Goosebumps prickle my neck. When he speaks like that… it’s very, very seductive.
I give a little nod.
“Breathe it in,” he tells me. “Note the aroma first.”
I do… and I try… but I’m immediately reminded of the smell of him. His cologne, when he was so close to me, just minutes ago…
I shudder. Sylvain smiles, thinking it from the wine.
“That good,” he says.
“Oh yes,” I tell him, and take my fist sip.
***
From there on, dinner proceeds in an unremarkable fashion. I wolf down my meal, because I am starving. It tastes good. Sylvain is a much better cook than I.
We don’t speak much. He lets me eat. It’s not the most sophisticated of showings on my part.
I make a passing comment or two on the food. He answers with a murmured, “Thank you,” a slight smile, or just a nod.
Only when I’m finished eating does conversation pick up.
“There’s a question weighing on your mind,” Sylvain says. “I know because if I were you, I would be wondering the same thing.”
“Oh?” I ask. “And what question is that?”
I’m feeling giddy from the alcohol, and all warm and comfortable from the food.
“Why I recorded your phone call.”
Instantly the good feelings disappear. My stomach drops.
He picks up his glass and swirls it around in his hand. I notice he’s barely touched his own meal.
“This is my estate, Dani. As such, I’m afforded certain privileges. What your friend told you wasn’t a lie. Neither was it the whole truth. She has a partial understanding of me, and even that is dependent on whatever information she could dig up from what was publicly available. Your own impression would be much more…” he pauses, searching for the right word, “…valuable.”
I look at him. My head is swimming. Damn, that was a strong drink!
“Nonetheless, allow me to explain myself. First, yes, I did go to jail, for insider trading. No, I was not guilty. Yes, I was partially framed. The jury wanted to make an example of me.”
Convenient, I think skeptically.
“it’s an easy explanation, but it’s the truth. Moreover, none of that would have happened were I not betrayed. I put my trust in someone who did not deserve it. My lost years, in prison? They taught me a valuable lesson. Would you like to know what that is?”
“Shoot,” I say.
He smiles at my choice of word. “It is this: trust no one. Question everything. And, above all? Seek to make yourself immune.”
“Immune?” I blink. “Immune from what?”
“Immune from weakness of the flesh,” he tells me. “Immune from feelings of the heart. Immune from emotional attachment. I thought I understood that in my youth, but the lesson did not resonate deep enough.”
Without thinking I reach again for my wine. I realize the glass is empty. I frown. “Go on.”
“It wasn’t just your phone call I intercepted. All communications here are tapped. I possess the necessary equipment…” he waves his hand vaguely through the air, “…to make such things child’s play.”
I fidget, newly uncomfortable. “So then, are we… is this being recorded?”
Sylvain chuckles. “No, no. Anything that happens inside the castle walls stays inside the castle walls.” He leans forward. “Do you understand what I’m telling you?”
I feel very much alone at that moment. “I think so,” I say in a small voice.
“Are you angry?”
I look deep inside me. Maybe it’s the overwhelming effect of the wine. Maybe it’s the company. But for some reason, I cannot find a trace of anger.
“No,” I tell him finally. “You could have told me earlier, but…” I shrug. “It’s forgiven.”
“That is why I used a landline to call you the first morning,” he says. “There is only one telephone here that is completely private. Electronic signals, wireless transmissions… they can all be intercepted. So, in the future, if you wish to make a call, without being overheard? You must request the telephone in my study.”
“That’s… very gracious of you,” I say. “Thank you.”
He smiles. “For you? Anything.”
I go on full alert. What’s that supposed to mean?
Conversation ends. The flickering candles between us cast shadows on Sylvain’s face. Somehow, they make him look even more handsome.
After a long moment, he stands. “Thank you for granting me the pleasure of your company,” he says. “And for allowing me the chance to explain myself without prejudice.”
“Oh,” I murmur. “Sure.”
“I suggest we both retreat for the night. Tomorrow, I’d like for you to continue work on the gardens. If you don’t mind?”
“No,” I say. “I hate leaving a job unfinished.”
“Good.” He gives a secretive smile. “Until the morrow, then, Ms. Middleton.”
He walks out, and leaves me in the huge dining hall all alone.
Chapter Twelve
I spend the entire night in a fitful sleep.
I can’t help but feel that I am missing something. Tonight at dinner, Sylvain was almost too gracious. He was almost too understanding.
It doesn’t jibe with his behavior earlier. Dinner was a concentrated effort for him to make a different impression on me.
Why? I can’t put my finger on it.
Not knowing drives me crazy.
So I’m still awake by the time the sun peeks over the horizon. I give up attempts at further sleep. I stretch, get up, and make my way to the gardens.
***
The entire day I spend trimming, pruning, and otherwise working on the shrubs of the labyrinth.
I don’t see Sylvain. Once or twice I get a vague sensation of being watched. But when I turn back and look at the windows of his study, they are empty.
I take a reading break around noon, on the bench I found yesterday. It’s so nice to sit in the sun like that. I lose track of time when I get too absorbed in my book. Before I know it, almost three hours have passed.
I’m getting hungry. I go inside and wander to the kitchen. I grab a couple of fruits from the counter—does Sylvain stock the place?—and return to work.
Like yesterday, I’m there until the sun goes down. But now I feel a lot more has been accomplished. The shrubs framing the entrance of the maze are straighter and neater than before. I’ve swept the dirt off most of the path. Looking in from the outside, you’d never guess it had been neglected so long.
When I trudge back to the castle, feeling very tired—but a good type of tired, like a productive tired—Sylvain is on the doorstep once more.
“You were up early,” he tells me. “And now it’s late. You must be exhausted.”
“I am,” I say.
“Yesterday you wanted a shower before dinner. I took that into consideration tonight. I drew you up a hot bath.”
My eyebrows go up. “Really?”
“Yes, really. I couldn’t stand the thought of you being out there, in that decrepit old guesthouse, washing yourself off in the claustrophobic shower stall. I thought you deserved something more… rewarding. For all of your effort today.”
I narrow my eyes at him. I’m getting a very peculiar vibe…
“Come,” he says. “It’s up the stairs, next to my bedroom. You’ll see. You’ll love it.”
Not really feeling like I have much of a choice, I follow Sylvain.
Chapter Thirteen
My jaw drops the moment I see the bathroom.
“Oh, wow.”
It’s glorious. A tub stands in the middle made of ivory and gilded with gold. There are mirrors all around, framed in elegant decorative patterns.
Steam rises form the water. There are towels aplenty, and a robe.
Sylvain smiles. “You like it?”
“Yes, most definitely!”
“I’ll leave you to it, then.”
H
e steps away and closes the door.
I walk over and dip a finger in. The water is deliciously hot.
It’s been ages since I’ve had a good bath. I strip out of my clothes and climb inside. The water scalds my skin. But it feels oh-so-nice.
A few minutes later, just as the tense muscles of my back are starting to relax, piano music drifts from down the hall. It flows from the depth of the castle.
I close my eyes, lean back, and smile. I pretend that Sylvain is playing for me.
It sounds beautiful.
***
I don’t know how or when it happens, but I accidentally dose off.
When I come to I notice the music has stopped. I yawn, and stretch my arms out over my head.
That’s when I see the man in the room.
My breath catches. My hands jerk over my breasts. “Sylvain!” I exclaim. “What are you doing here?”
He’s sitting on the edge of the window directly in front of me. He casts a shadowy figure. I feel his eyes on my body.
“Watching you,” he says. Slowly, he stands. “You are beautiful when you sleep, Dani.”
My heart is racing so fast I’m afraid it’ll rip right out of my chest. “How long—how long have you been there?”
“Oh, no more than an hour,” he says casually, as if it’s no big deal.
He strolls toward me.
I sink deeper into the tub. The water is lukewarm, almost cold.
I cast a frantic look around. I need a towel, the robe, anything I can use to cover up.
They’ve all been moved out of reach.
He comes right up to the tub and lowers himself onto the edge. He’s fully clothed, wearing that damn dark dinner jacket and pressed pants… while I’m completely naked before him!
I squeeze my legs together and keep my arms firmly over my chest.
“What do you want?” I ask. My voice shakes.
He looks into my eyes. “Isn’t it obvious? You.”
I suck in a breath. He’s trapped me here. And now I can’t be anything but the victim.
All the things Min said come streaming back to me. The missing girl. The settlement.
The warning Tammy gave me about the Alastair family.
“You need to leave,” I say. I try to keep my voice steady.
It’s impossible.
He ignores my completely. “You’ve seen the two towers of this castle, yes?” he asks. He smiles. “Of course you have. But have you ever wondered what is inside?”
“No,” I lie. “Please, Sylvain. You’re making me uncomfortable.”
“Is that so?” He drops to his knees. Now our eyes are on the same level. He walks his fingers along the rim of the tub, toward me. “And why is that?”
“This isn’t…. right!” I explode. “It’s not proper!”
Sylvain chuckles. “‘Right.’ ‘Proper.’ Who is to say what is right and what isn’t? As I see it, the door was unlocked. I had an open invitation.”
“Yeah, well you saw wrong,” I tell him. I turn away, showing him my back. “Now leave.”
To my horror, his fingers start working their way up my spine.
Goose bumps spider-web across my skin from his touch.
“No, Dani,” he says. “I am not about to go. Not until you listen to my…” he makes a curious sound in his throat, “…proposition.”
I stiffen. The word scares me.
And yet… and yet, why do I feel the faintest bit of excitement from his hand creeping up my back? Why do I feel the tiniest bit of need pool between my legs? Why is my stomach all knotted up, why am I so nervous?
Is it because I really don’t want him here… or is it because I’m getting aroused?
Another wave of shivers take me.
Sylvain moves across the floor so he is behind the head of the tub. He leans close and brushes my hair aside, then whispers in my ear, “Would you like to know what I see in you, Dani?”
My heart starts pounding even faster. The initial shock of finding him here is wearing off. That means there is only one possible cause for my body’s response.
Arousal.
“Yes,” I whisper, in a shuddery breath.
“I see… purity.” He starts to circle his fingers along the vertebrae of my upper back. It’s a light touch, teasing and tender. “I see a girl as yet unspoiled by the world.” He leans forward, and his stubbled cheek brushes against my shoulder.
“But you’re not a virgin,” he whispers. “Are you?”
I shake my head very slightly, incapable of speech.
“Marvelous.” His lips touch briefly against my neck. “I don’t have to teach you everything.”
“….teach me?” I murmur.
He closes his eyes and takes a deep, full breath. Another wave of shivers explode over my body. He lets the air go.
It tickles my skin.
“Yes, Dani,” he says softly. “I want to teach you. For that, of course, you have to submit to me.”
I seize up. I don’t like that word.
“Submit… how?”
Visions of all the BDSM scenes from some recent books flash through my mind. It’s one thing to read about them…. Quite another to experience them first hand!
“Come to my study at midnight,” he says. “And I will show you.”
Then suddenly he stands, and like a gust of wind, leaves the room.
It takes me a very long time to ease my arms from around myself.
Chapter Fourteen
“This is crazy,” I say. “Crazy, crazy, crazy!”
I’m pacing the length of the guesthouse bedroom, bundled up in a sheer nightgown.
I eye the time on my phone. An hour has passed since I gathered the courage to step out the tub and run back here.
I’ve been conflicted, undecided, ever since.
He did not rape me. Which, silly as it might be, was my foremost concern when I found him on the window ledge.
I was worried he would force himself on me. I mean, why not? Out here in the country, where it’s just me and him? There’s nothing stopping it.
He could have done anything to me.
But he did not. Sylvain is not like that.
I don’t think.
I only have the vaguest impression of the man. It’s the smallest sort of understanding. Yet already, I sense a duality in him. He is both gentleman and alpha male.
He made it clear that he wants me. The question is… do I want him?
I snort a laugh. Of course I do. I was attracted to him the moment my eyes feasted on his magnificent figure.
He could have been crude when he cornered me in the bathtub. Instead he was… sophisticated.
Maybe that’s too strong a word. But it does apply, in a certain way.
Moreover, his offer tantalized me. That’s the main source of this conflict. I shouldn’t be tempted. I shouldn’t want to go to his study at midnight and see what he wants.
But… I am. For better or for worse, I am.
I check the time. It’s a quarter to. I’m going to have to make my choice soon.
I walk to the window and lean against the frame. There are only a few lights on in the castle. I know that’s where Sylvain is.
I pace back and forth a few more times. Do I stay, or do I go? Do I stay, or do I go.
“Crazy,” I mutter once more, shaking my head. I step into a pair of slippers. “I am bat-shit insane.”
Picking up my step, I hurry out of the guesthouse and into the night.
Chapter Fifteen
The main doors of the castle creak open. The sound reverberates through the entire hall.
I close them behind me with an unintended bang. I wince. Oh well.
I take a deep breath and do a slow count to sixty. I try to calm my nerves.
Am I really going to do this?
I come up to the foot of the stairs. The way up looms before me. Those heavy stones steps are intimidating.
I grab onto the railing. I force myself to take the first
step. Then the second. Then the third.
One-by-one, I climb the staircase leading to the second floor.
I come upon the hall that leads to Sylvain’s study. I take another series of calming breaths.
His door is slightly ajar. A flickering light casts shadows on the floor.
I start toward it… and instantly turn away.
“No,” I say. “No, I cannot do this.”
Quickly I run down the stairs. But halfway to the first floor, a cold voice stops me.
“Ms. Middleton.”
I freeze. It’s him.
I turn slowly and look up. There he is, standing at the very top railing.
“I’m glad you decided to come,” he says. The look in his eyes makes it clear he knows I was running.
I fight down the bundle of nerves struggling to break free in my tummy.
Sylvain holds my gaze. He nods to the spot beside him. “Come,” he says.
To my shock and horror, I find myself obeying the command.
I stop next to him. He smiles and wraps one hand around my waist.
He tugs me to him. I give a little gasp. He’s strong, and his body is hard.
I lick my lips, which are suddenly very dry. He leads me down the hall.
“You look beautiful tonight,” he tells me.
I almost laugh. I have no makeup on, my hair is down and messy, and I’m wearing the plainest sheer nightgown.
Beautiful is not the word I would use to describe myself.
Still, I murmur a muted, “Thank you.”
It earns me a pleased look from Sylvain.
We enter his study. I see it’s been rearranged.
For one, all the furnishings have been taken away—except for the massive oak desk. It now stands front and center, right in the middle. An enormous candelabra gives us light.
There is a high-backed, wooden chair on the far side of the desk. It looks a lot like a throne. The cushions are a deep red. Gold buttons crisscross along the fabric.
Uncovering You: The Complete Series (Mega Box Set) Page 225
