Shield's Lady

wife and I’ll slit your throat,” Gryph said calmly from the doorway. His hand rested lightly on the weapon kit at his belt.
    Etion’s hands fell away from Sariana as he jerked around to confront the intruder in his office. Sariana spun around, too, appalled.
    “Gryph! What are you doing here?”
    “That’s obvious, isn’t it? I’m retrieving my possession before she strays too far. Let’s go, Sariana, you have caused enough scenes this morning.”
    For some reason that accusation was just too much. Fury began to replace the desperation and panic she had been experiencing. It was an emotion unlike any she had ever felt before in her life. It raged through her, threatening to take control of her the same way passion had taken control of her last night.
    “Scenes? You’ve got the nerve to imply that I’m responsible for these scenes in which I find myself? Of all the arrogant, outrageous, disgusting things to say. How dare you, Gryph Chassyn? How do you dare to say such things after what you have done to me?”
    His sea green eyes flicked from Etion’s face to hers. Sariana was dumbfounded to see the flare of warmth that lit his gaze when he looked at her. Nothing altered the hard, taut lines of his face, however. He held out his hand arrogantly.
    “Let’s go back to the Avylyn villa, Sariana. I’m sure you would prefer to scream at me in private. When you’re finished and you’ve had a chance to calm down you will thank me for depriving you of an audience.”
    “I’m not going anywhere with you!”
    “Come now, Sariana,” he said with a gentle understanding that further infuriated her. “It would be one thing to indulge your temper in front of a westerner who accepts such behavior as normal. But it would be another matter altogether to do it in front of one of your countrymen. Think how embarrassed you would be afterward.”
    Sariana was growing lightheaded with her anger. She was so outraged she couldn’t even speak. She looked into Gryph’s eyes and it dawned on her with alarming clarity that he was right. She couldn’t throw a tantrum in front of Etion. It was unthinkable. She had to get out of this office and the only way out was with Gryph.
    The only way out was with Gryph.
    Where had she gotten that notion? she wondered. It had just popped into her head. It reminded her of the way other words and sensations had jumped, unbidden, into her head the previous night as she lay in Gryph’s arms. Perhaps she was on the edge of some sort of emotional breakdown, she thought hysterically. Maybe she was starting to hallucinate. Perhaps this was all a nightmare fabricated by her overwrought brain. But even as she questioned her sanity, she was walking toward the door, her hand lifting to accept Gryph’s outstretched arm.
    At the last second she shook off the odd compulsion she’d had to accept the mockery of gentlemanly assistance and brushed past him without taking his arm. She didn’t look back, nor did she hesitate. She made straight for the huge carved doors at the end of the wide banking hall. She was aware that Gryph was following. When he caught up with her she ignored him. The small weight of the scarlet-toe on her shoulder was the only comfort she had. The lizard clung to the fabric of her dress with its tiny claws. She had the distinct impression the creature was jubilant about leaving Etion’s office.
    Gryph walked beside Sariana in silence. She refused to turn her head or speak to him, but she was suffocatingly aware of his presence. He was too tall, too strong, too big in every way. She felt smothered by his nearness. She wanted to flee from him and at the same time she wanted to scream at him. The mix of emotions left her feeling powerless. Sariana was not accustomed to handling such a dangerous combination of sensations.
    Without a word she and Gryph made their way through the crowded streets. Neither of them paid much attention to the carriages or dragonponies and riders who tried to claim the thoroughfares. As if the drivers and riders sensed that these two were not playing the game today, they stayed out of the way.
    By the time she was walking through the villa doors and down the long gallery to her suite, Sariana was seething with frustrated rage. Gryph followed her silently into her room and she turned on him in fury.
    “You are a bastard. A complete and utter bastard. You call yourself a gentleman. You claim to be a lord and that you are descended from a Prime Family