Free When Strangers Marry by Lisa Kleypas Page B

burden to these strangers any longer. I would have expected you to be more considerate than that.” She caressed the side of Lysette’s face with her plump hand and tucked the lap blanket more tightly around her.
    Lysette realized guiltily that Delphine had a point. She had indeed been a burden to the Vallerands. Moreover, she had no wish to be the unwitting instrument of Vallerand’s destruction. If a duel did result from this, there was a possibility that Sagesse would manage to wound or even kill him. Somehow that thought was too awful to contemplate.
    “Lysette,” Irénée said sympathetically, astonishing them all, “perhaps you should go with them. It might be the wisest course of action.”
    “Yes, it would,” Gaspard added, his swarthy face losing its thunderous cast. “Your sensible attitude pleases me, Madame Vallerand.”
    “We must consider Lysette’s welfare,” Irénée replied cautiously.
    “Clearly Madame Vallerand recognizes the impropriety of your presence under this roof,” Gaspard interrupted, reaching for Lysette. “ Allons , Lysette. There is a carriage waiting outside, the finest carriage you have ever seen. The Sagesses have anticipated everything you might require.” He picked her up easily, his beefy arms crushing her struggles. Lysette was unable to move or breathe inhis crushing hold. “You’re going to pay for the trouble you’ve caused me,” he said close to her ear, a mist of hot spittle spraying her skin.
    Swamped in despair, she shoved at him. “Max,” she cried, wondering frantically why he wasn’t there. Hadn’t anyone told him that her aunt and stepfather had arrived? “Max—”
    The world seemed to tilt crazily, and she heard a strange low growl that most certainly had not come from Gaspard. An unseen force wrenched her upward, away from her stepfather’s brutal grasp, and momentum brought her hard against Vallerand’s unyielding chest. She grabbed at him immediately, her arms wrapping around his familiar neck. She buried her face against his throat. “He’s going to take me to Sagesse,” she gasped. “Don’t let him, don’t—”
    “You’re not going anywhere,” Vallerand interrupted brusquely. “Calm yourself, Lysette. It’s not good for you to become excited.” His possessiveness made her strangely giddy. As far as he was concerned, she was his, and no one was going to take her away from him.
    Gently Vallerand set her on a chair and straightened, his steady gaze fastened on Gaspard. “Don’t touch her again,” he murmured. Although his voice was soft, it contained a note that chilled Lysette’s blood. “If you so much as disarrange a hair on her head, I’ll tear you apart.”
    “She is mine!” Gaspard exploded, staring at them both in incredulous fury.
    Lysette returned his gaze with cool satisfaction.Max was going to take her part in the dispute, because it served his purpose to keep her here. She would let him handle the situation however he liked. She didn’t give a damn about her ruined reputation, or about the fact that Max was using her. The only thing that mattered was that she wouldn’t have to marry Etienne Sagesse.
    Gaspard spoke to her directly, his face apoplectic. “Sagesse has said that if you are not returned by this afternoon, he will not have you. He will consider you defiled! Do you understand, you stupid fool? No one will want you. You’ll be useless to me, because no decent man will ever offer for you. You will not only have blemished your own name, but also Sagesse’s honor, and this is exactly what Monsieur Vallerand intends. You are nothing but an excuse for him to finish a feud that began years ago. Once it is done, you will have no hope of anything close to the life you might have led as the wife of a Sagesse. Save yourself, Lysette. Come with me now and end this madness!”
    Lysette was suddenly exhausted. Her lips curved with a bitter smile as she spoke to Max. “Monsieur Vallerand, everything he says is