He cleared his throat and she turned. His lips parted without him meaning for them to. God, but she was lovely. Too damned lovely.
He shook his head and forced himself to go stern. He had promised to be the villain to protect her. He couldn’t go back now.
“How the hell did you find me?” he asked.
She jumped in surprise. As her wide gaze flitted over him from head to toe, he thought she might just run away. Her eyes darted to the door behind him and her hands clenched together.
But then she looked at him. Really looked at him. She pushed her shoulders back.
And he realized this was war.
“It doesn’t matter,” she said. “I did.”
He crossed to the sideboard and poured himself a hefty splash of whisky from a bottle there. He held it toward her, but she shook her head. He recorked the bottle and took a long swig of the drink.
“Yes, it does,” he finally said as he tilted his head and examined that beautiful face further. He tracked every twitch, every movement as she held his stare. “Let me see, the only two people you have any connection to who would know my address are Rook and Marcus.”
She folded her arms and her gaze narrowed. “Why do you need to know so much?”
“Knowing who betrayed you always matters, angel,” he drawled. And hated himself because he was playing a game with her now. Just toying with her because he liked when the high color entered her cheeks.
Seemed it wasn’t so hard to act the bastard after all. He was one. One without control when it came to this woman.
“Rook wouldn’t do it,” he continued. “For a great many reasons. Anne would kill him is the biggest one.”
A tiny smile tilted the corner of her lips. “That is true. I wouldn’t be so unfair as to ask him to do that.”
“Marcus Rivers then,” he said.
“I confronted him when he had me banned from his club on your orders.” She arched a brow. “If you wish to talk about betrayal.”
“I told you, I didn’t want you around anymore,” he said, and nearly choked on the lies. “ I don’t know why you’re here. I don’t know why Rivers wasted revealing a secret to someone who means so little to me.”
Her jaw set, but it didn’t seem to be out of upset. Instead she looked determined. Unwavering. God, but she had a strength to her. Like steel through the wings of a butterfly.
“I think your old friend was worried about you,” she said softly. “And so was I.”
He shook his head. He was trying to protect her and she would not allow it. She would force him to be cruel. She would force him to be everything he’d been his whole life. And he hated that. He hated her, a little, for creating a situation where he had no choice but to hurt her.
“You shouldn’t be,” he scoffed. “Because I don’t give a damn about you. I’m done, Juliana. I said it in the carriage, but perhaps you didn’t hear me. I am finished with this. Finished with you.”
“Are you?” she whispered, and instead of backing away she moved closer.
His breath hitched as he stared at her. He’d been trying to erect an invisible wall, but she glided through it.
“Juliana,” he growled. A warning. A plea. A prayer.
“Are you, Ellis?” she whispered again, and now she was right in front of him. Her trembling fingers lifted and brushed against his jawline, gentle. Powerful.
He squeezed his eyes shut. He’d faced off with many a powerful adversary in his life. He’d won a great many of those battles. But today this slip of a woman was armed only with all of her beauty and charm and gentleness, and she was destroying him.
He was destroyed when she touched him. When she said his name. When she challenged him not just to be a better man…but somehow believed he already was.
“Look at me,” she demanded. His eyes came open and he stared down at her as she inched even closer. Her body brushed his. Her gaze never wavered. “Tell me again that you’re finished.”
She didn’t allow him to respond. She merely lifted up on her tiptoes, wound her arms around his neck and drew his mouth to hers.
His mind briefly screamed at him to resist. To push her away. To end this. But the moment passed and then all that was left was desire. Need. And a draw that he’d never expected, but which had become as important to him as air or water or food.
