Page 89 of How to Get Even

And it was all she’d ever wanted. Someone to loveher. Someone to choose her.

A knock on the door crashed into her thoughts and startled her.

‘Just a minute,’ she called out, hoping to buy herself enough time to get her pulse back under control.

It’s not forever. It’s just for right now. And I want you. Right now.

The quote from Delia’s book came back to haunt her just when she didn’t need it to.

She shook off the thought. Her only goal tonight was to ensure Chase’s reputation was redeemed. Everything else was just a distraction.

She pulled open the door. ‘Sorry, I was just…’

Oh crap.

He looked incredible.

Chase filled the doorway, his six-foot height drawing her gaze upwards. His hair, thick, wavy, and carelessly tossed made him look debauched. Because even dressed in formal wear, a black, superfine wool of his jacket clinging to his body in a way that looked near indecent, it was the way his tie, not a bow tie like others would be wearing, but a classic tie that looked as if it had been yanked loose in frustration.

Sexy. It looked sexy.Helooked sexy.

Every pulse point on her body began to throb at the same time sending hot and cold shivers that flashed over her body in waves becoming harder to ignore.

She avoided his gaze, because the heat in his eyes was burning her where she stood.

‘May I?’ she asked.

And although he didn’t say yes, he didn’t stop her when she closed the distance between them and reached for his tie. The scent of his aftershave, warm from his body, filled her and she bit her lip to try and stop herself from taking big gulps of it.

Taking the knot in her fingers, she freed the tails before looping them back into a perfect knot at the centre of his collar. She just managed to stop herself from smoothing her hands down his chest, but only by fisting her hands. She felt his gaze on her as if he’d known what she wanted, as if he could see it in the way her body tried to hide the tremor across her body with a roll of her shoulder.

She’d come back here at the end of the evening to retrieve her things, but for now she reached for her clutch.

‘We should get going,’ she said to the room. She still couldn’t meet his gaze, half terrified of what he might see there. Terrified that he might act on what he saw there. But his lack of answer drew her back to him unwillingly.

Oh.

His gaze ate her up. Hunger and want barely restrained, marking his jaw with an angry tension thatdelightedher.Enflamedher. He made her want to fight. Bite, lick, touch, scream. All these things that good society girls just didn’t do.

Relentlessly physical. That’s what it meant.

Him.

Then he closed his eyes and when he opened them again, it was hidden. A small perfunctory smile graced his lips and he gestured for her to lead the way and she couldn’t decide whether she’d imagined it or not.

* * *

The Pulham was almost entirely given over to the Harrison’s gala. As one ofthesocial events of the year, there were a lot of familiar faces to Bella. It was, in fact, the first time she’d attended something like this since the non-wedding, and she could see, if not imagine, all the whisperings and gossip that followed her and Chase as she led them through the reception towards where the auction items were being displayed.

‘Is this okay for you?’ Chase asked, low in her ear from behind.

No. I feel on display and as if my mask is cracked and everyone can see.

‘Bella.’ His hand on the crook of her arm stopped her.

She turned and smiled. ‘It’s fine,’ she assured him.

‘Five dollars.’ His hand was out between them, demanding payment for the ‘Bella Jar’.

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