Page 26 of Hunting Pretty

“What?” I laughed. “Just because I’ve turned down the richest, hottest, most well-connected boy at Darkmoor, I must be sick?”

To her credit, Ebony laughed. “You know, I still don’t think evenhe’sgood enough for you. But I fear no one willbe. I can’t say how proud I am of you, my dear. When you graduate at the top of your class like I did at Darkmoor…”

But I stopped listening to her.

Because my gaze froze on the shadowy figure at the window.

He was a mere silhouette and I could barely make out his features but I knew it was him.

My skin prickled with that familiar awareness. A hot liquid pooled in my core.

My stalker washere.

He wasreal.

And I would prove it.

Tonight.

I’d stayed up for hours in my dark bedroom watching from my window for another sign of my stalker.

Minutes felt like hours. And every clanging of the old grandfather clock, announcing yet another hour had passed, felt like years.

But sure enough, just after midnight, there was a rustle of ivy.

The noise kick-started my heart into a thunderous drumbeat.

Was that him?

I’d been startled before by a hungry squirrel. I peered into the dark, clutching at my thick velvet curtain, barely daring to breathe.

Moments later, a dark figure slid over the railing and crept across my balcony.

His tall, wide figure all in black felt like it took up the whole door.

It was him.

He was here.

He reached down with his gloved hands and slid a lockpick into my balcony door.

Bastard. So that’s how he was getting in.

I shoved down the fury, the searing sense of violation, and stepped out from my hiding place nestled in my curtains.

I stood right in front of him, my mouth going dry, my mind short-circuiting as we locked eyes and stared at each other through the glass.

Up until now, my anger had overridden my fear of him. But standing here in front of him, bold as ever, my bones rattled.

What the hell was I doing baiting him?

Confronting him.

Announcing war with him.

Surprise flashed across his beautiful face before he hid it behind a smirk.

It was too late now. I had to see this through.

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