She shuddered and then pushed forward. “I heard he was brutal, even chaining her to the bed where she had to beg for scraps of food like some sort of animal. Apparently this wasn’t the first time he’d done something of this nature, but it was the first time the lady was of some note.
“Falcourt discovered their location, as he had been searching for Louisa for weeks. Naturally, he was furious at what he found. Unfortunately, by the time he arrived the damage had already been done. After so much sexual torture, his sister’s mind was broken beyond repair. She remains at his uncle’s estate, a shell of the bright young woman she’d been before the incident. It’s rumored that she has a live in caregiver and spends most of her time staring out the window, mumbling to herself incoherently. She can’t even bathe or eat without assistance.”
Persephone found it difficult to breathe. The horror that Hunter must have come upon, and now, to be faced with a sister who was alive, but no longer living… It was no wonder he vowed vengeance upon Lord Gregory.
The man was more of a monster than she could have ever imagined.
It also made more sense to her why he would abstain from sexual favors.
She squeezed the lady’s hand. “Thank you, Charlotte.” On impulse, she reached out and hugged her. “You are a true friend and I value your counsel greatly.”
After a time, she took her leave, but before she did, she instructed the driver to make one last stop…
***
The front door opened, and Hunter strode out into the foyer. When he saw Persephone, he snapped, “I thought I told you I didn’t want you going out without my knowledge!”
She blinked at his outrage, and he couldn’t help but drink in the lovely sight of her. Her red-gold hair was hanging down in sensual ringlets around her neck, and the gown of purple satin that she wore clung to her every curve. With the recent, empire waist style becoming all the fashion, her breasts were on admirable display. He couldn’t help but think, rather uncharitably, to whom she might have been showing them to.
“I left you a note on your dressing table. Did you not see it?”
That made him pause. “I haven’t been upstairs to my rooms as I just returned a short time ago myself. Once I was informed that you were out…” He waved a hand and mumbled, “Forget I said anything.”
He turned on his heel and headed back to his study.
He was nearly halfway there by the time she caught up to him. “Hunter, wait! I have something for you.”
He stopped. Not because she told him she had something, but because she’d called him by his given name, rather than his title. It caused the blood to run hot through his veins and he wanted nothing more than to hear her call it out in the heat of passion.
A vivid image of him bending her over his desk flashed in his mind before he firmly pushed it aside.
“Here.”
He glanced down as she shoved something toward him. It was a book. But not just any book. As he read the title, he froze. “Tractatus de mente humana” by Louis de La Forge. He had been a friend of Rene Descartes, a French philosopher who’d studied the workings of the mind at length. Hunter couldn’t even say how many times he’d poured over texts just like this one.
“I thought it might… help your sister.”
The gift touched something deep in his soul, but he hardened his jaw against it. He might have gone to the king about marrying this woman, but that didn’t mean he could allow her to get too close to his heart. It was his duty as her protector to keep her safe so that she didn’t suffer the same fate as Louisa.
He walked into the study and tossed the book on a nearby table. “I see you’ve been speaking to others about me.” He snorted. “And you don’t think I’ve read hundreds of those treatises, hoping for some sort of grand epiphany into Louisa’s condition?” He snorted. “If so, I fear you would be wrong, my dear.”
He heard her take a tentative step into the room. “I merely confided in a close friend. I… didn’t mean to upset you further, Falcourt.”
It was the use of his title that caused him to grind his teeth together.
He spun on her and captured her face in his hands, bringing his mouth down on hers. It didn’t take much coercion on his part before she was melting into the embrace.
But just as quickly as it had begun, he was ripping away from her. His breathing was shallow and labored as if he’d run a great distance. He closed his eyes as shame coursed through his body. He was using his passion for her to eclipse his common sense. “Leave me. It’s not a good idea for you to be here right now.”
Tension rippled along his shoulders as he heard the smooth click of the door closing. The fine hairs on the back of his neck rose in awareness, for something told him she hadn’t gone anywhere. When he felt her hand rub along the hard ridge beneath his trousers, he hissed between his teeth.
“I don’t think you really want me to go, Falcourt. I know I don’t.”
He opened his eyes and saw the truth swimming in those mesmerizing blue eyes. It reflected the same desire that flowed through his blood. Every nerve ending called out for her and he wasn’t in the mood to deny the urges.
Hunter picked her up around the waist and carried her over to the desk where he set her on top of the mahogany wood. She lifted her skirts and spread her legs, a blatant invitation. But while he’d just been dreaming of this moment, he found that he didn’t want it to be over quite so soon.
He fell to his
