Ravensdale's Defiant Captive. Melanie Milburne

have to listen to this.’

      ‘Holly.’ Julius caught her by the arm and turned her to face him. ‘I want to help you. Can’t you see that?’

      She gave him a disdainful look as she tested his hold. ‘How? By making me get used to all this luxury, only to be tossed back out on the streets as soon as the month is up?’

      Julius’s frown deepened. ‘Don’t you have a home to go to?’

      Her eyes skittered away from his. ‘Let go of my arm.’

      He loosened his hold but kept her tethered to him with the bracelet of his fingers. ‘No one is going to toss you anywhere,’ he said. What are you going to do with her once the month is up? The thoughts were like pop-up signs in his head. If she didn’t have a home to go to, then where would she go? Where did his responsibility towards her begin and end?

      Did he have a responsibility towards her?

      ‘Is that where you’ve been living?’ he asked. ‘Out on the streets?’

      She slipped her wrist out of his hold and folded her arms across her body, shooting him a fiery glare. ‘What would you care? People like you don’t even notice people like me.’

      Julius noticed her all right. A little too much. His hand was tingling where he’d been holding her wrist. It was as if his blood was bubbling through his veins like boiling soda. He noticed the way her brown eyes sparked with venom one minute, glittering with an erotic come-on the next. He noticed the way she moved her body like a sleek pedigree cat, only to turn around, spit and hiss at him like a cornered feral one.

      He had no idea how to handle her. He wasn’t supposed to be the one handling her. This was his housekeeper’s mission, not his. He was supposed to be getting on with his work while Sophia did her bit for society by taking in a stray and reforming her.

      But Holly Perez was no ordinary stray.

      She was a feisty little firebrand who seemed determined to cause trouble with everyone who dared to come too close.

      ‘While you’re under my roof I’m responsible for you,’ Julius said. ‘But that means you have responsibilities, too.’

      Her chin came up. ‘Like what? Servicing you in the bedroom?’

      He set his mouth. ‘No. Definitely not.’

      Her look said it all. Cynicism on steroids. ‘Sure and I believe you.’

      ‘I mean it, Holly,’ Julius said. ‘I’m not in the habit of bedding young women who have no manners, no respect and no sense of propriety.’

      She gave a musical sounding laugh. ‘I am so going to make you eat your words.’

      He stoically ignored the throb of lust that charged through his pelvis. ‘I’ll see you at dinner,’ he said. ‘I expect you to dress for the occasion. That means no jeans, no flip-flops and no plunging necklines or bare midriff. Sophia will organise suitable attire if you have none with you.’

      Holly gave him a mock salute and a deep, obsequious bow. ‘Aye-aye, Captain.’

      Julius strode about thirty or so paces before he swung back to look at her but she had already turned back to face the lake. He watched as she hurled a rock as far as she could. It landed in the middle of the water and sank with a loud plop, but not before it created tsunami-like ripples over the surface.