Page 104 of Her Beast

Malcolm pried her fingers from his sleeve and leaned toward her. “I’ll tell you what I told your lover, Mrs. Harlow. “I want a life, for a life.”

Chapter 21

“You seem preoccupied this evening,” Julia said, setting down her dessert fork and pushing her plate away. “Have you had a busy day?”

Irritation flickered across Malcolm’s normally inscrutable features. “There have been numerous delays at the store we are building in New York.” He gestured to the wine and she nodded. Once he’d refilled their glasses, he took a sip and then sat back with a sigh. “Trying to finish a building during Christmas is not wise”

“Why is that?”

“The entire city grinds to a halt for the better part of two weeks.”

“And what about you?”

“Me?” he asked, his eyebrow raised.

“Yes. Doyoutake a day of rest on Christmas?”

He looked startled by the question. “Er, not usually.”

“It is tomorrow, you know—Christmas.”

He gave her a wry smile, but it quickly changed to an even more unusual expression: regret. “I am sorry to be keeping you from your family.”

Julia shrugged.

“You won’t miss them?” he asked.

“No.”

He gave a sharp bark of laughter.

“What?” she asked, and then grimaced when she caught his meaning. “Oh, I suppose that didn’t come out the way I meant it to. What I meant was that—well, you know why my father sent me away—” her face heated at the admission. “I assume you know other things—like how little love is lost between my father, stepmother, and me—” she pulled a face. “I shouldn’t admit such a thing out loud, I suppose.”

“Why not?”

“Because it is impolite to talk about one’s family problems in public.”

“It’s not polite to abduct young women, either.”

Julia laughed. “You make an excellent point.”

“Besides, I’m not interested in what is polite. I’d much rather we exchange truths than platitudes, Julia.”

That sentiment pleased her and she smiled. “Well, to own the truth, I would love to be around my little brothers at Christmas but Nadine believes that celebrating with one’s children is something only rustics do, so she and my father are usually at some house party or other during the holidays and she sends the boys to her mother, even though they don’t speak to each other.”

“They don’t get along?”

“Nadine loathes her mother because Mrs. Sheehan is… well, she isn’t the sort to put on airs. And Mrs. Sheehan despises Nadine’s pretension. In any case, there is nobody at home who will miss me this year.” Her throat tightened at her lie, her eyes suddenly burning with unwanted tears. Before she could think better of it, she added defiantly, “But Iwillmiss seeing my older brother.”

He looked arrested. “I didn’t know you had an older brother.”

“So, it turns out that you don’t know everything about me after all, do you?”

“Apparently not,” he said, looking more than a little chagrined by the admission. “Is he a half-sibling?”

She snorted. “Hardly. He is my older brother by eighteen minutes.” He stared, uncomprehending. “He is my twin, Malcolm.”

“Oh.”

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