Page 185 of Forbidden Forget-Me-Not

Isadora glanced around the room and then at Julian, who was laughing with a small group of men.

“I will see what I can do.” She squeezed my hand, her face growing serious. “If you are good to Julian, he will lavish you with all you could ever desire. But he can be spiteful if you are not.”

With that veiled warning ringing in my ears, I watched as Isadora turned and walked away. Head held high, she was the embodiment of authority and refinement.

The temptation to put space between me and everyone in this room was too great. The air felt too warm. The candles were too bright. The laughter was too sharp. The roses were too red. And the claustrophobic sensation, suffocating. It wasn’t the walls. It was the eyes. Every laugh felt like a blade.

I went out onto the balcony overlooking the dark sea and gripped the stone railing.

“There you are,” Julian said as he joined me.

I didn’t respond even when he placed his hand on the small of my back. The ebb and flow of the waves was hypnotic, and I was unsure of how much time had passed.

“I thought you’d run off.”

There was an edge to his tone that set off alarm bells. His thumb traced up my spine as he brushed tendrils of hair away from the side of my face. Not tenderness. Ownership.

“If I were going to run, I’d already be gone.”

“Is that so?”

“It is.”

He encroached further, his body pressing against mine, bringing on a wave of nausea.

“You seem so certain. What do you know that I don’t?”

“Only that you underestimate my resolve once I set my mind to something.”

He shifted, caging me in with his arms, trapping me.

Julian’s lips grazed my neck, and I went stiff as a board. He pushed into me hard enough that if the stone gave way we would both fall into the darkness below. I gripped the railing so that I didn’t claw him to death and cause a scene.

“I like you scared,” he whispered.

“I’m not.”

He chuckled.

“Your body tells me otherwise.”

That made me laugh.

“You don’t know anything about my body.”

“Oh…then tell me.”

“You mistake repulsion for fear.”

With a growl, he whipped me around and grabbed my throat. He shoved me back until I was bent partially over the railing. The waves crashed against the rocks below like an invitation to be sacrificed.

My survival instincts kicked in, and I latched onto his arm. If I went over, this asshole was coming with me.

“You will learn respect,” Julian snarled. “I don’t care whose daughter you are. You’re replaceable. Remember that.”

He yanked me forward and released me. I stumbled while gasping and coughing as I tried to catch my breath.

“My respect…will never be earned…through violence. But it’s not respect you’re after, you want obedience.”