The Hellion Bride (Sherbrooke Brides 2)

"You should stop trying to take over my life."

"I want you to be well again."

"So do I!"

"Ah, but my rea

sons for wishing it are quite dif­ferent from yours. I want you well and thus able to fight me. I want to hear you yowl when I've bested you, which I will do. I want to hear you curse me. I want you to hurl yourself at me again and again, because I know you, Sophie, I know you don't give up easily. When I have bested you, then you will get what you deserve."

"I wish you had never come here."

"Oh? And who should have come in my place? My little sister, Sinjun? I must admit that she would have found all this vastly amusing, but I'm not cer­tain she would have dealt with you as well as I. She is very straightforward and honest, you see, utterly without guile. Or perhaps my pious younger brother, Tysen, who is right now at Oxford preparing him­self for vicardom. He, I doubt not, will marry an equally pious girl who will be nauseatingly proper and good. Still and all, however, it's possible that Tysen would have been the recipient of one of your drowsy-eyed smiles and stuttered himself off the island and quite probably drowned. Now, as to the earl, why, my dear girl, he would have eaten you for breakfast. He has no patience, not like I have. He doesn't like games, either, not like I do. He doesn't indulge wholeheartedly in the sport women usually provide, not like I do. No, he would have put a stop to you immediately and walked away, dusting his hands. So, all in all, I think you were very lucky I came here, and I do promise you, Sophie, I swear it, that you will be bested by me, but in my own good time."

"A man's threats—always violence, always brag­ging and braying about the pain you will inflict."

"Oh no, I intend no pain."

"Very well, dominance. It's every bit as bad as physical violence. All men must know that they rule, even if it's just over a single woman."

"I believe we've been through similar charges before."

"Go to the devil, Ryder. You and all men are de­spicable! As for your repulsive family, I hope they all rot."

"Even Sinjun?"

"If she is like you, then yes, damn you."

Ryder wasn't used to explosions like this. He frowned at the newness of it, the abruptness of it, although since he'd met her, she'd knocked him off balance more times than he'd experienced in his life. But this—well, what could he expect? Her uncle had beaten her, probably countless times, out of the demented fun of doing it and to make her perform as he demanded. "You don't bore me," he said abruptly. "Actually, I find you quite amusing and I haven't even made—" He stopped cold in his tracks. No, he wasn't about to tell her that he hadn't taken her that night at the cottage when he'd drugged her. He had a clear flash in that instant of himself, staring down at her and how he'd wanted very much to touch her, to caress her, but he hadn't. He wasn't that cold-blooded.

"Well, Sophie, do you want to be my mistress for a time?"

"No."

"Ah, you find Oliver Susson more to your taste? Really, my dear, he's not at all a sterling specimen of manhood, although he is cooperative, which is a good thing for him. And that is the reason I haven't been up to see you earlier. I rode to Montego Bay to visit with Mr. Susson. Let us say that he now under­stands very clearly what he is to do. He will work to see that my guardianship is handled immedi­ately. He apologized profusely for his ethical lapse and assured me that he would perform these duties without financial remuneration." Ryder paused for a reaction, but she held herself silent. She was well hidden from him, an act she was quite good at. He wanted to draw her, to bait her into fury, and thus continued in a mocking voice. "Naturally, the thought of losing you upset him dreadfully. He even went so far as to say that he would marry you, though he knew it would greatly affect his repu­tation in Jamaica. I thought there were actually tears in his eyes once he learned that he would never again enjoy you at the cottage."

"He never did enjoy me. He did, but not in the way you think."

"Oh? You say you were never at the cottage with him?"

"Yes, but I didn't—" She stopped. It was no good. She said abruptly, "All you have to do is look at my face and my ribs, Ryder, and know that I did nothing with any of these men willingly."

"Reluctant all the way, huh? Perhaps I believe you with a pathetic bastard like Sherman Cole. But with all the rest of them? I'm sorry, Sophie, but I do remember that first night with you and how you played the coquette to perfection. You didn't turn a hair when I pulled your gown to your waist and fondled your breasts. Oh no, you handled me with great skill—ah, the promises, the anticipation you built up in me. I positively festered with lust."

"Will you get me some bandages so I can wrap up my feet? I must get up, Ryder. I am so bored I want to scream and your conversation is rendering me nearly insensible."

So much for goading her into an excess of bile, he thought, and simply nodded. He himself wrapped up her feet, pleased that they looked better than they had that morning. Nice feet, he thought, nar­row, highly arched. He said as he studied her toes, "When I finished my conversation with Mr. Susson, I checked on shipping schedules to England. There are several ships due in from England very soon now. We will have time to tie up all loose ends. I firmly intend for the three of us to be on the next ship back home."

"Sir, are you helping my sister again?"

Ryder slowly lowered her foot back onto the bed. He turned to see Jeremy standing in the doorway. He said under his breath, but Sophie heard him, "I really must remember to close that bloody door." He grinned at the boy. "Come in, Jeremy. Your sister is flushed from the heat and I was just trying to amuse her. She is bored, you know, and wants for diversions."

"You were holding her foot."

"Yes. She had a cramp in her toes but it is better now. As you can see I'm also bandaging her feet again. She is bored."

"I will read to her. Goodness, Sophie, whatever is the Shakespeare doing on the floor? You must be more careful. Some of the pages are twisted. Good­ness, page four hundred and thirty is torn."

"You're right, Jeremy. She tore the second scene in The Taming of the Shrew."