“Please, just go away,” she said, her voice sounding as heavy as it felt, as everything felt in that moment.
He shook his head. “No. I want to know why you are so against me when I have done nothing to you.”
She pursed her lips.Done nothing to you. That was an apt way of putting it.Done nothingforyouwould have also been accurate.
“Why am I not allowed to simply think ill of you? Are you so concerned with having the love of every single person that you cannot allow someone the space to disagree?”
A flicker of something crossed his face. Something dark and painful. She caught her breath at the sight of it, for it was entirely unexpected. Had she hit a nerve?
But then the reaction was gone. His smirk was back. Perhaps she had imagined his pain, wanted to see it there so badly that she’d placed it where it didn’t belong.
“I’m sure plenty of people think ill of me,” he said with a shrug as he moved closer again. He stepped around her and set his hands on the terrace wall next to where hers had been before she turned. She edged away slightly, not wanting to be too close. Just in case.
Why did he have to smell so good? Something leathery and male.
“Do you pursue all of them across ballrooms, then?” she asked. “Demanding to know why they don’t count you as a friend? You must spend a lot of time shouting at the wind.”
He laughed. “First you accuse me of believing everyone must and does love me, then you say I must spend my time trying to convince the naysayers. It is very confusing, trying to parse out exactly what it is that offends you so about me.”
She folded her arms and glared at him.
If anything, his smile widened. “Did I tread on your feet while we were dancing?”
She refused to respond.
It did not deter him. “I forgot an appointment we once had?”
Her lips tightened. He was teasing her, and the worst part was that some piece of her liked it. His charisma was a weapon of the worst kind.
“You hate my eyes?” he asked.
She darted her gaze to those eyes. Dark brown, sharp and intelligent. She swallowed hard as she gazed into them, lost in their depths for a moment. Then she caught her breath and backed up another step.
“It is your attitude, Your Grace. Your history. Your reputation. Must I go on?”
“I would think you, of all people, would not judge someone so harshly based on gossip,” he said, this time his voice was soft and there was no longer teasing in it.
Her lips parted and she felt the color draining from her cheeks. “How dare you say such a thing to me?” she choked.
“At least I am doing it to your face and not behind your back,” he said. There was no cruelty to his voice, but she felt every word as if they were daggers stabbed to her heart.
She dropped her head. She had been trying to be strong so that no one would see how much she was broken by their judgment. By their unkindness. But in that moment, she couldn’t be. And she hated herself for losing her mask in front of this man, of all men in the world.
“So you wish to laugh in my face then. Am I supposed to thank you for being bold about it rather than surreptitious? Is that meant to reduce my humiliation?”
“Why should you be humiliated?” he asked, and she jerked her head up. He was closer somehow. Bigger. “You did nothing wrong.”
She caught her breath. A few years ago when they’d stood together on a terrace like this one, she had not understood the flutter low in her belly. She hadn’t recognized what the dilation of his pupils meant. Now she did.
Yet one thing was similar to that night long ago. As he eased in a tiny bit closer, she recognized that he was going to kiss her. And just like that other night, she wanted him to. Even though she knew his ulterior motives, even though she’d already experienced how he would do as he pleased and not give a damn about how she was left in shambles, she wanted his mouth on hers.
So she did the only thing she could. For the sake of self-preservation, she turned on her heel and walked away. Her hands shook as she waited for him to follow once more. To demand. To touch her and shatter any hopes she had to keeping these desires at bay.
“Katherine,” he said as she reached the terrace door.
She froze there, refusing to look at him. Refusing to let him see how just saying her name made her knees shake.
When she didn’t respond, he continued, “You should not be so afraid of your nature.”
