Free Shattered by Alexia Foxx Page B

to meet her eyes.  He had to know what she wanted.  Despite everything he wanted to appease her.  “When did I lie to you?”
    “Today, at the pool.   Why would you say I’m beautiful?  Was that really the best you could come up with?  Did you think I’d hurt you less if you flattered me?”
    Nathan knew his mouth sat agape but he was at a loss for words.  He had never met a woman who became so offended at a compliment.  Then again, he had never met a woman who made a life out of inflicting pain.  Nor one he wanted to please more.
    “I want an answer from you Nathan.  You will tell me the truth or I will show you just how good I am at my job.  These last few days have been nothing next to what I can do.  I’ve left you whole so far, but that can change.  You have no idea.”
    The slip from his pet name to h is real one sent a chill down his back.  She was serious, and he sensed that apologizing was the worst thing he could do right now.  It would be a lie for he wasn’t sorry at all.  She wanted the truth and it was the only reason he was able to give it.
    “ I think you’re cruel and terrifying Robin.”  It was hard to force the words out past the pain in his chest.  They came out slowly.  “A hundred other things atop that too. But I need you, and that makes you more beautiful than anything or anyone I’ve ever known.”
    Her eyes narrowed a little but Nathan couldn’t read her.  “You really expect me to believe that…”
    “I’m dead Mistress .  You’ve left me with nothing.  No modesty, no shame, no hope.  Tell me what you want from me and I will do it.  Tell me you want me to suffer for your revenge and I will, endlessly, until you’re satisfied.  But please, don’t think I was lying.”
    Her frown softened a little but a knock at the door, three quick hits in succession, interrupted whatever she might say next.  Robin dropped the whip.  Her face went blank and Nathan realized there had been some warmth there before, evident only in its absence now.
    “Eyes down, not a word,” she whispered as she turned towards the door, taking two steps forward to place herself between it and him.
    Nathan honed every sense on th e person who would come here so clearly uninvited.  But he wouldn’t disobey her, he sensed her trepidation, and he kept his eyes firmly on her heels.
    Whoever it was their step was heavy and the current of air that followed them in was ridiculously sweet, though it just barely managed to cover the stale sme ll of perspiration.  Perhaps he was cueing his emotions off of Robin, but this person disgusted him already.
    “My little sparrow,” a male voice said playfully. “Have you been enjoying your present?”
    Nathan pressed the nail of his index finger into his thumb, hidden above his head at the ceiling, to keep himself from voicing his disgust as he heard the man touch Robin.  He heard their skin rubbing together, his hand on her face, an innocent gesture that seemed perverted by something.  And he realized what.  That man had power over her.
    “Yes m’lord, ” Robin replied.
    “Good, good.  I’m glad,” he said, but he wasn’t.  Not in a benevolent sense anyway , but only glad in a way that someone who was now owed a favor might be.
    His hand traveled from her face and down.  Nathan could hear the movement in the rustle of his sleeve, the grating of his palm over leather, the small breaths Robin took to minimize the rise of her chest into his hand.
    “Pig,” Nathan mumbled.  The weight of both sets of eyes fell on him at once.  He kept his face down and watched the cumbersome shadow creep across the floor.  The first blow he took was to the stomach and it knocked the air out of him.  His head came up reflexively and he met Robin’s wide eyes beyond the man’s shoulders.  He saw her disbelief.
    Nathan silently congratulated himself on his choice of animal.  Th is man really did resemble a pig, though one dressed up like a noble.