Regardless of the fact she was in no condition to travel.
Or that he was in no condition to allow her to escape.
“That would make sense,” he conceded. “But if he discovered I had been so kind as to deliver the letters into his hands, why would he bother to rescue Sir Charles?”
Her brow furrowed. “I do not know.”
“Those letters have caused a considerable amount of trouble,” he snapped, frustrated by Leonida’s constant concern for her mother. Did she never think of herself or her own needs? “Why the devil did you not just burn them?”
“My mother wished to keep them.”
“Why?”
“She…” There was a brief hesitation. “She is a very sentimental woman.”
Stefan’s lips thinned at the absurd lie. He did not need to be able to read Leonida’s mind to realize that the Countess Karkoff wanted the letters for some nefarious purpose of her own.
No doubt she hoped to use them to protect herself, and her position, from the always unpredictable Romanovs.
“No, she is a very cunning and calculating woman.” He held her gaze, his expression grim. “She desired the letters to protect herself and was willing to sacrifice her own daughter to get her greedy hands on them.”
“That is not true.”
“Why do you defend her?”
“She is my mother.”
“Then she should behave as one. And you should have more sense than to fall in with her dangerous schemes.”
Her eyes narrowed, never one to be intimidated. Strangely it was one of the qualities he admired most about her.
“Do not attempt to tell me you would not risk your neck for Lord Summerville,” she countered. “Or that he would not do the same for you.”
He snorted, knowing he could not argue with her logic. Only last year Edmond had pretended to be Stefan to draw the danger away from his brother. That did not mean, however, that he was willing to allow Leonida to continue with her reckless behavior.
Once he had her back at Meadowland she would be protected as she should be.
“Yes, but I would also blacken his eye for being ridiculous enough to put me in danger in the first place.”
“If I decide to blacken someone’s eye it will not be my mother,” she warned.
His annoyance abruptly faded as his gaze swept over her defiant expression.
For all Leonida’s ability to stir his anger and exasperate him beyond measure, not to mention the manner she had tossed his peaceful life into utter chaos, she was still the most fascinating woman he had ever encountered.
“You truly are an ungrateful brat,” he chided, loosening his grip to stroke the satin skin of her upper arms. “Your mother shoves you into the hands of Sir Charles and you have no word of complaint, while I rescue you from the madman and you desire to blacken my eye.”
Her expression remained unyielding, but Stefan did not miss the delicate shiver. She could spit fire all she wanted, but she still responded to his touch. The knowledge was absurdly satisfying.
“I left Meadowland so you would not be put in danger,” she said, as if that excused her mad flight into the path of Sir Charles. “If you had remained where you belong then you would not have been put in the position to rescue me from any madman.”
He shook his head at her convoluted logic, but he could not halt his slow smile. “You are concerned for my welfare?”
Her lashes fluttered down to hide her expressive eyes. “I would not want you hurt because of Russian conspiracies.”
He chuckled, lowering his head to bury his face in the thick golden curls, breathing in her warm, jasmine scent.
“Why can you not just admit that you care?”