheek insolently. “It could be an option, if you should so choose.”
“Don't!” She wrenched away from him, hating herself for loving his touch, hating him for touching her. She turned her back on him. “You insult me.”
His hands came down lightly on her shoulders. “It was meant as the highest of compliments.”
“A compliment!” she burst out, pulling away from him yet again. “You have a warped set of morals.”
“That is certainly a bizarre statement, coming from you.”
“I am not the one who spends all of my free time seducing innocents.”
He countered with, “I am not the one who tried to sell my life and body for a fortune and a title.”
“You're a fine one to talk. You, who have already sold your soul.”
“Explain yourself,” he bit out.
And then, just because his tone annoyed her so much, she said, “No.”
“Do not defy me, Victoria.”
“‘Do not defy me,’” she mocked. “You are not in any position to give me orders. You might have been—” Her voice broke, and it took her a moment to regain her composure. “You might have been, but you gave up that right.”
“Is that a fact?”
“It's no use talking with you. I don't know why I even try.”
“Don't you?”
“Don't touch me,” Victoria bit out. She could feel him drawing near. He radiated heat and a certain maleness that was his alone. Her skin began to tingle.
“You keep trying,” he said softly, “because you know that matters between us have never been resolved.”
Victoria knew it was true. Their relationship ended so abruptly. This was probably why seeing him after all these years was so difficult. But she didn't want to face him now. She wanted to sweep him under the rug and forget about him.
Most of all, she didn't want her heart broken anew, which she was fairly certain would happen if she let herself spend any time with him.
“Deny it,” he whispered. “I dare you to.” She said nothing.
“You can't, can you?” He crossed the room and put his arms around her, resting his chin on the top of her head. It was an embrace they'd shared a hundred times before, but never had it felt so bittersweet. Robert had no idea why he was holding her. He only knew that he couldn't not do it.
“Why are you doing this?” she whispered. “Why?”
“I don't know.” And God help him, it was the truth. He'd told himself he wanted to ruin her. Part of him still wanted revenge. She'd cut his heart to ribbons. He'd hated her for years for that.
But holding her felt so right. There really wasn't another word for it. No other woman had ever fit quite so perfectly in his arms, and he'd spent the past seven years filling them with other women, trying desperately to blot this one from his memory.
Was it truly possible to love and hate at the same time? Robert had always scoffed at the notion, but he was no longer so certain. He let his lips trail along the warm skin of her temple. “Have you let other men hold you this way?” he whispered, dreading the answer. She had wanted only his fortune, but his heart still raced with jealousy at the thought of her with another man.
She made no reply for a moment, and Robert's entire body tensed. Then she shook her head.
“Why?” he asked, with just a touch of desperation. “Why?”
“I don't know.”
“Was it the money?”
She stiffened. “What?”
He moved his lips to her neck, kissing her with a feral grace. “No one rich enough to keep you satisfied?”