Her Only Desire by Gaelen Foley Page B

objects of note in the room were a low-slung couch with red cushions, a long, heavy table with spiral-carved legs, and, flanking the single window, a pair of small mango trees in clay pots.
    She went over and glanced out the window to make sure there was no place for anyone outside to overhear their conversation. One couldn’t be too careful. “Good,” she murmured, seeing that the window was set high above one corner of the bustling square. “Now we can speak freely.” Or, more to the point, now she could tell the brute exactly what she thought of him.
    â€œWhat are you doing here?” he asked, watching her with a dark, brooding stare, while his long, tapered fingers slowly began to tap upon his thick biceps.
    â€œI’ll ask the questions, you snake!” She swung around to confront him head-on. “You know what you are? You’re a despot, a tyrant—”
    He laughed softly. “A tyrant?”
    â€œYou heard me!” She had been waiting days to give free rein to her outrage. Now she let him have it. “Who do you think you are to tell me what I can and can’t do? To lock me up under guard, like a prisoner in my home? You had no right to do that to me! How
dare
you! And—” she interrupted when he tried to speak. “You lied to me!”
    He cocked an eyebrow at this accusation, but perhaps now he began to grasp there was a bigger fight brewing than he had anticipated.
    â€œYou let me believe like a fool that you were going to include me in your journey, but instead, you locked me up as though I were in purdah and rode away without me! That was low. Altogether low! But as you can see, my dear marquess, you have no control over me.” She held out her hands, presenting herself with a flourish, propping her fists on her waist and lifting her chin. “I’m here, and there’s nothing you can do about it! Your little plan to cage me didn’t work.”
    He studied her coolly for a long moment, but the tension around his hard mouth hinted that he was not so unaffected as he seemed.
Good!
She hoped she made him every bit as furious as he had made her. If she got him angry enough, it might stymie his ability to work his smooth manipulations on her again.
    â€œI asked you repeatedly to stay home, Miss Knight,” he said in a consummately reasonable tone. “To stay out of trouble and to behave yourself. This was for your own protection, as well as the security of my assignment.” He paused and shrugged. “I knew you weren’t going to listen. That’s why I asked DeWitt to send his men. You gave me no other choice.”
    â€œRubbish!”
    â€œOn the contrary, my dear. You forget, I had already seen the kind of chaos you’re capable of, and the situation here is precarious enough as it is. It did not need you barging in like a damned bull in a china shop,” he finished in a sharper tone.
    â€œBull in a china shop?” she echoed with an indignant gasp. “Well, I never!”
    â€œYou had no business coming here.” He started toward her, looming tall, his mask of aloof indifference dissolving to reveal a thunderous scowl. “How dare you completely defy me!”
    She laughed. “You’re not used to that, are you? Well, I don’t grovel for anyone.”
    â€œObviously, it was too much to hope that my saving your life would count for something—”
    â€œI could’ve handled those people myself.”
    He stopped and looked at her in utter shock. “Ha!”
    Georgie pursed her lips and refused to take back her probably overconfident claim.
    Staring at her incredulously for a second, the marquess shook his head as though he feared she ought to be locked up with the lunatics. Then he narrowed his eyes and pointed a finger in her face. “You know what your problem is? You’re spoiled.”
    â€œI am not!” she huffed as his words struck a nerve. “You