A Daring Passion

“I have no need to purchase something that I already own.”

A faint heat touched her cheeks, but her gaze never wavered. “Then why did you give them to me?”

“Because I thought they would please you, you irritating minx.”

“And because you always buy jewels for your mistresses?” she challenged.

He stilled at her accusation. “Is that what this is about? You are jealous at the knowledge I have known other women?”

Her dark eyes smoldered with a fierce emotion. “I do not like being reminded that I am a kept woman. You have taken everything but my pride. I will not allow you to have that, as well.”

Philippe found himself hesitating. He was a man who possessed strict rules when it came to the women who shared his bed. He did not endure jealous clinging, manipulation or tedious lectures. And he most certainly did not endure temper tantrums. Why should he? There were always lovely ladies anxious to offer him companionship.

On this occasion, however, the thought of tossing Raine from his bed did not even flit through his mind. Instead, his clever brain was churning through the best means of dealing with the provoking woman.

“And what have I taken?” he demanded. “Your innocence? You hardly battled me. In fact, as I recall you nearly ripped off my clothes.”

His blunt honesty did nothing to ease her strange mood. If anything the pale features only hardened with displeasure.

“I suppose you will also claim you did not take my freedom? Or force me to leave my father and my home?” she charged.

Philippe shoved himself off the bed and paced across the small room. Damn the woman. He had given her a life of untold ease and luxury. More luxury than any woman in her position could have ever dreamed possible. He would not be painted as the villain.

“You would prefer to be trapped in that shabby village with a father who is destined to lure you to the gallows?”

She pressed into the bank of pillows, her expression oddly vulnerable. “You can mock all you like, but it was my life and you stole it from me. You wanted me so you took me, and you did not give a thought to who you might hurt.”

Just for a moment his heart twisted with something remarkably akin to guilt. It was true he had stolen her from the life she had known. And that he had done so without thought of anything beyond his own desires.

Then he was thrusting the ridiculous notion aside. Of course he took her. She had readily placed herself at his mercy, and he was not a man who was stupid enough to toss aside what fate offered.

Whether she wished to acknowledge the truth or not, she belonged to him.

“Perhaps you should consider a career on the stage, querida,” he drawled. “I have never seen a more convincing damsel in distress.”

She closed her eyes as she covered her face with her hands. “Would you please just go away?”

With a few long strides he was standing beside the bed and grasping her wrists in a tight grip. Tugging her hands downward, he glared into her wide eyes.

“No, not until you stop this nonsense. I want the truth of what is troubling you.”

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

RAINE DID NOT STRUGGLE against his near-painful grip. Why bother? They both knew that he possessed the strength to do whatever he wished with her.

Instead, she put all her shimmering frustration into the stubborn tilt of her chin. He could manhandle her all he liked, but he could not force her to accept being his mere toy. It simply was not in her nature.

“You seem to have little interest in truth,” she a

ccused, refusing to think about the warm, male scent that was wrapping about her, or the slender fingers that had loosened their grip on her wrists to lightly stroke her sensitive skin. “Not unless it suits your purpose.”

He sat on the edge of the bed, his fingers continuing their insistent caresses. “And what would you know of my purpose?”

“I know that you are obsessed with capturing Seurat and rescuing your brother.”

“Hardly surprising. You would do the same for your father.”

“I also know that for the moment I have captured your interest, but once this is all settled and you return to your estate in Madeira I will be tossed aside.”