Free Tainted by Temptation by Katy Madison

bought her too many dolls, but he hadn’t known what else to do, but try to make her life as carefree and comfortable as possible.
    Velvet stood and he reached out to cup her elbow. She looked unsteady, and he wasn’t sure she was entirely well.
    The move brought them too close, and he was all too aware he wore nothing under his robe. His hand tingled where it was in contact with her arm. The tingles spread along his arm and down his body. With the ocean breeze putting roses in her cheeks and the blue-green of the ocean off-setting her coppery hair, she looked like a dream come true. His prurient thoughts rushed back.
    He shouldn’t have touched her.
    “There are other punishments beyond corporal,” she said softly.
    “Yes, there are.” His voice was rough. Having beautiful off-limits women in his household seemed to be his particular punishment. He fought the throbbing change in his body. He should go inside, but he couldn’t bring himself to drop his hold on her elbow.
    She turned her head toward him. “I wanted to ask you if you would allow Iris to give away four of her dolls at church this Sunday.”
    He watched her pale pink lips move, but the words failed to penetrate. He wanted to kiss her, but what kind of a man seduced a woman whom he was practically holding hostage with her wages? “We don’t go to church.”
    She jerked her arm back and her eyes flashed. “You will not object if I take Iris.”
    Her statement was defiant. Not even a question. The corners of his mouth slid up, but he fought to suppress the smile. She was like a Valkyrie in her fearlessness. Most of his staff were afraid to cross him.
    Her expression fell as if she feared she had overstepped her place. “A girl in society will be expected to have a proper Christian upbringing.” Velvet ducked her head. “And she needs playmates her own age.”
    “Why?” He folded his arms and resisted saying he hadn’t had friends his own age until he’d been sent to school.
    “We females are social creatures. We rely on our friendships.”
    “Who do you rely on, Miss Campbell?”
    Her eyes looked bruised before she turned away. He regretted the question.
    “If you would like me to have her ready to interact socially with others, she will need to have contact with people outside of the household.”
    Lucian took a step toward her and reached for the dustbin. She reluctantly released it to him, and he returned it to the ground. She talked, and her voice curled around him like warm tendrils of a summer breeze.
    “If you will not back me on this discipline, then I will have her stand with her nose to the corner. But I thought giving away the dolls would help teach her charity. She has so many. She can’t possibly play with them all.”
    Velvet stared at him, and he was caught in her eyes.
    Her words tumbled faster. “If you don’t want to give away dolls you bought . . .”
    He leaned toward her, catching her feminine scent, wanting to hold her, bury himself in her softness, and ensure she always treated him like a partner in her concerns, or so he deluded himself.
    “ . . . help her to make friends with the village girls.”
    “No.” The rush of heat ebbed. “I don’t want her mixing with the villagers.”
    Furrows appeared between her brows as she studied him. Her silent inquiry drew an explanation from him.
    “She’ll hear things she shouldn’t hear.”
    Velvet bit the corner of her lip and seemed to consider her answer. “I understand you want to shelter her from the rumors you killed your wife, but hiding away isn’t the answer.”
    He was used to unnatural silence when he entered a room and the gradual roar of whispers and sidelong glances. He wasn’t used to people being direct about the accusations leveled at him. He waited for his anger to spurt forth, but her broaching the subject made him feel lighter. Instead of the issue hanging between them like an unspeakable horror, it was out and exposed.
    But more was at issue than