Page 103 of To Pleasure a Prince

“I can stop it now. Go pack your things, Louisa. You’re coming back to Castlemaine with me.”

“But Marcus, the season isn’t over!” Louisa protested.

“The season is over for you, young lady. And I’ll have to think long and hard before I let you have another.”

Regina and Lady Iversley exchanged frustrated glances. They both knew Marcus well enough to understand his reaction. And they both knew Louisa—and young women—well enough to know it was the wrong way to handle her.

“You can’t take me away for good!” Louisa cried.

He set his shoulders stubbornly. “I’m your guardian—I can do whatever the hell I please. I should have done it the minute that ass started sniffing around you, but I thought you had the good sense not to be taken in by his lies.”

“He loves me!” she protested. “I don’t care what you say, he loves me! He told me so!”

Sweet heaven, this got worse and worse. “Marcus, you have to tell her the truth,” Regina said. “If he won’t, then youhaveto. You’re not being fair to her.”

“I don’t have to tell her a damned thing,” he bit out. “And stay out of this, Regina. This is not your concern.”

She flinched, but did not back down. “She’s my sister now, so that makes it my concern.”

“You should have thought of that when you deliberately hid your brother’s plans from me.”

An embarrassed flush spread over her cheeks as the Iversleys both stared at her. “Marcus, please, can’t we discuss this first? Alone?”

“Nothing to discuss,” he said, maddening her with his usual retreat into the cave. “Louisa, go pack your things. Miss Tremaine, you will wish to do the same if you intend to go with us.”

Louisa looked as if she might balk.

“Now,Louisa!” he barked.

She jumped, then allowed Cicely to lead her from the room.

Marcus turned to his brother. “I’m sorry she’s caused you and Katherine such grief, but I assure you I do not blame you for what has happened.”

Lord Iversley steadied his shoulders. “Your wife is right, you know. You should tell Louisa what’s going on. Prinny will just keep trying.”

“So will Simon,” Regina put in.

“I’ll take care of Foxmoor, never you fear.” Marcus glared at her. “And I will not tolerate any interference from you, do you understand?”

Regina bristled. Howdaredhe use the same tone that he’d used with Louisa! “What I understand is that you are not thinking rationally at the moment—or surely you would not be ordering me about as if I were a child.”

“As your husband, I have the right to order you about, madam. And I expect you to obey, or I swear I’ll take you over my knee.”

Lady Iversley rose, eyes flashing. “Marcus, really! You go too far.”

“Iversley, do control your wife,” Marcus growled.

Lord Iversley snorted. “The way you’re controlling yours? Thank you, but I don’t particularly like sleeping with one eye open.” He offered his arm to his wife. “Come, sweetheart, you and I had best get out of the line of fire.”

When Lady Iversley sniffed and shot Marcus an angry glance before marching off with her husband, despair gripped Regina. The old Marcus had returned, the rude lout who cared nothing for anyone’s feelings, the dragon who reacted to being cornered by breathing fire. She was not going to stand here and watch him cut himself off from everyone who cared for him. “Marcus—”

He whirled toward her, his stance and expression belligerent. “If you think to soften my temper with your wheedling, think again.”

“I know better than that. When you are like this, nothing will soften you. But if you’ll calm yourself, you’ll see that hauling Louisa off to Castlemaine without explaining the circumstances to her would be a huge mistake. She deserves a good husband and a place in society. If you deny her that by locking her up in the country, she will repay you for it in the worst way.”

“Let her just try.”

“Oh, she’ll try, I assure you. Besides, it’s unwise to jerk her out of society in the middle of the season. We should be able to squelch any rumors about her and my brother, but it will become infinitely more difficult if people see her guardian overreacting.”