James POV

I sensed the tension growing between us, wrapping ever tighter with each word that came from her lips. Rose was drifting further and further out of my reach, and I was not fond of it. Not at all. She had always been obstinate, but this? This was something different. She wasn’t merely opposing me—she was completely dismissing all that I represented. All that I had painstakingly constructed between us. And that was not permissible.

I breathed out gently, imposing a guise of ...