Page 43 of The Last Duke She'd Marry
That devil-may-care smile lifted his lips, as he hoisted one long leg over the sill. Once he was inside, he leaned against the window ledge with a casual air that stoked her temper.
He shouldn’t be in here. He definitely shouldn’t be looking so at home.
“With love’s wings did I o’er-perch these walls, for stony limits cannot hold love out.”
Her lips flattened. Even though he quoted the play, it stung to hear him speak of love, when love had nothing to do with the forbidden attraction raging between them.
“Don’t try to be charming. I want you out of here this instant. You know the price the world will extract from us, if anyone guesses that you’ve been in my bedroom.” She wrapped her arms around herself. Her tone, already firm, turned acerbic. “Although you’ve already avoided taking the honorable path with one woman you’ve ruined, haven’t you? So I suppose if any price is to be paid, I’ll have to pay it.”
She waited for him to defend himself. When he didn’t, she wondered why she’d bothered. Instead, he directed a searching regard at her. “I was going to tell you not to be afraid. But you’re not, are you?”
She met his question with a pointed look. “Do you intend to harm me?”
“No.”
“Then all I’m afraid of is someone turning up.”
Satisfaction lit his eyes. “You trust me.”
“I wouldn’t say that,” she said in a dangerous voice. “But do I think you’ll force yourself on me? Certainly not.”
Perhaps she was so confident that he’d never take her against her will, because she feared that if he exerted himself to seduce her, she’d surrender anyway.
Get hold of yourself, Juliet.
He straightened and began to wander the room with unhidden curiosity. “Do you have any brandy?”
She stayed where she was and folded her arms again. “No, I don’t.”
“Pity.”
His presence made the spacious room feel small and suffocating. She’d never had a man in here before, apart from her father, who used to come up to kiss her good night when she was a little girl. She had a horrible premonition that after tonight, Evesham’s presence would haunt these chambers.
“If you need brandy, perhaps you should go downstairs to the library.”
“Actually, I thought you needed some. You looked rather green around the gills at dinner. Did the halibut disagree with you?” He paused. “Or perhaps it was that cold fish Granville. He always puts me off my soup, too. You don’t want to spend the rest of your life looking at him across a dinner table, do you? You’ll go into a decline.”
“As if you give a fig for that.” Her lips pressed together. She refused to enter into a quarrel about her engagement. In part, for the mortifying reason that she feared Evesham might win the argument. “If I don’t get some sleep, I’ll look like I’ve gone into a decline anyway. In case you’ve forgotten, I’m standing in front of half the beau monde playing a radiant adolescent tomorrow. This isn’t fair, Evesham.”
He halted his restless pacing beside her dressing table and sent her a questioning look. “I’m trying to save you from making a terrible mistake.”
Juliet squared her shoulders and glared at him as if she hated him. Right now, she suspected she might. While she’d been mulling over her future this evening, she’d come to a few stark realizations about the man who played her Romeo.
“No, you’re acting out of nothing but spite.” Her voice dripped with acid. “I wonder now whether spite has been behind everything you’ve done here at Afton.”
He looked innocent. Another warning sign. “I don’t understand.”
“And you so clever, too,” she said in a jeering tone. “If you were any sharper, you’d cut yourself.”
“Juliet, I’m thinking of you.”
“No, you’re not. You’re thinking that this is another chance to wreck the Duke of Granville’s wedding plans. Why else would an acknowledged rake like you waste his time pursuing a spinster as dull as ditchwater?”
“Juliet, don’t.” He stepped forward and reached for her hand, but she jerked away.
“Don’t touch me. You make my skin crawl.”
He obeyed, but the way his eyes narrowed on her made her nervous. Not that he’d assault her, but that he’d use her weakness for him to prove her last reckless statement false. “I didn’t make your skin crawl last night.”
