“You paid me for my work.”
“I gave you a place to live.”
“And I worked for it.”
“You lived under my roof.”
“I kept your sister's accounts. I read to her when she was ill. I cared for her when the servants refused to enter her room. I worked every day until she died.”
A short silence followed.
Josie felt Caleb's steady presence beside her, but he did not interrupt.
“You never told me I would owe you my freedom,” she continued.
Rourke's voice grew colder. “You owe me gratitude.”
“I was grateful.”
“Then you should have stayed.”
“I wanted to leave.”
“You had no right to abandon the household.”
“I had the right to leave a place where I was afraid.”
A gust of wind swept snow across the porch. The man outside shifted his weight, and she heard the scrape of a boot against the boards.
“Josephine,” he said, “this is becoming ridiculous. Come out, and we'll settle it privately.”
“No.”
“Don't be childish.”
“I said no.”
Caleb remained beside her, silent and watchful.
Rourke's tone changed again, becoming almost gentle. “You don't know what you're doing. This man has taken advantage of your confusion. He brought you into the wilderness and convinced you that you have nowhere else to go.”
Josie felt the familiar pull of doubt. The accusation was designed to make her question her own judgment, to turn the kindness she had received into another form of manipulation.
But she looked at Caleb.
He had given her choices even when those choices might lead her away from him. He had stepped back when she said she was frightened. He had offered to help her leave if she wanted to.
He had never told her that her safety depended upon obedience.
She faced the door again.
“He didn't take advantage of me,” she said. “He listened to me.”
Rourke scoffed. “You think listening is enough to make a man honorable?”
“No. But it is more than you ever gave me.”
For a moment, there was no answer.
Then Rourke spoke in a voice stripped of all warmth.
“You will regret this.”
Josie trembled, but she did not retreat.
“Perhaps,” she said. “But it will be my decision to regret.”
Caleb glanced at her, and she saw something like admiration in his expression.
Rourke struck the door with his fist.
“Open up!”
Caleb stepped forward. “You've heard her answer.”