“Please.” He slowed. “Please, Theo.” She put her head in her hands. “I’m sorry but please, tell me, what I can do to make this right again.”
She heard his footsteps grow louder. He returned to her. They slowed and he stopped beside her. She held her breath, hoping.
“What can you do, Claire? Nothing. There is nothing more you can do.” Gentleness suffused his words, yet there was that same fearsome resolve in every syllable. “I’ve listened to your arguments and your logic. I’ve listened, earlier, to Dankyo’s arguments also, though in some amazement. I never thought I’d hear him defend you.”
His hand touched her head, and without thinking, eyes shut, she raised her head, wanting to feel more of his presence, to feel his warmth, to put her nose to his broad palm and smell his heavy masculine scent.
“Listen, Claire.” He pressed his hand down, so she stopped and waited. At least he was near. “There is nothing you can say that will change my mind. Nothing.”
“Oh.” Claire’s heart tore in two, and a twisted ache burrowed through her middle. “Oh.”
“Yes.” He patted her head once, then exhaled slow and hard. “Trust is something that should be earned. Yet if there’s one thing I have learned over the years, logic doesn’t always work where trust is concerned. You can’t change my mind, because only I can do that.”
Hope fluttered to life.
“And I have changed my mind.”
She wrenched her head up to meet his gray eyes, didn’t dare to speak.
“I let my anger fool me. I will trust you again, my dear, because despite everything, you’ve not wavered in trying to fix what wrongs you’ve done, because Dankyo trusts you, but most of all, against all logic, because it’s what, deep down where it counts, I want to do.”
“Thank you,” she whispered, putting her hand on his as he traced the curve of her face.
Theo smiled a little grimly. “And because, strangely, I do love you, my little assassin.” He drew her to her feet and kissed her hands, then her mouth while she hugged him tightly, arms molded to his chest, her thoughts awhirl.
Ohmigod. He’s forgiven me. Yes. Yes!
After resting awhile with his chin beside her ear, breathing slow, Theo leaned away, studied her. “Did you hear me?”
“Yes.” She groped for something to say. “I-I’m sorry for lying.” He loves me? Can I say those words? She glanced over. Dankyo was watching.
“Do you have something else to add?” Theo raised one eyebrow.
She mouthed those words. I love you too.
“Hmm.” His smile stretched and amusement reached his eyes. “A little louder would be nice, especially after I’ve forgiven your…errors. I believe I may have a way to make you say it properly and louder. You did volunteer to be tied up.”
She nibbled her lip. Elation was fast being tainted by a shivery kind of fear, and her knees were suddenly jelly. Ropes. I’ve done it, though, haven’t I? I’ve won him back.
“Only there will be more than just tying up. You’ve earned the flogger. How many strokes, I’ve not yet decided.”
Wide-eyed, she blinked up at him. Yet this was the Theo she wanted. Curiously, the fear stayed away. Somehow, in all this, her worries had been bent out of shape. Her fear now linked to her victory, to the rising sense of pure joy. He was hers, and she was his again.
Ha. Maybe this wouldn’t be quite so bad. Theo had restrained her before, and she’d loved it. She squeezed her thighs together, feeling excitement rise.
“Well.” The gravelly voice came from over her shoulder. “What an interesting outcome. And what a pity I have no time to witness the result.”
She blushed. She’d forgotten the president.
He strolled into view. “May you all enjoy yourselves immensely. Perhaps another time, my dear, we might become better acquainted?”
She stiffened, alarmed, remembering the clothes Theo had bought for the party after the President’s Ball. She’d never quite seen what went on…afterward.
“Sir. Thank you for your forbearance,” Theo said. The president nodded and walked away. He left through a side door.
“Come, Claire.” Theo took her by the shoulders. “Let me show you the facilities in the Machine Room. Both Dankyo and I are eager to demonstrate.”
Machine Room? And… She swiveled under Theo’s hands and looked over at Dankyo. She had offered to let him tie her up. He was back to being impassive. Theo hooked his fingers beneath the little straps of her dress, wiggled them. “Before we leave here, though. Remove the dress and your underwear.”
She gaped at him. “Here?”
“Yes,” he said, straight-faced except for the tiniest wrinkles at the corners of his eyes. “Here. I promise, there is no one else to see, except Dankyo. Trust me?”
She swallowed. “Yes. Oh, definitely yes.”
“Then don’t look around.” He raised both eyebrows.