Free The Hellion (The Lady Knights of Barony Book One ) by Elise Marion

mixture with emotions. Ava felt herself physically reacting to his sudden change in demeanor. Her heart seemed to ache for him. For a moment, she could almost see the lost, vulnerable little boy he must have been, a bastard son abandoned by an uncaring father. What drove Julian Vincent? What force had pushed him toward this life?
    “Is it so important?” she asked, truly wanting to know the answer. “A house is a place made of stone. A home is what’s important, the place where the people who love you are. That’s a true home.”
    “I wouldn’t know,” he said, his voice a low growl. Frustration edged his chiseled features. “I’ve never had either.”
    Ava felt the strings of her heart being tugged even harder at his words. She unconsciously moved toward him, decreasing the space between them. Julian stared up at her from where he laid, his face a tortured mask that betrayed his vulnerability.
    “Surely there must have been someone who cared about you.”
    His eyes became immediately shuttered and guarded. He turned his back to her swiftly, effectively ending their conversation.
    “Good night, Ava.”
    Her jaw set in determination, Ava refused to be cowed. She moved closer—so close that her knee was touching his back—and tapped him on the shoulder.
    “Oh, no you don’t,” she said. “I gave you my life story, Julian! The most you can do is tell me a little bit about yourself. Help me understand a man that kidnaps women for a living.”
    “I do not kidnap women for a living!”
    His mighty roar should have been enough to wake every animal in the forest, yet Simon remained eerily unmoving on his pallet a few feet away. His back to them, he snored loudly, shattering the silence that stretched between them after Julian’s outburst. The muscles in Julian’s shoulders bunched and rolled as he turned to face her again.
    “I do what I have to do to survive. It’s all I’ve ever done, my lady . You with your loving parents and shining future could never understand what that’s like.”
    Her hand tightened on his shoulder. “Make me understand. I want to.”
    “My father is an extremely wealthy and well-known member of the royal court. I’ve no doubt you may have even rubbed elbows with him at one of your soirees. My mother was a maid in his house. From what I understand, his wife is a very jealous woman. When she found out that a maid was carrying her husband’s child, she had her thrown out on the street. My mother never did get over the heartbreak,” he laughed dryly. “She thought herself in love with him.”
    “Then she must have loved you, your being an extension of him.”
    His eyes hardened and glittered with anger. “No,” he ground out. “My mother despised me. She could barely look at me because I was the very image of him . I spent most of my childhood stealing to survive and to feed myself and became known in our village by my torn rags and empty stomach. When I reached the age of thirteen, a friend of my father’s took me in. He knew that what my father had done was wrong and told him so. From what I understand my father was quoted as saying that he didn’t give a damn if I died in the gutter; he was not going to claim me or take me into his home. Lord Kensington did what he would not. His family took me into their great house on a hill filled with servants and gave me a taste of the life I’d always wanted. I felt as if I belonged in that world too, adapted quickly to it. His son, Thomas, and I became fast friends and the two groomed me to become a society gentleman. I learned to dance, ride, fence, shoot and developed first class manners just like any other young noble.”
    “It sounds as if you had a great life with Lord Kensington and his family,” she said with a smile. “I know the new Lord Kensington, Thomas Edwards. I was not aware that you were friends.”
    Julian shrugged. “We don’t run in the same circles anymore.”
    “What happened?”
    “Word spread, of