Ruthless King

“Turn around and come here.”

With a grumble, she turned and moved toward where he sat at the head of the table. “I didn’t realize it was a dress-up dinner!”

“Dress-up dinner?” he asked.

“Yes, a dinner where you dress up. It really will only take a few minutes to get ready. I’m so sorry. I’ll be better prepared next time, I promise!”

“Hey, Jilly, it’s okay.” He grabbed her hips and lifted her onto his lap. “Breathe. Just breathe.”

She couldn’t believe she’d messed up so spectacularly. “I’m sorry.”

He turned her so she straddled his lap. “Stop, Jilly.”

“I just . . . I didn’t realize.”

“Okay, what is going on here? You’re shaking. You have done nothing wrong.”

She shook her head. No. She had! She had!

He drew her back and cupped her face between his hands. “Jilly. You. Haven’t. Done. Anything. Wrong.”

A small sob escaped.

She hadn’t done anything wrong.

“Say it,” he said firmly.

“I haven’t done anything wrong.”

But she was acting like an idiot.

He cupped her face between his hands. “I hope to hell that I haven’t made you so scared of me that you’re shaking like a leaf.”

“What? No!” she cried. Then she groaned. What was she doing? What was wrong with her? “No, it’s not you. Father . . .” She closed her eyes and concentrated on breathing. “When he was home, he insisted on having formal dinners and we had to be perfect in every way. If we weren’t . . .”

He drew her into his chest, rocking back and forth. He had one arm behind her while his other hand was on the back of her head.

“Shhh, everything is all right. He’s gone. He can’t hurt you. Shh.”

As she calmed, her embarrassment grew. What was she doing?

“Sorry,” she murmured.

“Don’t you dare,” he told her fiercely.

Jilly jumped at the tone of his voice. She drew back, staring up at him in shock.

“Do not apologize for the trauma he caused you. This is on him, not you.”

“But I should be over it by now, surely. And other people have had it worse than me. Look at you.”

“What about me?”

“You grew up with a monster and you’re not falling apart all the time. Although I seem to be having more problems than usual. I’ve had more nightmares in the last week than I have in the last year.”

“I could guess that maybe it’s because you’ve been around me this last week.”

Was he blaming himself?