"What are you doing here?" she snapped and Damon raised a brow, his lips slowly curling.
"This is my house." he reminded her as he took her presence. Her hair was a little ssy but she was wearing an outdoor dress. "Were you planning to go out in the middle of the night?" he noticed a book in her hands and his eyes narrowed. It was his book. He was reading it last night and left it in the library. He was going to retrieve it today.
"No, I was just reading in the cold wind. The weather was hot today." he rembered the cold winds and wearing a duvet well. She must be hot! He smiled at her.
"Was it? But can you read in such dark weather?" he smiled and took a step closer. Olivia had a strong desire to take the step back, but she did not. She mustered all her courage to stand there and watch him.
She shivered when he touched her hands and took the book from it. It must be cold!?
"Give it back to ." she demanded when he flipped the pages randomly. Her voice rose and he found a note there.
He took it out from the book and opened it. She took a step closer and raised her hand to snatch it. But he held her hand tightly while the note went back in the book.
"Are you hiding sothing, my lady?" he asked mildly. Not at all worried about her suspicious behavior yet his eyes made her intimidated.
Her eyes hardened and she wriggled to get her hands free but his grip was tight like a vice. She froze, her fingertips hovering a fraction away from the note. her pulse suddenly in her mouth.
He lifted her hand to his lips. "A breach of etiquette, Olivia. You can not raise your hand against a duke." he murmured against her knuckles. "You do not wish for another argunt and punishnt."
Let go of ; her tongue felt like clay, unable to speak the words. When she t his eyes, they were flickering with a strange beam of light that left a shudder down her spine.
"Lovely hand," he said, and turned her hand over to press a kiss into her palm.
She pulled free. A breath shuddered out of her. Her palm seed to burn where he had kissed it.
"Damon!" her voice was shaky with the sudden change of air between them. "That note is only my future. I am not planning to harm you." his hands itched to open the note again. But he held her faze instead.
"Your future will not be decided by a note, Olivia. But I must say, you chose your steps wisely. If I had been you, I would have chosen myself," he said mildly.
She fisted her hand in her lap. "Why did you do this?"
He gave her a ditative smile. "Better to ask, why do I seem to be the first? Did Edward not touch you this way?" her cheeks flushed and she looked away.
"And you do not seem to mind it?" she did not? His voice was low, calming, as though he knew what he had done to her. That gooseflesh still prickled over her skin. A flush blood over her skin—all of her skin; even the backs of her knees felt suddenly too hot. How intoxicating, how appallingly thrilling, to find oneself in an attraction—even if utterly, wildly, abominably inappropriate.
Butterflies erged in her stomach. She promptly willed them dead. He was not a man but her death and she must stay away from him.
"You took by surprise!" she confessed but did not add more to it. "If you need a woman you must call for one. It is not unheard for higher nobles to have a few around them." She cleared her throat. Why did it stung?
"And... i!"
"You are forgetting you are a woman too. Young and beautiful at that? If I invite you, would you co?" he stared at her intently and she felt the air in her lungs vanishing. This man had sucked all of it and left her with none.
"I... I am your aunt!" she collected her voice when she felt his gaze on her lips. Her body started to burn again and the strange desire collected in the pit of her stomach. She must have lost her mind.
"Not if your sister is announced as my father’s fake wife." her eyes narrowed instantly. As if the spell was broken. She stared at him accusingly but he only smiled mildly as if he had only discussed weather. "Ti will tell, Olivia. But if given the chance, would you choose ?" chose him for what?
"By any ans.." her throat went dry. "Are you interested in as a man?" it could not be the case! He had killed her in the past and would repeat it if given a choice.
"I have always been a man, Olivia." he chuckled softly in the dark nights, "and I have always shown you enough interest!" Was he accepting it or not? She frowned at his vague replies, enough that she had forgotten about the note. Note! Her eyes widened and she glared at him.
"Are you having fun?" She was relieved that her voice ca much calr than she had thought.
He grinned. "Indeed I am," he said—and then looked fleetingly startled. He turned his gaze to the garden, his smile fading.
"You should not be here, Olivia. Not with my things. The whole manor is wary of you and so are the knights. If you give them chances, they will steal it and wield it as a weapon against you." he passed the book back to her without taking out the note or reading it.
She stood there shaken. She stared at her hands, her heart pounding.
She had never before been flirted with. But was he flirting or warning her? She did not know anymore!
Reviews
All reviews (0)