Page 46 of Seduced

“Did you build all this, my lord?”

“Not with my own hands,” he replied, and, in an effort not to let his voice sound strangled, he sounded stern. “I am a gentleman, after all, all evidence to the contrary notwithstanding. But yes, I built it all over the course of five years. I didn’t belong in any of the worlds that hosted me, you see: not in my ancestral home or country, not in my father’s palace, not at school in England. So, when I grew up, I brought over my inherited wealth, and I created my own world here. I created life, where there was only darkness and dirt. Anything less Hades-like than that I would like to see.”

“It really bothers you, doesn’t it?” she said. “The name.”

“It does. You know, I have struggled all my life against the thought that I am unwanted.”

“You are n—”

She would start to protest out of politeness, and he wanted to murder himself.

Her pity, that is the one thing I have managed to win.

How positively pathetic.

“I know I am not, in fact, wanted,” he interrupted her with impatience. “I know this, Miss Wyatt. No need to say it.”

“That was not what I meant to say. But proceed.”

“Oh, how generous of you.” Would nothing ever make her lose her calmness? He was over here losing his damned mind. “As I was saying, I did not expect to be welcomed, or even appreciated here, but I did not expect to be dubbedDeath himself for owning one of the most prestigious gentlemen’s clubs in London.”

“Was not the name given you when you were a child?” Poppy asked.

He had pretty much stopped rowing.

“It was,” he said, running a finger down the oar’s smooth surface. “Can you imagine how flattering? Of course, poor Dante has it worse. Much worse than anyone else on God’s green earth, but that’s another story—well, except for you, possibly, my dear. But I did not expect the silly name to follow me into adulthood; into the lips of every insipid lady in London’s tearooms. I expected…”

“To feel enough,” Poppy said, her eyes round, as though her words had surprised even herself. “To feel as though what you had achieved would finally be enough.”

Hades turned and gave her a look of such absolute shock, she nearly upset the boat. Then his shock turned into disgust. At both her and himself.

“Quite,” he said. “For someone who has been trying to play the fool for the past day, that was very insightful, Wyatt.”

It seemed a proper time to drop the ‘Miss’ entirely. It had been a nuisance anyway.

“I am surprised myself at the—”

“That is enough out of you,” Alexei cut her off rudely, and turned around to row with vengeance.

If it was possible to rise a wave in that still, dark lake, he would have done it.

…

He had to touch her.

This had never happened to him before; of all the things he had done since meeting her, this was the mostinexplicable. He had to touch her or he would splinter into a million, furious pieces of broken tissue and bone.

He had to touch her or he would die.

So, naturally, he rowed furiously for the shore, and jumped out of the boat, letting her stumble out of the boat by herself. He saw her struggle with the pain both on her weak leg and her hurt knees, and pretended to not even notice.

But he did wait for her to step safely on firm ground. Once he was sure that she was out of the water, he walked on, steering well clear of her, even though his fingers ached to wrap themselves around her delicate wrist and offer her support, warmth and comfort.

He hoped to God she would do or say something to irritate him soon, because if something did not put an end to this irrational need to touch her soon, he would expire.

“I have gotten nothing out of you,” he told her, making his voice as hard and hostile as he possibly could.

“What would your lordship like to get from me?”

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