Compassion shone from Mrs. Tuff’s brown eyes. “Find another way, girl. There’s always another way.”
“Not for me, there isn’t.”
Ruby allowed Mrs. Tuff to finish helping her dress. Everything fit her to a T. Even the shoes were a perfect fit.
“Sit right here,” Mrs. Tuff gently demanded, patting the cushion of a bench sitting in front a mirrorless vanity.
“What happened to the mirror?”
Mrs. Tuff looked away, but not before Ruby saw the anxiety on her face.
Something cool touched Ruby’s skin as Mrs. Tuff returned and slipped something around her neck.
“Are these real?” Ruby gasped, lifting the sparkling ruby necklace up to the light.
“They were the master’s mothers. Let me see your arm.”
Ruby lifted her hand, allowing the housekeeper to clasp a matching bracelet onto her wrist.
“There. All done.”
Had it not been for the circumstances surrounding her, Ruby would have otherwise enjoyed her attire.
She stood, slipped on the silver heels, and followed Mrs. Tuff to the stairs.
A robed Lincoln stood at the bottom of the stairs, still as death, with only a whisper-soft intake of breath as evidence that he approved of Ruby’s attire.
Ruby stopped in front of him, waiting for him to tell her what to do next.
He remained still.
She glanced back at Mrs. Tuff, hoping the housekeeper would give her a clue as to what he expected her to do, when he finally spoke.
But his words weren’t directed at her. “Once dinner has been served, I want you to take the night off, Mrs. Tuff. I don’t wish to be disturbed for any reason. Be sure to let the others know as well.”
Ruby’s heart jumped into her throat. He wanted everyone out of the house but her. Did that mean he planned on hurting her? Torturing her?”
“You need not fear, Ruby Atwood,” Barone rumbled, apparently reading her thoughts. “I have no intensions of harming you.”
Ruby prayed he spoke the truth. Though she knew him to be older, the body beneath that cloak was huge. At least six-feet-six with shoulders to rival a linebacker’s. Yeah, he could snap her like a twig if he took a notion to.
Chapter Eighteen
The Beast waited for Mrs. Tuff to traipse off into the kitchen before lifting a glove-covered hand toward Ruby.
He was still finding it hard to breathe after the vision of her appearing at the top of those stairs.
His sex had filled with blood so fast, it nearly dropped him to his knees. Now, with a full-blown erection throbbing to the beat of his heart, he could smell the intoxicating aroma that was Ruby. He hardened even more.
She accepted his gesture of assistance, but the rebellious light he’d come to know still shone bright in her eyes.
Lincoln found that he liked her rebellious spirit. It would make breaking her that much more thrilling.
“You’re a vision, Miss Atwood.”
“I can’t say the same, Grim.”
Lincoln’s lips twitched beneath his cloak. Oh, how he was going to enjoy bending her to his will.
Instead of seating Ruby at one end of the table as was customary, Lincoln escorted her to the chair next to his.
After helping her sit, he took his own seat at the head of the overly large table and offered her some wine.
Ruby shook her head. “No, thank you.”
Tightening his jaw in resolve, Lincoln plucked up her glass and poured her a healthy amount of the sweet red wine. “I insist.”
“Are you always this bossy?”
Her question angered him. “You are here at my bidding. You will do as you’re told without question. If you can’t follow that one simple rule, you are welcome to leave right now.”
Ruby lifted her chin and picked up her glass. She peered at him over the rim while draining its contents.
Lincoln knew she drank the wine out of spite.
It mattered not.
Mrs. Tuff bustled into the room with Stiles tight on her heels. They set several dishes in the center of the table before bidding their master a good night.
Lincoln waved them off without a glance, his gaze glued to the beauty at his side.
It took everything he had not to slip his hand under the table and run his fingers up her thigh.
The perfect breasts he knew she had were on the verge of spilling from the top of her ruby-red dress.
Lincoln looked away before he embarrassed himself by freeing his raging erection and relieving himself of the pain that had been throbbing in his groin since Ruby’s arrival.
Dinner consisted of roasted duck and new potatoes cooked in a light sherry sauce. There were green peas, homemade bread, and banana pudding for dessert.
“Eat,” he demanded, nodding toward the food in the center of the table.
Ruby flinched, but kept her damnable chin held high.
To Lincoln’s surprise, she uncovered the duck and helped herself to a nice-sized portion before adding potatoes, some peas, and a chunk of bread.
Refilling her wineglass, the Beast piled his own plate high with food and ate without further delay.
He watched Ruby from beneath the hood of his cloak as she ate like a woman starved. He wondered how long it had been since she’d last eaten. Or perhaps she ate out of relief that her brother would soon be back in her arms.
Lincoln studied her movements, the confidence with which she carried herself. She had an inner strength that showed in the set of her jaw, the flash of her eyes.
Once the meal had been finished, Lincoln refilled Ruby’s wineglass, plucked it from the table, and stood.
The stiff set to her shoulders wasn’t lost on him.
“Come.”
Ruby slowly pushed back from the table and got to her feet without looking at him. With her back straight, she moved to the stairs, the fingers holding on to the banister slightly trembling.
Lincoln followed her up. “Have a seat on the bed.”
Taking an unsteady breath, Ruby moved to the side of the bed and sat, looking for all the world like she could bolt at any second.
The Beast lowered to his knees in front of her, lifted each of her tiny feet in his hands, and removed her shoes.
She seemed surprised by the gesture, but she didn’t speak.
Rising to his full height, he pulled his own boots off and carefully lowered his great weight onto the bed near the headboard. He took hold of Ruby’s hand. “Look at me.”
“Why won’t you show me your face?” she blurted.
Lincoln ground his teeth. “It’s better this way.”
“Better for whom?”
Unable to respond, he continued to watch her from the safety of the hood. She looked terrified and lost.
“Remove the dress,” he growled, releasing her hand.
Ruby paled. “Now?”
When he didn’t answer, she got to her feet and gave him her back.
Lincoln had never craved anything as bad as he craved Ruby Atwood. He wanted nothing more than to toss her onto her back, spread her soft thighs, and bury himself inside her sensual body.
His erection grew to the point where he had no choice but to reach beneath his cloak and unzip his pants.
Ruby slipped the dress from her shoulders, remaining completely still as it coasted down her back to pool at her feet.
“What now?” she whispered so softly he almost didn’t hear.
Sliding over to give her room, the Beast pulled back the covers, crawled beneath, and held them open. “Get in bed.”
Ruby’s shoulders sagged in defeat. She turned toward the bed and lifted her knee to the mattress.
Was that a tear in her eye?
An odd sense of shame washed over him, triggering his anger.
“Get up here,” he snapped, jerking the covers back even more.
Ruby jumped, scrambling into the bed so fast she bumped his chin with her head.
Lying flat on her back
, she stared up at the ceiling without moving. “Can you please make it quick?”
Lincoln blinked, not liking this side of her at all. He preferred her snark, her ire, her anger…anything but the fear and despondency now lining her voice.
Pushing her to her side, he brought his arms around her and jerked her back against him in a spooning position. She stiffened but didn’t attempt to pull away.
Why had he allowed her desperation to get to him? He’d waited his whole life to exact his revenge on an Atwood, and now that he had one in his grasp, he couldn’t seem to humiliate her as he’d planned.
Shock seeped into his pores as the realization of his feelings unfolded. He didn’t want to take Ruby against her will… He wanted her to want him, to beg him to take her. But that would never happen if she ever got a look at him. Of that, the Beast was certain.
Chapter Nineteen
Ruby blinked into the darkness, still reeling from what had just happened. Or rather, what hadn’t happened.
What was Barone doing? Spooning her? She wanted more than anything to ask him what his plans for her were, yet she was too afraid of angering him.
She held completely still, dozens of questions running through her mind. Had he gone to sleep? Was he too old to have sex and too embarrassed to say?
Ruby wasn’t sure how long she lay there before her eyes grew heavy and sleep finally claimed her…
* * * *
Warm. Ruby was uncomfortably warm. She moved away from the heat, only to have it follow her.
A soft touch on her leg wrenched a moan from her throat. She sighed in her sleep and rolled to her back.
The touch continued, drawing lazy circles on the inside of her thigh, forcing another moan past her lips.
A restless hunger set in, coaxing her to make room for the continuous caress.
Higher, the stroking climbed, stopping short of where she wanted it most.
She opened her thighs a little more, craving, aching…needing.
“Ruby…”
The raspy growl of her name tickled at the edges of her semiconscious state.
The caress deepened, as did the voice hovering above her. “You feel so good.”
Ruby’s eyes flew open to stare up at the hooded face of Lincoln Barone.
“What are you doing?” Her thighs automatically clamped shut.
“Nothing that you didn’t ask me to,” he growled, his voice raspy from sleep.
Afraid to move, Ruby watched him in leery silence, praying he wouldn’t force her to finish what she’d apparently started.
Lincoln pulled away, keeping his cloaked upper body hidden in the shadows of the bed’s canopy. “Get up.”
Those were all the words Ruby needed to hear.
She jumped from the bed, taking the sheet with her to hide her bare behind.
“The bathroom is behind you. Take what clothes you will need from the armoire and shower if you want.”
With a quick nod, Ruby moved to the armoire, grabbed a pair of shorts, a red T-shirt, and some running shoes. Plucking out a pair of socks, she rummaged through, searching for some undergarments.
“What is it?” Lincoln rasped from behind the half-open canopy.
A blush spread up Ruby’s face. “There are no undergarments in here.”
“You won’t be needing any during your stay. Now, go shower.”
She hurried off toward the bathroom before he changed his mind and hauled her back to finish what had almost happened in her sleep.
Safely behind the bathroom door, Ruby engaged the lock and slipped out of the bustier. She peeled off the stockings and turned on the shower.
The hot spray of the water felt good on her skin. She’d made it through the night without being mauled by Lincoln Barone.
Ruby tilted her head back under the powerful spray and closed her eyes.
The warm sluice of water traveling down her body reminded her of Lincoln’s touch on her inner thighs.
Had he not spoken her name, she would have unknowingly invited him to penetrate her with his fingers. Had it been unknowingly? Had she somehow known that it was Barone’s hand on her flesh?
Her eyes flew open, and she jerked her head from the spray. What was happening to her? The stress from everything that she’d experienced over the past week had obviously addled her mind.
Snatching up the shampoo, Ruby quickly washed her hair and then used the liquid soap to cleanse her body.
She tried like hell to push what had happened in that bed from her mind, but the harder she tried, the more she felt his touch.
Goose bumps spread across her skin, and a low heat settled in her belly.
The sound of the knob jiggling could be heard over the spray of the shower. She quickly finished rinsing, pulled back the curtain, and stepped over the side of the old claw-foot tub. “I’ll be right out.”
“Don’t ever lock me out again.”
Damn him, Ruby silently cursed, drying off and wrapping her hair in the towel. She pulled on the white shorts and red T-shirt before sitting on the toilet lid to don her shoes.
The door suddenly opened, and Barone stepped into the room, holding a key in his hand. He reached over without warning and plucked the towel from her head. “Stand up.”
Ruby hesitated.
“Stand!”
She jumped to her feet. “What are you going to do?”
“I told you, no questions. As long as you do exactly as I say, you won’t be harmed.” He turned to go. “Come.”
Following a short distance behind, Ruby nearly ran into him when he abruptly stopped in front of the bench she’d sat on the night before.
“Sit.”
Ruby took a seat on the bench and stared into the mirrorless vanity in front of her.
Her mouth dropped open as Barone gently ran a brush through her hair.
Confused by the gesture, Ruby attempted to make small talk. “Why is there no mirror in the vanity?”
He ignored her, all the while continuing to carefully brush her hair.
“So, we’re going to spend the next month together without talking?”
The brushing momentarily stopped before beginning once more. “I don’t like mirrors.”
She thought about that for a second. “Are you scarred or something?”
“Something,” he murmured, tilting her head back to get to her bangs.
Ruby frowned at the ceiling. Had he been burned or in an accident that disfigured him? She’d seen his pictures on the wall. He had no scars to speak of in any of them. “I didn’t see any scars in your photos.”
He paused once again. “My photos?”
“On the stairwell wall.”
“The portraits you saw were of my father, Stanford Barone.”
Ruby’s stomach tightened in anxiety. If the pictures on the wall belong to his father, then Lincoln couldn’t be much older than her. “How old are you?”
“I will be thirty in less than a month.”
He was still ten years her senior, but nothing even close to what she’d originally thought.
If he was that young, why had he not followed through with his threat of making her his? Not that she was complaining. It simply made no sense.
“Once we have had breakfast, I will call Templeton and have him take care of your brother’s medical bills. As soon as he is released from ICU, he will be moved here.”
Ruby’s heart lurched. “How are you going to pull that off?”
“You let me worry about that. Go downstairs and eat your breakfast. I’m going to shower.”
Ruby watched him walk past her and disappear into the bathroom.
What a strange man, she thought as she stood. One minute he was the world’s biggest asshole, and the next, he was brushing her hair.
Chapter Twenty
Lincoln entered the dining room in time to watch Ruby finish off the last bite of her pancakes.
She stiffened the moment she noticed him, but didn’t look up from her empty plate.
He pulled his hood lower over his face. “Arrangements have been set in motion for your brother.”
Ruby lifted her head. “I need to go to the hospital today. He’ll be terrified if he wakes and I’m not there.”
“He is already awake,” Lincoln informed her, taking a seat at the head of the table. “And you are not leaving.”
Desperation flashed in her eyes. “He’s just a kid, Mr. Barone. He needs me.”
I need you too, Lincoln wanted to shout back, but instead he said, “You stay here.”
For some reason, the disappointment evident on her face didn’t please him as it should have. “I’ll have Templeton put a rush on it.”
Why was he bending to her every demand? Lincoln wondered in no small amount of agitation. She was an Atwood, a descendant of Agatha, and the spawn of Charles.
“But that could take days! Please, Mr. Barone, let me see my brother?”
Lincoln slammed his fist down onto the tabletop. “I said no!”
Ruby surged to her feet and ran from the room, the sound of her footsteps echoing throughout the walls of the overly large house.
She ran upstairs, slamming his bedroom door behind her.
His bedroom, he silently acknowledged, leaving the table as well.
Lincoln stormed up the stairs, gripped the knob to his bedroom door, and jerked it open. He would set her straight once and for all.
He opened his mouth, intending on scaring her into submission, when his gaze landed on her small body huddled in the center of his bed.
The sounds of her crying reached him before he crossed over the threshold.
He took a hesitant step forward, and then another. “Ruby?”
“Leave me alone.” She sniffed, lying on her side with her back to him.
Lincoln flinched as if slapped, angry that he’d allowed her words to affect him. “Fine. You can lie up here and cry the rest of the day. It won’t change anything.”
“How can you be so cruel?” Ruby sat up to face him, the tears swimming in her eyes a testament to her pain.
“Cruel?” the Beast snarled. “You want to speak of cruelty to me? Where were the tears for the innocent baby born into a curse? A baby so huge that even his own mother died giving birth to him? A child so ugly, he couldn’t attend school with the other children? Where were the tears then, Ruby!”
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