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Her brows furrowed and she paused mid-chew when she saw the stop action order that had been placed on her aviary.

“Andrew,” she called, pointing to the letter. “What is this?”

Andrew read the letter over her shoulder and said, “I believe is says that work on the aviary has stopped, Your Grace.”

She dropped her fork, no longer hungry, and glared up at him.

“And why do you think that would be?” She asked.

Andrew gave her a pleading look as he shrugged his shoulders.

“I would not know, Your Grace, but it appears to be His Grace’s signature at the bottom of the form. Perhaps he would know.”

Annoyance bristled through her as Amelia abandoned her breakfast and stalked toward Dominic’s study. Without pretense she shoved the door open with so much force it bounced off the wall with a resounding moan. Dominic, his solicitor, and Hugo all looked at her. The last two looked at her with wide-eyed astonishment, but Dominic glared with forthright impatience.

“I believe that finalizes things,” Hugo said, picking up his portfolio. “We shall leave you two to your morning.”

“You don’t need to go anywhere,” Dominic said, still glaring at Amelia.

“I know what happens when wives burst in like that,” Hugo replied, coming around Dominic’s desk, “Trust me, I do. Good to see you, Amelia. Excellent party yesterday.”

“Please tell Seraphina I shall join her at her married ladies club later today,” Amelia said as he passed, not taking her eyes off of her husband.

Hugo mumbled his agreement, and made his way out of the office; closing the door behind him.

“I feel as if I have been quite patient with you, Amelia, but one thing I won’t tolerate is a business deal interruption,” Dominic told her, rising from his chair. “As I told you last night, my life is all about transactions.”

“I remember,” she said icily.

She stalked toward him and threw the morning’s portfolio on his desk.

“Explain this at once. Why did you stop my work on the aviary? I wanted it completed by the time we got back.”

“Because it is an outrageous waste of money,” Dominic retorted, coming round to sit on the edge of his desk.

She noted how he’d gone quickly back to his black suits, and despised how her body responded to how well he wore them.

I wonder how he looks beneath his clothes?The thought suddenly bloomed in her mind.Are his muscles as rigid as they feel through the fabric?

“Amelia.”

Amelia wrenched her eyes away from his torso, realizing she’d been staring, and blushed wildly as she crossed her arms over her chest.

“I want that aviary, Dominic,” she stated, “I want my birds. They are symbolic to me.”

He raised an amused brow as he tilted his chin.

“How so?” He inquired.

“Because they remind me of myself.” She said, and even as she spoke the words, she realized how selfish she sounded. Dominic must have too, for he let out a demeaning laugh.

“So you’ll cage wild, beautiful animals meant to be free just so that you may have a visual representation of yourself to look upon?” He asked.

“That does not sound kind, Amelia.”

“What would you know about kindness?” She flung back, suddenly feeling small and hurt.

Dominic’s brows dipped into a frown as he got up from the edge of his desk to stand before her. Her legs began to quake as he towered over her, but damn her if she couldn’t tell if it were out of fear or arousal. Being this close to him, catching his masculine scent of wild sea air and fir trees- images of their dance last night flashed through her mind; making her shiver.