Page 39 of The Haunted Duke

The way she averted her gaze, the hasty way she said it—she was lying, and Evander could not take it anymore. He moved, pressing her back against the wall and pinning her there with his body as his fingers kept holding her chin up so she would look at him. The desire in her eyes only deepened, tinged now with something closer to nerves than fear. She lifted her hands to his chest, not to push him away, but as if she needed something to hold on to. Still, he did not move. Not until he had his answer.

“Tell me the truth,” he growled.

“That is the truth!” she whispered vehemently.

“Then why do your body and your eyes protest so much?” he demanded.

Again, Helena hesitated.

“Why do you keep asking me if I love Jeremy?”

“You want to know why I keep asking? You want to know why I tried to stay away from you?” Evander asked. “It is because I crave you more than anything. Any touch, any taste, any pleasurable sensation I have had in the past is nothing compared to what I feel when I am in your presence. Even now, you have no idea how difficult it is for me to refrain from kissing you.”

Helena’s pupils blew wide in an instant, eating away that startling green he loved so much.

“Kiss me, then,” she breathed, her nails digging deeper into his biceps and driving his insides crazy.

“What?” Evander croaked. He could not believe it. She wanted him to kiss her? It was everything he had ever wanted. He began to struggle with his thoughts, torn between giving in to what they both wanted and finding out once and for all what was going on. “What are you asking me, Helena? You are getting married.”

“No… It is… You do not understand our arrangement,” Helena whispered. “I am not so sure even I understand, but Jeremy is my friend and just my friend. We do love each other, but it is as friends love one another.”

She squeezed his biceps harder, and that was when he felt the engagement band on her left finger pressed firmly into his muscles. It did not cause him physical pain, but it struck him deeply in his mind as a sharp reminder that Helena was not his to kiss. Even if she begged him to.

Evander let her go and took several steps away.

“Evander, wait,” Helena whispered as she reached for him.

He shook his head, taking another step back even though his body screamed at him to do the exact opposite. He had lust. He had desire… but he also had honor.

“No,” he croaked, feeling a fresh wave of pain blast into his chest. “Not like this. I will not kiss you, not while you are wearing another man’s ring.”

Chapter 13

“Jeremy,” Helena choked out.

She rushed past her mother and brother, past the stiffer and more stoic-than-usual Evander, and even past Patricia, who had her arms outstretched and ready to hug her grandson. She hurried past them all and flung herself into Jeremy’s arms the moment the carriage door opened.

“Jeremy, thank God you are back. There is so much I need to speak to you about. So much has happened! I must—”

“Well, well, Helena dearest, I have missed you too!” Jeremy chuckled gaily, pushing her gently away from him. “My, what a welcome!”

“I should say,” Patricia muttered behind them, obviously unimpressed by Helena’s actions.

“I think someone missed their husband-to-be!” someone said from inside the carriage.

Helena looked up then, just in time to see Jeremy turn and help Letty down. Her maid followed next, then another one of their friends.

“Are you two not the cutest little lovebirds?” Letty teased, going to Helena with open arms. “Helena, darling, lovely to see you.”

“Lovely to see you as well, Letty,” Helena said in a rush as she pulled away from the hug and turned back to her betrothed. “Jeremy, please, I need to speak with you.”

“All in good time, dearest, all in good time,” Jeremy answered in that same sweet but dismissive tone as he hugged his grandmother. “Just give a man a moment to get settled, would you?”

She could not wait a moment. Her urgency to speak with him had been growing by the second ever since she had met Evander in the corridor the night before. The way he had touched her, the way he had made her feel, made her think it was all too real to ignore.

“Jeremy, wait,” she called. “If you could just—”

Patricia and Jeremy’s valet blocked her path as Jeremy reached Evander. She watched helplessly as Jeremy threw his arms around Evander, and a discomfort grew in her stomach as she saw the Duke struggle to accept the intimate gesture.