Housekeeper at His Beck and Call by Susan Stephens

Author:Susan Stephens
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2008-08-01T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TEN

‘YOU want me to what? Offer sex lessons in exchange for your presence at the ball?’ Cade’s scandalised expression said it all; she’d gone too far this time.

‘I’m serious, Cade.’ Liv hardly had chance to get the words out before Cade grabbed hold of her.

‘Tell me I didn’t hear you right.’

‘You did…You did hear me correctly. You need me to accompany you to the ball…Well, that’s my condition.’

Cade shook his head with a look that said the world had gone mad. Then there was an explosion out of which words like ‘insane’…‘cold-blooded’…and ‘blackmail’ were fired at her.

‘Not blackmail, Cade,’ she quietly assured him. ‘This will be a verbal contract between us with benefits on both sides—’

‘A verbal contract?’ His laugh had turned ugly. ‘You’re out of your mind!’

‘Maybe,’ Liv agreed. ‘But that’s my condition.’

‘So let me get this right,’ Cade demanded icily. ‘You want me to have sex with you in exchange for your coming to the ball?’

‘Oh, no, Cade,’ Liv told him softly. ‘I’m expecting a lot more of you than that…’

He stifled the urge to roar with anger. He wanted to rant at fate and kick the nearest wall down. He’d found Liv in pieces at her home where she should have been safe. He blamed himself for that, and now this. Didn’t she have any feelings of self-worth? Was he partly to blame for Liv’s state of mind? If that were the case he would never forgive himself.

‘Will you do it?’ she pressed.

To save her from a worse fate, and he had to get her out of here one way or another. He could hardly bear to look into Liv’s steady gaze. He was a novice where bravery was concerned. He had encountered all sorts of courage, but the fact that this good, gentle girl had been made to feel such a failure by so many people, including him, tore at his heart. Yes, he had a heart. He’d just discovered it.

‘I want to help you, Cade, but I need help too—’

‘Don’t,’ he warned her, holding out his hand to stem the tide of humiliation for her. ‘Don’t say any more. You know I’ll help you—’

‘You’ll agree to my terms?’

She spoke so seriously about a problem only she believed she had. Sadness welled up inside him, mixing with the anger already there. ‘You’ve got a deal,’ he managed roughly. All he wanted was to take her home with him and keep her safe; the rest, he’d sort out later.

‘Thank you…’

He ignored the whispered thanks, and the hand she offered for him to shake. Protecting Liv was his only thought now.

‘You haven’t changed your mind?’ she said, stuffing her hand back in her pocket.

‘No, I haven’t changed my mind.’ He glanced back at the house and then at Liv. He couldn’t have found her in a more vulnerable position. But he also had to consider the duke’s words about his rehabilitation centres needing a heart. Perhaps if he explained his plan more fully Liv would see how badly he needed her back at the hall, and forget this crazy idea of hers.

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