A Most Demanding Mistress (Fashionably Impure Book 2) by Natasha Blackthorne

silent, convulsive sobs followed
and she put her hand over her mouth, helpless to the emotion rocking through
her. Afterward, she stood panting, a strange calm following the excess.
    For the love of God, who was this weeping,
near hysterical girl?
    How effortlessly he could make her come
undone!
    And that seemed all the more reason to
continue to distrust him, to continue to protect herself against him.
    In the silence that followed, she willed her
breathing to slow.
    “Miranda, please, allow me to enter.”
    “No, no…” She shook her head.
    “This is killing me.”
    His voice rang with anguish.
    Anguish that cut through all other
considerations and spoke to her heart.
    She couldn’t stop herself. She whirled and
wrenched the door open.
    Still dressed in his dark evening clothes,
with his dark hair falling across his forehead and his eyes burning with
emotion, he looked too handsome to be human.
    His face contorted with some emotion.
    She couldn’t be sure what. A wave of her
earlier anger swept through her, sweeping away her ability to think. She lunged
forwards and came at him with her arms raised. She fisted her hands and hit him
in the chest, pelting the wool of his coat.
    “Damn you!”
    His eyes widened and then his features
softened into something that looked very much like fond amusement.
    That sent her anger spiraling and she pelted
him all the harder.
    He grasped her wrists.
    It disconcerted her how quickly, how easily
he was able to render her helpless. She struggled against his hold. “Damn you!”
She caught a convulsive breath. “Damn your eyes!”
    “Hush, hush,” he said, gently yet firmly.
    “I saw Winterton in your face!” She hurled
the words at him.
    “What?” he asked.
    “In the box, at the theater, I saw Winterton
in your face.”
    He froze. Then he paled. “God.”
    “He would have done the same as you. After
all, I am just a night bird, aren’t I? Common-born.”
    “Hush, don’t say those things.” He pulled
her towards the open door.
    Awareness of their situation struck her.
    He was a peer of the realm, standing in the corridor
of her boarding house, in the wee hours, apologizing and bearing his soul.
    Letting her hit at his chest and vent all
her emotions.
    He had lost control at the theater.
    But here, now, she was the one who had lost
control.
    He was accepting it, taking it, even though
they were sure to be the object of gossip on the morrow. The people in her
boarding house weren’t blind or deaf. Someone would see the benefit to sharing
the tale of this little drama, especially for a little ready coin.
    What was wrong with her?
    Had she lost all rationality?
    Having gone limp, she allowed him to draw
her back into her vestibule. He closed the door then pulled her into his arms.
    How strong, how solid and warm he felt. His
lips brushed her forehead and she melted further, leaning into his body.
    “I saw Winterton in your face.” She barely
whispered the words.
    He stroked her hair. “Hush now.”
    “The same arrogance, the same sense of
ownership.”
    “I am not Winterton.” His voice shook with
the raw edge of anguish. “I shall never abandon you.” He pushed back and cupped
her face.
    She tried to dip her head, seeking to hide
herself once more against his chest.
    “Look at me,” he demanded, cupping her face
more firmly.
    She met his vivid blue gaze.
    “I am not Winterton.” His voice was still
thick with emotion. “No matter what happens, as long as I draw breath, you will
want for nothing. I will protect you.”
    A long inhalation, followed by a sigh
escaped her, as though her body were releasing all its pent-up tension of its
own volition.
    “All those men, staring at you.”
    He said those words as if they were torn
from him. “Madness obscured my ability to think clearly.” He frowned. “I have
never, ever experienced such anger. I have never been carried away by emotion
like that before.”
    “You frightened me. When you held me down
and would