Chapter 3Robert had called him cruel. Anthony forgot how to breathe. Everything he wanted, everything he wanted to do for Robert Thorne, and this—
He understood. He was not kind by nature. Not in the way Robert was, or young Dalton Irving. He evaluated problems, and reasoned out answers to them.
He let his hand drift to rest on the bookshelf. “If so, then…I apologize. Mr. Thorne.”
Robert blurted out, “Robert, you said, we said—and I didn’t mean—you’re not—you’re you and that wasn’t—” He audibly gave up on explanations and settled for, “That was unfair.”
“And I’ve apologized. I will again if you’d like.”
“No.” Robert glared at him, a barely-grown lion exasperated by deference. “I meant me. What I said. I’m sorry. You’re being realistic. I’m being…me.”
Anthony couldn’t suppress a twitc
