“Thomasina,” he repeated, this time louder. “Please stop.”

“Why?” she asked as she reached for her door handle. “What else is there to say? You have determined I’ve used up my usefulness, haven’t you, my lord?”

“No!” he snapped, his tone sharp as he reached out and covered her hand with his on the door handle. His tone was softer as he forced her fingers to loosen their grip on the iron handle. “Please.”

She huffed out her breath as she stared at the door before her, felt his fingers against hers as he held her hand. She was being unfair, perhaps. Letting her emotions, her fears, make her reactive in a way that didn’t take into account what he feared.

But damn it, hadn’t she spent her whole life taking everyone else into account? Hadn’t he asked her not to please, but to ask for what she wanted?

She pivoted. “What do you want to say?”

Her breath caught because he was so close now. He leaned a hand on the door beside her, and suddenly he felt very warm and very close as he stared down at her with all that coiled intensity. All that palpable heat and power.

Why did he have to move her so much?

“My not wanting you to be a part of any confrontation with Maitland has nothing to do with not trusting you or valuing you as a partner. I have never had a better one in my life, Thomasina. I’ve never understood how much I needed one until you crashed into everything I’ve built and made me question all of it.”

Her lips parted. “That—that doesn’t sound like a compliment.”

He smiled a fraction. “It is the best compliment. My life needed crashing. But the reason I don’t want you to be near Maitland is that it terrifies me. Thomasina, I—”

He broke off and his cheeks flushed slightly. His gaze darted away. When it returned, she could see the struggle in him. The barriers that remained between them. Lower now, so much lower, but still present.

“You?” she encouraged.

He leaned closer, until she felt his breath on her skin. She shivered with it.

“I have never wanted to have something to lose. But I have that now, in you.” His voice was low, rough. It skated across her skin like a kiss. “And if you were to be hurt by Maitland in any way, I wouldn’t survive it. I would be focused on you and your safety for every moment we were with him.”

She stared at him. “Are you saying you…you…care for me?”

He hesitated, but then he nodded slowly. She couldn’t breathe as he leaned in, his hands gliding up her arms, his lips brushing hers. She caught his lapels, gripping them for purchase as he kissed her. It was light at first, gentle, but then the power and passion of that connection of their bodies grew. His mouth opened, he dragged her tongue inside, sucking as she lifted on her tiptoes to get closer to him.