Terrified, she turned to see that he had been sitting around the corner, listening to everything she had said. She wondered how long he had been there, but given the look on his face, he had been there all along.
“What are you doing here?”
“Me?” he asked, pointing to himself with a shocked expression.
He was mocking her, but she understood that she seemed rather ridiculous. In any case, he had no right to eavesdrop. He stepped toward her, and she felt her pulse quicken. It was only made worse when she noticed that he was looking at her chest, but when she went to step away, he placed a warm hand on her waist.
She did not shudder at his touch, nor did she dislike it, which infuriated her. She was supposed to be furious with him, and she was, but she could not deny that she was attracted to him, too.
His eyes lifting to her lips and remaining there did not help.
“Yes, you,” she replied at last. “I was supposed to be here alone.”
“Yes, well, in spite of yourfascinatinginvitation, I am very much alive, and this is my home.”
At least she did not have to worry about finding the right way to tell him what she wanted.
“Well, we may have this house in equal measure, but that does not amount to much,” she challenged. “Last time I checked, there was a condition that you had not fulfilled by leaving this house for a year. It is because of that very same condition that we now might be ruined.”
“And is that why you wanted to say all of that to me?”
“Yes, in my own time.”
“Then you should not have said it aloud, as though you were addressing me.”
Anna bit her lip, hating that he was right.
“I find you intriguing, you know,” he continued. “Sometimes, you give me a withering look that makes me think you truly wish that I had been killed, and then other times you make me feel as though you… want me.”
His hand slowly traveled up her corset, his fingertips gliding along the top of it.
“Then that makes two of us,” she said sternly. “I know what you are doing.”
“Then it is a good thing that I always get what I want,” he grinned, “whether I have pretty eyes or not.”
“You are insufferable.”
“And yet, here you are.”
“Because I wish to know what you want.”
He approached her, his hand lowering to take her skirt into his hand. He played with the fabric, her heartbeat quickening at the thought of his hand so perilously close to her thighs. All that hewould have to do is press, and he would be touching her, and she tried to tell herself that that was not what she wanted.
But it was. It was, it was, it was.
“Right now,” he said in a low voice, “all that I truly want is you out of this gown.”
Her clever words left her, and she stood mute. She did not dare move, for if she tried to, she was positive that she would collapse. He had tremendous power over her, whether she liked it or not, and she had to admit that she truly did like it.
“To change it, of course,” he added. “We are to attend a ball tonight.”
The moment was ruined, and her pulse returned to normal for a moment before it increased again. She swallowed, pulling herself back to what he had said. They were to attend a ball, and she was not at all prepared for that.
He was still smiling at her, and she could not bear it. He knew what he was doing to her, and she wanted more than anything for it not to work. She wanted to smile back at him and prove him wrong, but she could not.
And so, she left wordlessly to prepare for the ball.
She descended the staircase that evening in a deep green gown, heavy and expensive. It was her favorite, and she had beenwaiting for the perfect moment to wear it out in society. Spencer gave her a nod of approval, and she tried to ignore the happiness it brought her.
