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Thank God his daughter was present, for Frederick needed it. If it was just the two of him, he had no doubt that this conversation would end the same way it had yesterday. A tempting prospect but an unrealistic one.

“Is that understood?” he barked.

“Is that what you wish?”

“It is what I command.”

Her eyes flashed again. “Then there is nothing left to say.”

“Father!” Isabella leapt up and took his hand. “Please, it is not what you think.”

He pulled his hand free. “It is done, Isabella. And you should be glad that your punishment is so lax. You wound me, daughter. Time and time again I have asked you to behave, and time, and time again you have disobeyed me.”

“But—”

“There are not buts,” he cut her off. “Now…” A final, fixed glare on Miss Dowding. “I suggest that the two of you return to your lesson. Unless there is anything you wish to say?”

There certainly was, and he could only imagine what was going through Miss Dowding’s mind. Was she feeling that same pull as he? Was she struggling to control herself just as much? His eyes flicked over her body, remembered how it felt in his hands, how it had tasted. He needed this conversation done with, to be away from here so he might breathe.

“No,” she said in a snarl. “You have made yourself perfectly clear.”

“Good.” A final rueful glare for the two of them, and Frederick stormed from the room, desperate to be gone from there before anything else might happen.

Once free of that room, Frederick continued through the house, up the stairs, into his room where he stumbled inside andslammed the door closed. Then he fell backwards, pressed against the closed door, breathing heavily as his body shook.

He had done it. He had managed to get through that hazardous situation without doing anything he would come to regret. A necessary situation if a painful one. But it was done, and now, all he needed to do was avoid Miss Dowding as much as he could until she was gone from here. And most importantly, not find himself alone with her.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

It was later that same evening when Frederick found himself in his study, hiding, even if he had managed to convince himself that he was in fact working. But after the way he had shouted at his daughter, and insulted Miss Dowding, the mood in the manor was tense, and he figured it might be best to avoid them for the rest of the night.

A soft knock at the door, and Frederick groaned, certain it would be his grandmother come to scold him.

At least after today, she might finally desist in her incessant insistence that he and Miss Dowding were good together. Surely, after the way he had spoken to her, even his grandmother must admit that where the two of them were concerned, only trouble would follow. And not the good kind either.

“Yes,” he called as a second knock followed the first. “Come in.”

The door opened, and in stepped Miss Dowding… almost. She pushed the door open but stayed by the doorway, refusing to cross the threshold as if an invisible barrier was stopping her.

“Miss Dowding—” Frederick baulked at the sight of her, suddenly feeling his chest tighten and his breathing stagnate. “What are you…”

“We need to talk,” she said simply, completely devoid of emotion.

She was dressed simply, nothing overtly scandalous or tempting. A loose-hanging garment, hair left flowing, face hidden in shadow. It made it easier to look at her without wanting to tempt fate for the reason she was here … well, no need to guess.

“Do we?” he responded coolly, feeling safe behind his desk.

“We do.”

He nodded and indicated for her to come in. “And close the door behind you.” He almost didn’t say that, and as soon as he did, he regretted it. Dangerous, he knew. Another temptation that he needed to avoid?—

“No,” she said, cutting through his thoughts. “I think it is best if I stay here.”

He frowned. “Oh. And why is that?”

“What you said today,” she began, ignoring him. Standing in the doorway, she looked right at him but kept her face free of emotion. No anger. No malice. It was as if he was a stranger who she had come to see. “You must know that it was completely uncalled for.”

“I will not be told how to speak to my own daughter in my own home.”