Chapter Sixteen
“Elizabeth. Stop! That wasn’t a mistake, and you know it.”
She paused on the stairs, shoulders rigid, back towards him. These weren’t the actions of a woman who’d just been kissed and acted as though she’d liked it. He’d been aroused beyond recognition, and it had taken a second to pull himself together after she’d bolted away. All he’d seen on her face after their mind-blowing kiss was—fear.
He knew without hesitation she’d been abused by some man. Probably recently if the bruises on her wrists were anything to go by. If he could, he’d take it all away from her. Make it that she’d never suffered, but all he could do was tell her all men weren’t like that.
He wasn’t like that.
It mattered that she trust him. Not just because of Madeline.
But because of him.
He hasten
