“Why else would I follow you to Northamptonshire and call upon you every day thereafter?”
Colin hoped such memories would expunge the fact that he eventually departed England, never to be seen until today. The worry line etched in Eve’s forehead revealed that they weren’t sufficient to cheer her.
“Where did Lady Weston travel to?” he asked, his tone jovial. “I don’t recall.”
Eve tilted her head, trying to remember. “France, I believe.”
“Ah,” Colin quipped, “a country with both fashion and birds. France makes perfect sense.”
His smile widened and Eve laughed. “I’ll have you know that my grandmother has excellent taste in fashion. And you failed to mention the furs and fabrics.”
Colin held his hands up in surrender. “I stand corrected. Though please keep her away from my hound. He has an impeccable coat. I’d hate to see him fall victim to fashion so soon after I rescued him.”
“You rescued a dog?” Eve’s eyes were alight with mirth.
“Yes, I did.”
“Rescued him from what?” her eyes narrowed.
“A cruel man who liked to beat him,” Colin’s tone turned grim at the memory.
“Then he is one fortunate dog,” her admiration was evident in her tone. “What is his name?”
Colin scratched his chin. “Dog. Boy. Hey you.”
“You haven’t named your dog?” her mouth was agape.
“Named him? I just acquired him,” Colin’s brow furrowed with mock indignation. “It is much too early in our relationship for such a commitment. We scarcely know each other. How do I know what name he would prefer?”
Eve’s shoulders shook with mirth, her smile contagious, as her lyrical laughter drifted upon the cool breeze.
“It’s good to hear you laugh,” Colin’s baritone was smooth. “I’ve missed hearing your laugh.”
Her smile faded, “I haven’t laughed like this in a long time.”
It was true. She hadn’t laughed without reserve since her last encounter with Colin. Not even with Tristan. The realization, though unwelcome, was enough to cause Eve to feel unbalanced, washing the ground beneath her feet as easily as a wave pounding against the sandy shore. With each granule that swept beneath her, Eve’s certainty slipped another notch.
Did she know her heart at all?
“I’m sorry about your parents, Eve,” Colin murmured, his tone gentle.
Until tonight, she had all but forgotten what his voice sounded like.
Isn’t it funny how time had a way of distorting all?
“Were you able to forgive them before their passing?”
“No,” she squeezed the stone balustrade tighter, welcoming the cold that seeped into her skin. “Though my parents never believed abandoning their child was wrong nor did they ever see me as anything but a burden, their worst offense remains that they never considered for even the briefest of moments the torment that they put Grandmamma through. Such selfishness doesn’t deserve forgiveness.”
She paused for a brief moment, choosing her words with great care. “Not to say that I’m callous. I am consumed by guilt, which is ironic, is it not? They rejected me, yet I feel as if I must repent.”
“If it’s any consolation, I always thought them fools for not appreciating the daughter they had.” Colin clasped the lapels of his jacket and Eve had to resist the urge to lean into him.
Though his tender words touched her heart, she couldn’t forget that Colin had discarded her, too.
“God, how I want to believe you,” she straightened his cravat in a futile attempt to control her voice as she admitted the truth that had been weighing her down like an anchor, the same truth that would leave her vulnerable. “How do I overlook the fact that you wrote me stating you would return, and I never heard one word from you – not even a confirmation that you were alive? That was a deliberate act of cruelty, Colin, and it is those deliberate acts that I’m unable to forgive – yours and my parents’.”
His gaze was fixed on hers, resplendent with a depth of emotion unlike any she’d ever seen. “I swear to you that mine wasn’t deliberate,” he paused, his eyes turning the tumultuous smoky blue-gray of a churning sea. “There are times when one’s life takes an unexpected turn. Blame it on God, the devil, fate … it doesn’t matter. I just know that there are incidents we can’t always control.”
To what did he allude?
She studied his chiseled features cloaked in shadow, aware that there was something he was hiding from her.
“You are remarkable, Eve,” Colin continued. “It’s your parents’ loss that they never took the time to know you, and it is my loss that I failed to return earlier.”
His last statement was brimming with regret, an emotion Eve was all too familiar with. The realization further thawed her hardened heart. He still clutched the lapels of his jacket; his hands resting ever-so-gently on her chest.
Eve found herself struggling to keep her breathing in check, so unnerved by his close proximity. With each sincere sentiment, Eve could sense her future slipping from her once tight grasp.
For whom?
Who was this man standing before her?
“You confuse me,” Eve admitted with a rugged sigh. “On this terrace, your demeanor is charming, your tone teasing as you say all the right things, yet you have changed, have you not?”
His jaw tensed, and he released his hold on the jacket as if it was charged with electricity. Colin then turned his attention once again to the constellations above.
Sliding her arms through the oversized sleeves of his jacket, she added in a faint whisper, “You are also distressed though you pretend otherwise. I witnessed it during our meal.”
Once again, he turned to face her, the intensity of his stare boring into her heart.
“I see the sadness in your eyes,” she remarked, aware that she was getting much too personal with him yet unable to stop herself. “Even when you’re smiling, it is forever present. All I need to do is look close enough.”
Eve flattened her cool palm against his smooth cheek. He must have shaved before their dinner party, she thought, the realization causing her hand to quiver as an unknown emotion stirred within her…
A yearning unlike any she had ever before experienced.
Why did her heart skip a beat whenever he was near? Might it stem from the fact that she was close to him, touching him intimately?
Heat emanated from his flesh, and it dawned on her that Colin exuded raw strength and masculinity. For so long Eve had fantasized him, perhaps fictionalized him.
Time shrouded the intensity of his gaze. It diluted the passion beneath his baritone and the jolt of excitement that radiated within her from his very touch. Time also made her forget how his tall, broad frame towered above most men and how Colin possessed the ability to own any room just by walking into it. Powerful and enigmatic, he was a force of nature.
How could she have forgotten?
Perhaps it was because Eve stood closer to him tonight than she ever had? And why was that? Why had she never been this near? God knows she wanted to. What was different now?
Did time delude her sensibilities or after so many years, was she simply so desperate for answers?
“Who did this to you?” Eve broke the thick silence, her eyes studying his muted features in the dim light as her thumb traced the thick scar above his upper lip. “Who hurt you so?”
Colin bent his head, clutching the lapels as he pulled her towards him until he rested his forehead against hers. Time seemed to stand still while he reveled in her nearness, her touch, her sweet scent, her warm breath that fanned his face.
Her skin was soft, her touch more gentle than he remembered and Colin had to silently instruct himself not to move, speak, or do anything that would cause her to pull away.
Eve expelled a deep quivering breath, and in doing so broke the spell that had been cast. Taking a step backwards, she swayed somewhat before yanking her hand away from hi
s face.
Unwilling to let go, desperate to remain close to her, Colin laced his fingers with hers. A surge of excitement pulsated through his veins at the realization that this time Eve did not pull away.
There were so many hidden meanings he could derive from that one action, or lack thereof. Colin suspected that Eve still loved him, but it was more than that.
She wanted him.
The knowledge made his heart lurch violently within his chest. Colin knew he shouldn’t pursue her, knew that he should walk away now before it was too late. But he wouldn’t do so.
Not again.
Never again.
Tugging her towards him, Colin cupped Eve’s face with his free hand, idly caressing her velvety smooth jawline with his thumb. Eve moaned then leaned into him.
She wanted to kiss him. He was certain of it, and that realization caused his pulse to race at a rapid rate.
It wouldn’t be a gentle kiss.
Not anymore.
His lips crushed hers with a hunger three years in the making as his tongue traced the outline of her full lips, probing for entrance. Eve braced herself by resting her palms flat against his vest then granted Colin the access he so desperately sought. His tongue brushed against hers, the mere intimacy causing a spark of pure unadulterated desire to ignite within him.
Had Eve felt it as well?
She pulled away in immediate response all but dashing his hopes. Colin tipped her chin, noting with a tinge of excitement the surprise radiating from her impassioned gaze as she traced her heart-shaped lips with her forefinger.
Colin then realized that Eve had never experienced such a kiss. Not with him and certainly not with any other man.
Her innocence thrilled him. It made him want her even more. Duty to his brother be damned, Colin refused to walk away from Eve, from this moment.
“Please,” his voice was rough even to his own ears, “allow me this. If nothing else, kiss me now.”
Colin sensed her hesitation, knew that Eve was waging a silent battle with her conscience, but the conflict lasted no more than a moment or two.
Eve arched her back before brushing her lips against his in a gentle kiss.
That one simple gesture meant more to him than a thousand fortunes.
In her kiss, he found his dearest wish fulfilled.
Encircling her in his arms, Colin once again kissed Eve though this time when his tongue sought hers, she offered it without hesitation.
His urgent desire was met by Eve’s own, escalating to a raging inferno as she pulled him closer, deepening their kiss. She explored his mouth with her tongue while her fingers trailed to the nape of his neck.
Colin’s muscles twitched under her fervent touch. Eve then threaded the hair at the nape of his neck with her fingers, her body molding to his and Colin was certain his thirst for her would drive him mad.
He had loved her for years, but theirs had never been such a passionate romance. Their kisses had always been sweet with the promise of something more.
That promise was fulfilled on this night when her ache for him met his in intensity and strengthened with each kiss, every caress. Colin moaned, his mouth probing deeper as he pinned Eve against the balustrade for support. His fingertips traced a fiery path up her neck until they threaded through her hair. He grasped the honey-colored strands of silk between his fingers, reveling in the softness of her thick tresses.
Her hand trembled as she placed her palm against his jawline, her thumb idly caressing the cleft in his chin. In complete contrast to their passionate embrace, her touch was now gentle.
Colin slowed their kiss noting that Eve gasped when he tore his lips from hers. He then kissed her jaw, his tongue trailing to her neck before he nipped her earlobe with his teeth. Eve’s breath caught in her throat.
“God, I have missed you,” he confessed, his words rough with unshed emotion.
“I’ve missed you, too, brother dear,” Tristan drawled, his husky voice dripping with sarcasm.
Eve’s hand stilled as her wide eyes met Colin’s. The expression on her face – one of absolute panic – turned his blood to ice.
Squinting in the semi-darkness, Colin turned to find his younger brother standing not five feet away. Even in the faint light of the gas lamp burning beside him, Tristan’s expression was discernible. Shock, pain, anger … all etched in his familiar features, distorting them into a mask of torment.
“Tristan, I’m sorry,” Colin managed in a throaty whisper before realizing that his arms still encircled Eve. After giving her a reassuring squeeze he released her.
When she turned to face Tristan at last, Eve was visibly shaking. “It’s not what you think, Tristan,” her tone was laced with desperation as she bridged the distance between them. Tristan backed away from her as if repelled by her very presence.
“Tristan, please,” she pleaded with him, reaching for his arms, which were crossed in a defensive posture. “I swear it isn’t what you think.”
“Not what I think?” Tristan’s incensed voice reverberated through the still night air as he again stepped mere inches beyond her reach.
Eve’s hand stilled in the process of reaching for him again, her fear unmistakable.
A muscle in Tristan’s jaw pulsated, visible even with the poor lighting. When he spoke, his timbre was controlled, though still low and dangerous. “I witnessed you kissing him, Eve. That leaves little room for interpretation.”
“It meant nothing—”
Tristan laughed an eerie, hollow sound that would chill anyone within hearing distance. “If you believe that passionate encounter I just witnessed was meaningless then you are a fool.”
He turned on his heel, his boots reverberating against the stone like an ominous clock, tolling the minutes until impending doom. When Tristan entered what Colin recognized to be a vacant study, Eve followed close behind, still pleading.
“Tristan, please believe me!” She was frantic, that much was obvious.
Colin entered the room just as Eve grabbed Tristan’s arm and stood in front of him, blocking his path. “Please forgive me,” she sobbed.
“Forgive you?” Tristan jerked away from her.
“I swear to you, it’s not what you think!”
“Get out of my way, Eve,” Tristan growled.
Eve stood her ground, “I was acquainted with Colin a long time ago. What you witnessed were residual feelings – nothing more. It’s you I want to marry, not him.”
“Ah, you were acquainted with him? My, how innocent that sounds. Until one realizes that you knew the man well enough to share a passionate kiss with him.” Tristan paused as if attempting to assimilate her admission. “You were intimate enough to kiss him, and yet you withheld this information from me?”
“Please believe me when I say that it is you I wish to marry.” Eve grabbed his sleeve, a torrent of tears brimming in eyes over-bright with anguish.
Tristan stiffened, his tone dripping with disdain. “Are you trying to convince me or yourself?”
“I know what I feel for you,” Eve wiped her tear-stained cheek with her free hand.
“What could you possibly feel for me when you kissed my brother with such reckless abandon? Add to that transgression the fact that you then allowed him to explore your neck with his tongue. Yes, I’m certain you felt something though I factored nowhere in the equation. Good God,” Tristan raked his hands through his hair before adding through gritted teeth, “You knew him and said nothing to me even though you had every opportunity. How many times did we discuss what my investigators had unearthed in their search to find my brother?”
Tristan’s lips curled into a scornful grin. “You used me to garner information about Colin.”
“No,” Eve shook her head. “I swear I didn’t.”
Colin’s senses were on full alert as he studied Eve’s reaction to Tristan’s accusation. Was it true? If so, Colin never could have prophesized this sudden turn of events. He searched for a sign that his brother
was correct.
“Seeing Colin again confused me. It was a momentary lapse of judgment that will never happen again.” Eve insisted.
“What I witnessed was more than a mere lapse in judgment,” Tristan’s rage reverberated through the wood-paneled room. “So was the fact that you withheld information about your relationship from me. With every conversation you and I had about him, about my investigation into his whereabouts, you lied to me by omission.”
“I never meant to deceive you nor did I intend to kiss him,” Eve asserted, shaking him now. “What you witnessed was impulsive and will never happen again. Colin, please tell him!”
It was the first time Eve addressed him since Tristan had discovered them. Her eyes, now the color of dewy leaves on a crisp spring morning, were brimming with tears as she beseeched him to agree with her. He remained silent, choosing instead not to insult his brother’s intelligence.
Colin knew she was lying.
As it appeared, so did his brother.
“Are you listening to me, Eve?” Tristan peeled her fingers from his arm, one by one. “This extends far beyond your indiscretion this evening. You omitted details of your relationship. You lied to me. You used me.”
“But—”
“Stop it this instant!” Tristan roared, causing Eve to jump.
Tristan paused, crossing his arms over his chest as he inhaled. He was clearly utilizing every ounce of self-control to keep his temper in check.
When Tristan continued at last, his tone contained a steely edge. “I have no tolerance for deception, Eve. There have been too many secrets in my family, and I will not tolerate any more.” Tristan swallowed hard, and Colin wondered if the mere mention of their family’s artifices left a bitter taste in his brother’s mouth as it did in his own.
“For every action, there is a consequence, Eve. Make no mistake – I will never marry you after what I just witnessed.”
The hitch in Eve’s breathing betrayed her surprise at Tristan’s statement. Leaning against the cherry paneling behind her for support, her shoulders shook with sobs. The sight sliced through Colin’s heart like hundreds of steely edged blades.
Turning his attention towards his brother, Tristan’s calm, matter-of-fact tone contradicted the anger and torment etched in his strong features. “Our betrothal has been announced,” he spoke like the barrister he was, detached from the proceedings, a neutral observer arguing the facts. “Once word spreads that it has been broken, rumors will follow and her reputation will suffer especially if the reason ever becomes public knowledge.”
Enticing Eve: Scandalous Secrets, Book 2 Page 8
