The Nobleman's Masterpiece ✔

9 DEALS

Thoughts of the inhaler came and went, but Lydia didn't care that she'd left it home in her haste to come down here. She didn't care that she had no idea if she could get home tonight. She didn't even care if Mitchellii would let Osbourne walk away from a fight.

One thing was certain—Joshua's manipulation of the situation was decades ahead of Lydia's ability to think past her anger.

There was no way of knowing when they'd started staring at each other. Lydia couldn't speak, she couldn't utter a word. She could only gawk at this pretty-faced monster.

Joshua seemed to be thinking the same thing.

"What happened to you?" Joshua asked. "Do you even know what I go through for you? To give us this chance?"

What us? Lydia found herself echoing that sentiment. "And what happened to you, Josh? Since when did you find it acceptable to treat people like things?"

"Because they are things. They make themselves into things. You're the one who gives people far more value than they'd ever indicated wanting."

Gaze cast low, Lydia shook her head. "The nicer you look, the less emotion you have."

"Me?" Joshua stepped forward, his voice a whisper. "Who am I other than the one you left behind? You gave me no value, but I kept holding out hope that you'd see more to me than everyone else. But you look down on me, too, don't you?

"Even now, you probably see more in this big lummox than you see in me. I don't look the part of that dashing prince, the one you'll follow after that'll never do anything but beat you when he gets bored." He paused, waiting for a reply. An instant later, he growled, "I'm trying to help you, and you're all but setting yourself on fire to avoid that! What more do you need? What more would be enough for you! You have no money. Nobody needs to tell me that, because I can see it!"

Body trembling, Lydia tried to keep from taking a swing at him.

"Right? Your estate is on the brink." Joshua gestured at the simple E sitting at Lydia's back. "And now you're in luck. An Elemental is right here. A strong one who can solve all your troubles, and you turn your nose up at me."

Body pulsing, Lydia clenched her fists, willing herself to calm.

Joshua gestured to the neatly folded fabric on the bed. He spread them out for display.

"Anything you want, you can have," Joshua said. "If you'd only follow my lead, Lydia, you could have anything you'd wanted. You can have anything at all. For once in your life, follow after a man who's smart."

Teeth and fists clenched tight, Lydia whispered, "If you'd allow me even a moment...."

Joshua's red face lost some color.

Behind Lydia, Osbourne held his knees, rocking back and forth as he hummed.

Lydia closed her eyes when Joshua finally respected her plea for privacy. She had been doing fine. She hadn't reached for Joshua's throat or otherwise spat at him. She had been doing fine. But when Joshua brought her a new set of clothes—a brand new dress suit like she probably should have for a wedding that would never come—that was as much as Lydia could take.

She sat down beside Osbourne, her eyes fixed on the floor.

Knees at his chest, the E hummed to himself. It wasn't an awful silence, but it felt lonely all the same.

"Is it all right to be selfish?" Lydia wondered, ashamed at even considering it. "Everyone else is getting what they want. Seventy-five is a lot. It might not free us, but it'll stop the hemorrhaging. It'll be close. It'd bring some hope." They might have to live as paupers for a short time, but with better management of their credits, they might even make it out of this. And a husband...a husband might turn this around. "Can I be selfish, too?" She hadn't wanted a spouse who didn't have a hefty pocketbook saddled with her family's debt. But she'd held out hope of one day having a family with a kind man. Though she preferred the common—a marriage of the heart rather than for obligation's sake—that would be impossible without money. But now, if she'd get seventy-five....