Page 27 of Seduced By You

“Yeah, I’m good. Nervous, that’s all.”

He took my hand. “I’ve got you, babe.” Cradling my face with his other hand, he tipped up my chin, his hazel eyes boring into mine. I lost the ability to speak, to think, to do anything other than stare right back at him. My gaze dropped to his lips. He ran his tongue over them, and they glistened.

Fuck me, he had kissable lips. Thick on the bottom, slightly thinner on top. I’d never noticed them in such detail before, but they were like… designed for kissing. And that dimple in his chin. I had the urge to put my pinkie in it.

“Oh, dears, you’re the sweetest things.”

I tore my eyes from Kadon’s and glanced over his shoulder at the elderly lady whose husband I’d used to defend my out-of-control libido. Her hand was pressed to her throat, and her blue eyes shone out of her wrinkled face.

“Excuse me?”

Kadon released me and twisted around to check out the lady, too.

“I mean, young love. Do you remember that, Frederick?” She gave her husband a pretty sharp dig in the ribs. “Remember when we were like that? Young, beautiful, couldn’t keep our hands off one another?”

Frederick grunted something unintelligible and turned his attention to the window. The lady rolled her eyes. “Men. They get grumpier as they age, dear, so take advantage of this beauty while you can.”

Kadon snuffed out a laugh just in time, covering it with a cough. I managed a “Thank you, I will.”

He shifted his body, shielding me from view, and arched one eyebrow. “Well, beautiful. I think our plan might just work.”

Chapter9

Kadon

When women say they’re fine, they’re not.

Something was off with Lee.I’d never seen her act this weird. She kept staring at me as if I had carrots sprouting out of my head, or kale in my teeth. And talk about fidgeting. Dear God, she hadn’t stopped shifting in her seat during the entire train journey to London. I’d asked her twice if she was okay, and on each occasion, she’d brushed my concern aside with a breezy “I’m fine.” Now, I might be a man and usefineas a descriptor more than I should, but I had enough experience with women to know that when they responded with “Fine,” they were anything but.

It had to be the wedding. She was happy enough when we’d driven from Saint Tropez to Paris, her usual self when we’d sailed down the Seine. Even this morning I hadn’t noticed anything out of the ordinary.

The problems had begun when she’d boarded this train. That had to be it. This was the last leg of the journey. Once we disembarked at the other end, we’d be in London, only ninety minutes from her coming face-to-face with Benedict.

“It’ll be all right, you know.”

She stopped cannibalizing her lip long enough to answer me. “I know.”

“I mean it, Lee. Please don’t worry.”

“I’m not worried.”

“Then whatiswrong? And don’t say ‘nothing’ or tell me you’re fine. I can smell bullshit a mile off.”

“You should see a doctor about that. Can’t be healthy having your nostrils full of the smell of excrement day and night.” She grinned at me, but it didn’t reach her eyes, and she’d avoided answering my question.

“I’ll take it under advisement, but I want you to know that you can talk to me. About anything.”

“I know I can.” She briefly touched my shoulder with her head. “But it’s nothing, really. Nerves, like I said. I’m dreading seeing Benedict, but worse than that, I’m terrified he’ll see right through our charade and call me out in front of everyone, use it as a battering ram to hit me over the head with. ‘Ahh, poor Annaleesa. She’s so brokenhearted I junked her for someone else that she’s brought apretend boyfriendto the wedding. What a sad little excuse for a woman. I had a lucky escape.’?” She sighed.

“He won’t see through it.”

“How do you know?”

“Because I’ll make damn sure he doesn’t.”

“How?”

“I don’t know yet. I’ll figure it out.”

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