Page 67 of Ruthless, But for Her

“Will say nothing, but he admitted to considering it.”

“Because you paid him so handsomely?”

He did not respond to her question.

“Ashton?”

Still nothing but the rustling of clothing.

“You paid him to remain silent, aye?”

“I did.”

But that was not all. “And threatened him as well?” she guessed.

“You may turn back now.”

She did, though perhaps too quickly. He was bare to the waist, his shirt over the back of the chair and the cloth still in his hand.

“I did.”

“I should like to know what you said to him.”

“Why?”

She stepped closer. “I would know the sort of man with whom I share my bedchamber.”

His jaw tightened. “You know as much already, Cassia.”

“What did you tell him?” Her voice was hardly above a whisper.

“I said I knew where his mother sleeps.”

“I see.” She took a deep breath. “Nay, you would not…”

He set the cloth down. “But he doesn’t know that, and so I need never do anything at all.”

This time, it was Ashton who closed the distance between them. Candlelight flickered from both sides of the bed, the well-kept chamber feeling much smaller with him in it.

“Turn around.”

She didn’t hesitate. Cassia somehow knew what he meant to do before his fingers touched her hair. She sighed as the tight braids began to loosen. ’Twas another of her favorite rituals.

Her hair once again unbound, Ashton told her to remain there. What was he about? She turned to see him coming back toward her, a hairbrush in hand.

“Where did you get that?”

He caught her glance but said nothing.

She spun back toward the shuttered window once again.

“At the market,” he said.

“When?”

“As you haggled over the price of the ribbon we shall use tomorrow so that the plait will not be so tight in your hair.”

How did he know such a thing?