“It is ridiculous,” she insisted. “All of it. Obviously you’re human.”
His smile only grew broader. “Is it obvious? I feel it isn’t to many. But then, I find that amusing and don’t do much to dispel the idea that I might be some kind of monster.”
“Why?”
He walked across the small living area, heading back toward the bedroom he had just come out of and pushing the door open. “Coming?” he asked.
Her heart slammed against her rib cage. “What?”
“You asked a question. I thought you might want to hear the answer. But I have to go into my room to get my jacket and retrieve my tie.”
She scrambled after him, feeling a little bit silly that she had somehow read something else into those words. Of course he wasn’t asking her to come into the bedroom for…well, anything that might be done in the bedroom.
She wasn’t the kind of woman who invited seduction. And she was genuinely fine with that. Someday, she would find a man. A suitable man who would make a suitable match. Possibly a minor role. Or someone who moved in high European society but who also liked books and dusty libraries. Yes, that. Most likely. Definitely not an American businessman who took joy in tormenting others with his dry sense of humor and seemed to regard her love of reading and research with the kind of curiosity one usually reserved for a bug under a microscope.
“You want to know why I enjoy keeping others at a distance?”
“I am curious, I admit,” she said.
She was also surprised that he was even pretending he was going to give her an answer. After all, if he truly enjoyed keeping people at a distance, why would he disclose any information that might bring the two of them closer together? It didn’t make sense.
“I like the freedom it affords me,” he said. He opened up the closet and pulled out a jacket and a tie. Both black, exactly like the ones he’d worn earlier. Though she had a feeling they were a different set than before. “When people fear you they tend to defer to you. That ensures I get my way most of the time.”
“What are they afraid you’ll do?”
“I don’t know.” He began to button his shirt collar. “That’s the most amusing part. For all the rumors of my misdeeds, I have yet to actually throw anyone in a dungeon. Neither ha
ve I ever sucked anyone’s blood. However, my legend looms large, and who am I to argue with that?”
“I don’t think I have a legend. Well, obviously I don’t, as you had never heard of me when you arrived at the estate.”
He lifted a shoulder as he looped the tie around his neck. “But then, you had never heard of me, either, cara.”
“True enough. But I’m rather cloistered there at the estate. There are a great many things I haven’t heard of.”
He arched a dark brow. “Does your grandmother not have Wi-Fi?”
“Yes, we have the internet. It’s just that I don’t often make use of it.”
“And why is that?”
“It’s very disconcerting to know you could log into a news website at any time and your family is the headline. I just…” Her stomach twisted just thinking about it. “I prefer to avoid it. My brothers… Well, they’re as rich as you are. Just as ruthless. Libertines, as you put it earlier. My parents are worse. At least my brothers have some good qualities to redeem them. They are amusing. When they want to be. And they’re quite nice actually. To me. Their ex-mistresses would tell you a different story. But even if they’ve earned it…even if parts of it are true…I don’t really enjoy seeing what the media has to say about my family.”
“No,” he said, his voice softer all of a sudden. “You prefer to gather facts.”
“Yes. Exactly that.”
“You like to control the story.”
She shook her head. “No, it isn’t about me controlling a story. I want to know the truth.”
“That’s a lie, Gabby. You like to control the story. You like to hear it first. You like to decide what is done with it. You want to make sure that you are able to collect the information at the speed in which you can process it. You like to ensure that you are the one who gets to form the first opinion. There isn’t anything wrong with it. But it is the truth.”
She felt as though he’d run her through with a scabbard. It hurt terribly and made her feel exposed. As though he’d seen down deep into parts of her she’d never even examined before.
And the only reason it felt that way was because…it was true.
“Why is it you seem to think you know me so well?” she asked.