Scandalous Deception (Russian Connection 1) - Page 109
Edmond’s jaw tightened as he struggled against his urge to toss out a command and have it obeyed.
“Very well. We can travel back to London for a few weeks. Spring is the one bearable season in the city, and Stefan is always pleased when I return for a visit.”
Brianna could not deny a flare of astonishment at his concession. As Mr. Richard Monroe had so recently pointed out, Edmond was a gentleman accustomed to having his way. In everything.
Still, there was a tiny voice in the back of her mind warning her not to waver on her impetuous declaration. Mr. Richard Monroe had pointed out more than Edmond’s innate arrogance. His mere presence in St. Petersburg revealed the future of anyone foolish enough to allow their passions to rule their heads.
A future that Brianna was determined to avoid. What better way than setting a firm date to put Edmond out of her life?
“I intend to remain in London, Edmond,” she said, wrapping her arms about her shivering body. “With my inheritance, I will be able to buy a small home and begin to build the life I have always desired.”
His eyes smoldered with a dangerous fury. “Are you attempting to stir my temper, ma souris?”
She smiled wryly, despite the prickles of alarm that raced over her skin. “I seem to stir your temper whenever I express my own opinions. Perhaps, Edmond, you would be happier with a woman who is a great deal more biddable than I am.”
“I would be happier with a woman who was not forever battling against her desire to be with me.” He reached to grasp her chin in his fingers. “You want me. You want to be with me. Why do you try to deny it?”
“I have never denied that I…desire you,” she muttered. “But that does not mean I shall devote the rest of my life to being your mistress. There are other things I wish to accomplish.”
“What things?”
Feeling distinctly harassed, Brianna jerked from his grasp and turned to glare at the gas lanterns that were being lit along the icy streets.
“I have yet to decide,” she grudgingly admitted. Perhaps she would never alter destiny, but London was littered with the poor and defenseless. There had to be any number of charities who were desperate for assistance. “But I will.”
She heard his breath hiss between his clenched teeth. “So you intend to leave me so that you can live in a cramped house in the midst of London with no family, no friends and the hope of achieving some vague accomplishment?”
She hunched her shoulders. He made it all sound so…lonely. Almost pathetic.
Dammit. She could be happy, even fulfilled, without this man in her life.
She could.
“I will have Janet,” she said, more in an effort to comfort herself than convince him of her wonderful future.
“Are you so certain?” he demanded. “I believe Boris might have something to say about that.”
She stabbed him with a frustrated glare. “Fine, then I will live alone. It is better than…”
“Better than what?” He muttered a dark curse as she remained stubbornly silent. “Mon dieu, what did Vanya say to you?”
She lowered her lashes over her eyes. Let him assume that Vanya had convinced her of the delights to be found in a life of independence. It was far better than admitting she was terrified of becoming some sort of faithful lapdog, incapable of leaving him.
“Nothing.”
“Brianna…”
The sound of a nearby door being opened was like a godsend and Brianna heaved a covert sigh of relief as Vanya’s voice floated on the icy air.
“Edmond.”
The hard blue gaze never shifted from Brianna’s wary face. “Not now, Vanya.”
“Forgive me for intruding, but I just received a message from Richard.” Vanya firmly refused to be dismissed. “He has all in place, but you must leave now if you are to slip into the palace unnoted.”
Brianna sucked in a sharp breath, her heart clenching with concern. “Good lord, you intend to sneak into the Winter Palace?”
He shrugged in a dismissive fashion, an oddly arrested expression on his face as he studied her anxious eyes. As if
Source: readsnovelonline.net