The Secrets of a Lady

I wonder why you’ve invited me here today of all days.”

The smug smile returned to Ellison’s cold lips. “I think you know.”

Griffin shook his head. “I’ve no idea, I assure you. It isn’t as if we’re friends, and we’ve seen far more than enough of each other lately for both our tastes.”

“Yes.” Ellison’s eyes lit up as he set his drink on the table beside him. “But never in private. What I have to say to you cannot be said in public.”

Griffin’s body lurched to attention, but he forced himself to maintain a bored exterior. “You’ve piqued my curiosity now. Whatever could you have to say to me that cannot be said in polite society?”

Ellison’s smile widened, though he winced with pain at the motion. Leaning back, he curled his hands around the arms of the chair, clutching them with enough force to whiten his knuckles.

“I brought you here to tell you that Audrey Jordan belongs to me.”

Griffin’s blood turned to ice in his veins. His initial reaction was to get up and finish the job he’d begun the night before, but then he calmed himself. Remembering that self-control wasn’t only noble, but intelligent, he took a deep breath.

“I beg your pardon?”

“You heard me.” Ellison’s voice was little more than a growl. “She’s mine.”

“Well, I would wager she’d have something to say about that, considering how hard she was fighting against you last night.”

Ellison waved a dismissive hand. “An innocent will always resist advances the first time. It’s in her nature and societal training to do so. Before I was finished with her, she would have been begging me for more.”

Griffin held back a howl of rage as every muscle in his body tensed. The thought of Ellison hovering over Audrey made him reel with fury.

Ellison ignored his guest’s reaction and continued, “For the past few weeks I have observed you watching her. You drag her off every time I get near. You’ve interfered with my plans more than once.”

Griffin blinked to clear his eyes, thanking his father silently for the calm he’d taught him. “Audrey is my best friend’s sister and is under my protection while she lives in my home.”

Ellison laughed, an unpleasant, grating sound. “Oh it’s much more than that. You want her.” Now he was leering, taunting Griffin. “You want to peel off all her layers and feel her writhe beneath you.”

“Enough,” Griffin breathed, surprised he hadn’t yet broken the chair with the force of his grip.

“No worries, friend,” Ellison chuckled. With a smug smile, he leaned back. “I understand completely. I feel the same way, but there is a difference. I need Audrey. And after all her troubles in the past, she needs me to need her.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Why the rumors surrounding her a few years ago,” Ellison explained with a smile. “They weren’t enough to truly ruin her reputation, but she’s past the flower of her youth so most men won’t look at her. I’m willing to overlook those flaws, to make her my wife. There’s much to be gained from a wife with a fortune and a mild reputation. Not so much as your Lucinda had, of course…”

“Why you…” Griffin flipped his chair over as he stood.

Before he could continue, the door opened and the butler stepped in. Though his eyebrows came up at the sight of Griffin’s overturned chair and Ellison’s raised fists, he made no mention of them.

“Excuse me, Mr. Ellison, Lady Audrey is here to see you. Shall I tell her you’re in?”

Ellison’s eyes widened with his smile as he laughed at Griffin. “You see, Berenger? She comes to me. Send her in, Kendrick.”

Griffin swallowed hard, thrown by this latest development. His rage was still just under the surface, fed by the fact that Audrey continued to put herself in danger. Even after last night’s near-tragic events she insisted on pressing forward.

“You look sick, Berenger.”

“Sick is a good word for one of us.” With a bang, he righted his chair just as the door opened again and Audrey and Hannah entered.

At first, her eyes were only for Ellison.

“Oh Douglas, it’s worse than I thought. Does it hurt very much?” she gushed, taking a step and holding out her hand, then drawing it back as if she’d thought better of it.

“Not much.” Douglas smiled as he motioned to Griffin. “And how pleased Lord Berenger and I are to see you.”

Audrey’s face fell as she turned to see Griffin standing beside his chair, clenching his fists at his sides. Her blue eyes widened, flashing a variety of emotions before she blocked them out with a false smile.

“L–Lord Berenger,” she stammered as she slanted a worried look over her shoulder at Hannah. “I didn’t realize you were here.”

“No,” he said, his voice cold as he began to understand her visit. Instead of playing it safe, keeping the hell away, she once again charged ahead. Damn her and damn this mission she seemed so bloody focused on finishing. At the risk of her body and her life. “I expect you didn’t.”

Chapter Twenty-One

Audrey shivered as Griffin looked at her, then through her as if she didn’t exist at all. The fury in his cold eyes was tangible, burning despite his icy exterior. Whatever had been happening in that room before she entered wasn’t a pleasant chat about boxing or racing.

She’d seen that look in Griffin’s eyes before. He was furious with Ellison, but also with her for coming here so soon after she’d been attacked. If only she’d known he’d be there, she would have waited to pay her call. Now his presence put her entire plan in jeopardy.

To her surprise, Griffin bowed stiffly first to her than to Ellison. “I can see I’m intruding so I will bid you both farewell.”

“Good day, Berenger,” Ellison said with a nod. “And don’t forget what I said.”

Griffin paused at the doorway to look over his shoulder in disgust at Ellison. “No, I don’t think I shall be able to.”

When the door had shut behind him, Audrey took a step toward Ellison, though her body was screaming at her to run after Griffin.

“You two weren’t arguing about what happened…” She paused with a blush she didn’t have to force. “About what happened last night.”

“It isn’t important, my dear.”

Ellison motioned to the chair Griffin had vacated. She took it, trying to ignore the warmth that still radiated from the cushion where Griffin’s body had been.

“It is very important to me if Lord Berenger was threatening you because of a misunderstanding caused by me,” she said as she leaned forward. God help her if she didn’t look earnest. “He didn’t harm you, did he?”

“Of course not,” Douglas scoffed with a roll of his eyes. “There’s little a man like that can do to harm me. A broken nose is secondary to what I can do in return.”

Drawing in a sharp little breath, Audrey glanced at Hannah. Though the maid kept her eyes down, Audrey could she that she, too, had registered Douglas’s threat.

“I don’t want you two to fight over me.”

Ellison let out a laugh. “Of course you do. All women want men to fight over them.”

Holding back a barbed comment, Audrey smiled without answer. There was no use getting into a debate on the feminine mind with a man who didn’t believe she had one to begin with.

“Let’s not talk of your friend any longer,” Ellison said with a smile of his own. “I’m surprised to see you here after last night. I planned to call and apologize to you this afternoon.”