Page 45 of The Nature of a Lady
She half-turned away. Better to look at his boat than him. “There was no choosing.”
“Right.” And there, the hard edge she was more used to hearing from him. “Because it was always Cador—had alwaysbeenCador.”
“Or maybe it was because you only wanted to poke at Oliver. That’s all it ever was with you. Your stupid rivalry, your need to prove you were better than him.”
“Let’s get one thing straight.” His hand was on her elbow, turning her, anchoring her. No magic in it like Ollie’s elbow touching, but the very fact that he didn’t let go started a tingling there. Of irritation, that was all.
Maybe.
He leaned down, putting their faces a mere six inches apart. “There are many reasons I kissed you that night and tried to convince you to go with me to that dance instead of Cad. But Oliver Tremayne had nothing to do with any of them.”
She hadn’t thought of that kiss in years—her first, though she’d never admitted to anyone in the world that it had happened—and she didn’t intend to start now. “And you expect me to believe that? That if it had been you I’d gone with, you’d not have just embarrassed me? Made a mockery of me?” She scoffed a laugh and averted her face. “That’s not what Beth heard.”
His hand slid down her arm, found her hand, even as he straightened again. “I don’t know what she heard. But the Mabena Moon I know couldn’t be embarrassed by the likes of me, even if Ihadtried that—which was never my intent. The Mabena Moon I know could turn mockery on its heel with one well-placed sentence. You’d not have feared that. No.”
He edged closer, making her keenly aware of the fact that he was nearly a foot taller than she was. And it was just his usual bullying tactics, to tower over her now.
Well, he had one thing right. Mabena Moon wasn’t one to cower before a bully. She tilted her head back and stared him down. “I didn’tfearanything.”
“No?” He had the same grin as his brother, nearly—but Cador had never worn it like Casek did. Mocking. Challenging. Not until the last.
No, even then it wasn’t the same. At the last, Cador’s smile had been cruel, pure and simple.
Casek shook his head. “Cador was thesafechoice.”
“Safe?” She spat the word. “Ha.” If he’d been safe, he wouldn’t have walked away as he’d done, grinding her heart into the sand with sadistic pleasure.
“Cad was the one who’d always got along with your family, the one who always tried to be everyone’s friend. The one you didn’t have to explain to anyone. But he was only those things for his own purposes.” His fingers tightened around hers. “Didn’t I try to tell you that? He’d always been selfish. Out only for his own interests—it just happened that those interests were you. Because he knew it would dig atme.”
“This is absurd.” She tried to tug her hand free so she could spin again and march away. Oliver could wait until tomorrow to get the message he didn’t even know was coming. What difference would a few hours really make? She’d take it over to him herself in the morning.
For a moment, Casek held tight to her fingers. Then he released them abruptly, even stepped back, gave her room. “You said it was him you wanted—so I let you go. He broke your heart—so I let you go. But you’re back now, and he’s gone, and blast it, Mabena, but I’m not letting you go a third time. You’re going to give me a chance.”
Of all the ... She whirled first one way, then back the other, waving her arms to force words into her brain. “You think you can justproclaimthat? Has it never once occurred to you that I don’t wantanyWearne, ever again?”
“Nope. Never occurred to me. It’s going to be different this time. You’ll see.”
She could only shake her head at him. Because there should have been at least a flicker of vulnerability in his eyes when he said something so daft, shouldn’t there? But there wasn’t. Just steel and fire and the whole blasted forge, his words the hammer meant to bend her. “How do these small little islands even hold your head, big as it is?”
He grinned again. “You can test me, Benna. Try me. I’m not going anywhere—and neither are you, at least for the summer.”
She folded her arms over her chest, largely to keep them from flapping about like a bird’s again. “You want a test?” She shouldn’t. But she couldn’t think of a bigger one. “I need to get a message to Oliver. Tonight.”
He reeled back as if she’d punched him. “Now, that’s below the belt.”
“Oh, giving up so quickly? I see how determined you are.”
“Come on, Benna.” He swiped his cap off and smacked it against his leg. “I try to give him a note and he’ll be checking it for poison.”
“Not a note. Just a verbal message. And this.” She pulled the drawing of the coat of arms from her pocket when its presence suddenly flashed into her mind. “Ask him to see if he recognizes it.”
He frowned. “Pick something else.”
“No.” Perhaps seeing him squirm shouldn’t be quite so entertaining. But it was. She fluttered the drawing. “Give him this. And tell him another package came for Beth. Think you can remember that?”
He scowled and put his cap back on his head, then snatched the drawing from her hand and put it in his own pocket. “You owe me a picnic lunch for this.”
“I most certainly do not.”
