Page 33 of Donovan Blake: Passion

“You knew me as John, not Trevor. I’m John Martin.”

“But John’s hair was light brown. Yours is blonde.”

“That’s from the sun. I was training in Spain for a few months.”

“And you were skinny!”

“So were you, but other than that, you haven’t changed. You were rude and impatient back then too.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, not then and not now.”

“Jane, you’ve been testy since I met you at the gate, and a minute ago you implied I was the one with the problem.”

“Oh, for pity’s sake. I did no such thing.”

“Your exact words were, I think you need a cup of tea. Though it wasn’t so much what you said, but how you said it. Please, Jane, don’t take me for a fool.”

“I just thought after your long drive you could use a break,” she exclaimed, hating that her face was suddenly turning beet red.

“I need to find your father. Do you know where he might be?”

“Why?”

“I’m going to thank him for the opportunity and tell him this isn’t the right situation for me.”

“I don’t understand.”

“You used to be a brat, and you’re still a brat, but mostly because you just lied to me. I’m sorry this didn’t work out, and I wish you only the best. Goodbye, Jane.”

As he marched out the door she was momentary flooded with conflicting emotions, but none of them were as strong as the need to stop him.

“Wait!” she called, running after him. To her great relief he paused his step and slowly turned, but he wasn’t smiling. “I can’t help myself. I just get…I don’t know what the word is. Flustered, then I feel annoyed and defensive. I’m sorry, honestly.”

“Thank you for apologizing, but it doesn’t change anything. You are how you are, and I’m simply not prepared to put up with it.”

“I’ll try not to interrupt,” she blurted out, still trying to understand why she was so determined not to let him leave. “If I’m being rude just tell me. I know I sometimes get impatient.”

“What does the man in your life say about all that?”

“Man? What makes you think I have a man?”

“You’re very attractive and you’re Lord Hawthorne’s daughter. You must have any number of admirers.”

“Well…there are a couple, but they’re frightfully boring. I can’t be around them for more than ten minutes, much to daddy’s dismay.”

“I’m sure.”

“John, don’t go.”

As he tilted his head to the side, the strange sensation she’d felt when they first met at the gate rippled through her body.

“I didn’t hear a please.”

“Oh, sorry, please don’t go.”

He took a deep breath, then stepped closer.

“Very well, Jane, I’ll stay, but you must understand I’m not your servant. I’m here to make sure nothing happens to you, and I take my job very seriously. If I sense a problem and tell you to leave, you leave, if I tell you to run, you don’t walk. You’ll do exactly as I say, when I say. That’s rule number one. Is that clear?”

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