Dangerous. Threatening. And oddly, strangely powerful. Even now, she wasn’t sure how he’d gotten her to play directly into his hands.
But in the end, she’d thwarted him, she must remember.
Thwarted.
Instinctively, she placed her hand over his knife.
“Millie?” Neville queried.
“Sst!” She silenced him. “I’m thinking.”
She should have heeded her own instinctive discomfort and left the Eltenham box the instant she realized Willard and she were alone. How many times tonight had she noticed, but not honored, her own discomfort?
She’dknownsomething was wrong with him. She’d known but had not accepted what her instincts had told her. If she had, she would never have accepted Willard’s escort in the first place.
Willard had nudged her step by subtle step right into his trap. And he’d done so by making her doubt her own mind. By being one thing while seeming to be another.
Why had he chosen to toy with her? Only for sport? He certainly hadn’t been in earnest when he’d called her his betrothed. Only when he said he expected obedience had he been speaking the truth.Oh heavens. How much worse could this night have become?
“What does “we’re a bunch of butcher’s dogs” mean?” she asked. Neville would likely know.
“Pardon?”
She rolled her eyes. “Just tell me. If you don’t, Asquith will. He collects books about cant.”
He hesitated. Then, he sighed harshly. “It’s a crass phrase.”
“That much, I’ve already deduced. Please just explain.”
“To lie by the beef without touching it is a simile.” He sounded wearied. Embarrassed. “The phrase usually refers to men long married, whose wives don’t permit…marital activities.”
Neville was uncomfortable in a way that crude young man had not been.
“A butcher’s dog is a man who can look at a lady but not touch her, you mean?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“I thought as much!” Millie frowned. “And “dairy” and “heavers” are words for breasts, aren’t they?”
“Millicent!”
“Oh, for goodness’ sake. Must you sound so shocked?”
“Where did you hear such things?”
She ignored Neville’s question. If Willard had not truly intended to marry her and brought her purposely among such men…
She placed her hand over her stomach and let out a whimper.
“Millie—oh, Millie.” She felt Neville move closer. “Pleasetell me what happened. I swear I will do everything I can to make things right.”
“You haven’t that power.” But she wished he had. Angry tears stung in her eyes. “I feel faint.”
“At least let me hold you, then—”
Hold her? Her first instinct was a resoundingno.
But, just a few moments ago, being in his arms had been a great comfort. A consoling repetition, an echo, almost, of an earlier, simpler time.