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If she could ever trust again…if she hadn’t built fortified battlements of protection around her heart, she might’ve been tempted to explore her interest in the enigmatic duke.

But then again, her judgment in men was sorely inadequate.

As if sensing her perusal, Heatherston glanced up.

His piercing cobalt gaze landed on her, and she felt the force of the impact as surely as if he’d reached across the distance and touched her.

She’d heard ridiculous drivel about time hanging suspended and the world diminishing until only two people existed from books and even a few tittering women. Never could Emily have believed there was any truth to the nonsense.

Except, at this moment, her gaze meshed with the duke’s, his spirit touched hers.

Or perhaps hers touched his.

It mattered not.

What did matter was there wasn’t an explanation for this scintillating current pulsating between them. An electrical charge lifted Emily’s nape hair, brought goose pimples to her arms, and arrested her in her tracks to stare in wide-eyed wonderment.

What was this?

He slowly straightened and dropped his arms to his side. Expression befuddled but keenly alert, he returned Emily’s undaunted stare.

They both began walking, inexplicably drawn together like magnets. Or the ocean to the shore. Unable to resist the pull, the paranatural attraction.

When Emily stood a mere two feet away, her heart beating as wildly as a trapped bird, she opened her mouth. “I…”

What did she say?

I don’t know what this is.

I don’t understand it.

It frightens and fascinates me.

The duke rescued her from her tongue-tied discomfiture.

His azure eyes smoldering with something she couldn’t identify, he curved that mouth into a roguish grin.

The rake.

She’d be bound that he knew exactly what he did to her.

“Good morning, Emily.”

The low, melodic timbre of his voice when he said her name sent a shiver up her spine.

Was it possible to incinerate on the spot?

Never—not even when she’d been married—had she felt this soul-searing, smoldering awareness.

“Your Grace.”

Drat her breathiness.

Emily had always disliked her husky voice, but she sounded positively sultry at the moment.

He extended his elbow. “Shall we?”

Emily peered at his arm, uncannily aware that if she touched him, this unfathomable attraction would only magnify.