He must hate his brother, too, if he was still living. He’d said their closeness had only been brief. And that left him no one. He was so alone—so in need of someone to care about him.

“So you see now why I have never celebrated Christmas,” he ended.

She did indeed, and nearly cried again. She really was going to have to work on this emotional weakness of hers, as soon as she figured out how one became hard and indifferent—like the baron was. And her immediate problem hadn’t been solved either, so she mentioned it.

“My brother has been raised in a more . . . traditional—manner.”

He raised a brow at her. “You’re saying you intend to celebrate Christmas—here?”

“Certainly, if we are still here.”

“And that will require a tree?”

She sighed. “Yes.”

“By all means, then. I wouldn’t want the boy to not have what he’s accustomed to.”

“Thank you. We’ll put it up in his room, if you’d rather not have it downstairs in the parlor.”

“Nonsense, might as well do it right, if you’re going to do it.”

“We’ll need our decorations. They were stored in the attic—”

“I’ll have them fetched.”

“You’re very kind.”

He burst out laughing. “No, my dear Larissa, I can be called many things, but kind would certainly never be one of them.”

Chapter 11

Chapter 11

VINCENT FOUND OUT ONLY AFTER LARISSA HAD LEFT his house that she was gone. Her brother was still there, as were her clothes, so he didn’t panic. She obviously meant to come back. He was still annoyed, since he had planned to advance his seduction that morning.

Too much progress had been made yesterday for him not to take advantage of it, and before it became redundant. She had revealed how vulnerable she was in his study, that her father’s continued absence had become more than just a worry to her. Such grief made her ripe for comforting, and comforting could come in many forms.

He had offered the most basic form yesterday, no easy task for him, to hold her like that, feel her body trembling, and then let her go. She had felt so right in his arms. He’d never experienced that rightness before.

Her tears and grief were real; he hadn’t doubted that for a moment. He just didn’t think they were necessary yet, so they hadn’t affected him much. She might doubt her father’s return, but he didn’t, which was why he was still under a time constraint, to get her seduced soonest, before Ascot came to collect her.