To Please A Lady (The Seduction Series) by Brighton Lori

Author:Brighton, Lori [Brighton, Lori]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Montlake Romance
Published: 2013-11-04T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 10

James knocked on Ophelia’s office door, knowing something was amiss. For two days he hadn’t seen nor heard from the woman. No clients visited the estate. No one but Wavers entered Ophelia’s office. And no one saw her come or leave. Odd indeed.

He’d questioned the servants as discreetly as he could, but no one seemed to know anything about Ophelia. Even the maid who had given him Alex’s letter had disappeared, although no one could give him a response as to why she’d left.

He knocked again, his irritation mounting. Although Wavers had returned the same day Alex and his friend had arrived, James hadn’t heard word about his sister. Had the bull found her? If so, why was Ophelia keeping her whereabouts secret?

The door opened and Wavers stood there glaring down at him. “Vhat?”

“I need to speak with Ophelia.”

“She’s not feeling vell.”

“I need to speak with her now,” James snapped. He would uncover the truth about his sister, no matter what it took.

A thick brow lifted, a brief show of surprise, when he’d never shown emotions before. But then James had never demanded anything. No, he’d been a good little whore, doing whatever was demanded of him. No more.

“Very vell, vait here.”

He started to close the door. James shoved his foot in the way, preventing him. “I’ll see her now.”

Wavers lifted his lips, growling.

“Stand down, Wavers,” Ophelia called out. “Let him in.”

Reluctantly, the bull stepped into the hall. James entered and slammed the door in Wavers’s face, giving them privacy. But as he turned toward Ophelia, he was startled into momentary silence. She sat slumped in a chair, staring unblinkingly into the roaring fire. A tray with soup and bread was on the side table, but untouched, no steam coming off of the surface, as if it had been there for some time. Ophelia did not glance his way as he started toward her. Tucked upon the chair with a blanket over her body, she had never looked more fragile, lost, alone.

“Are you well?” Despite his pride, he was curious. She had manipulated him, controlled him for years, yet he still couldn’t help but care. Damn his protective instinct.

“Gideon has left for good.”

James frowned, confused. “I… see.” He shouldn’t have been surprised. Of the three of them, Gideon had hated Lavender Hills Estate and its owner the most. Yet if Ophelia had secrets binding them all to this estate as Alex had claimed, then how had they both escaped? He settled in the chair next to hers.

“You’re sad because he’s gone?”

She didn’t respond.

“Perhaps this is a blessing,” he tried, wondering how in the hell he could get the truth from her lips. “You never did get on well. It would be better to have a man who truly wants to be here than someone you are… forcing.”

She released a wry, bitter laugh. “He belonged here. Belonged with me.”

He thought her response odd indeed. Belonged here? Gideon had never belonged here, surely she knew that. Or did her words mean something deeper, darker? Hell, the woman he had thought he’d known was gone.

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