Page 30 of A Match Made in Heather

But she wasn’t enough of a goose to believe that he felt the same confusion, that the same lingering desire that gripped her also flamed inside him. Not the man who had decided that he needed to leave the highlands in order to be as far away from her as possible. Not the man who had only returned to seek revenge.

“You don’t mean that,” she accused. She clenched her hands into fists as her chest rose and fell with tumultuous breaths. “You’re only saying that to make me leave.”

“Did you ever stop to think, Arabel, that you leaving is the last thing I want?” He shifted closer, barely perceptible, but enough that his fingers grazed against hers as her hand hung at her side.

“No.” She jerked her hand away as if he’d burned her, and she tangled her fingers in her skirt to make the ache go away. “You want Highburn all for yourself, and you won’t let anything stop you from getting your revenge.”

“Yes.”

She flinched at the single word, spoken with such resolve that it pierced her. “Why?”

“Why do you insist on letting your family control you?” he challenged.

Her head swam at the sudden turn of conversation. “They don’t.”

“You’ve once again become engaged to a man your family chose for you, rather than the man you want for yourself.”

His words slammed through her, setting a riot of emotions churning inside her. “That’s not true.”

“Then prove it.”

“I don’t have to prove—”

“Come to my room tonight.”

Her mouth fell open, and she stared at him wide-eyed. For several painful heartbeats, she couldn’t find the words—“You’re mad!”

“Mad for you, Arabel. Always have been.” He lowered his voice to a sultry drawl that soaked through her like liquid fire. “Come to my room, and you can prove that you’re not under your family’s control. That you are living your life as you want to live it.”

She clutched the list of names to her chest as if it were a shield. While every beat of her heart left her even more flustered and breathless than before, Garrick stood there perfectly calm and collected, as if he’d been suggesting nothing more wanton than having tea. Only the fiery gleam in his eyes gave him away.

He lowered his mouth as close to her ear as he dared. “AndIcan prove how much I still want you.”

A hot shiver raced through her. The rest of the world fell away around her until she hung suspended in space, and only the gleaming light in his green eyes anchored her in place.

He waited for her answer, as if he were the devil himself tempting her with all her wildest wishes come true. All she had to do was whisper . . .Yes.

But at what cost to her soul?

“No,” she breathed, barely any sound trickling from her lips.

She spun on her heel and hurried toward the stairs before he could stop her by saying something else darkly wicked and wholly enticing. But the words he’d already spoken swirled inside her like a whirlwind, and all of her pulsed hot and aching with the wanton images he’d given her. Images she knew she should force from her mind, yet longed to make real.

The temptation he dangled in front of her shook her to her core. Ten years couldn’t dull the memories of how wonderful it had been to be in his arms, to experience the tender passion he’d given her and the joy that had filled her.

A night with him would be exquisite, but would the morning after be unbearable?

When she reached the door, she paused to throw him a determined stare. “You cannot torment me into leaving, Townsend,” she called out boldly, purposefully using his title to goad him and not caring if the workmen heard. Resolve flared through her, just as intense as the heat he stirred inside her. “I amnotgoing anywhere!”

His gaze turned predatory, a dark smile pulling at his lips. “Good.”

Day Fifteen

Midnight

Stifling a groan of frustration, Arabel rested her forehead against her bedroom door.

Come to my room. . .