“Unless I missed the ceremony, I don’t believe you are my husband. You have no right to tell me who I can be friends with.” She gazed off toward the other dancers and didn’t meet his eyes.
“As a gentleman,” he said, “it is my responsibility to save you from being taken in by a rake.”
She laughed louder than she should, based on the glances they received from the surrounding couples. “Oh, I wasn’t aware that you had suddenly become a gentleman of honor.”
He’d walked right into that. She’d won that round. “I didn’t force you to do anything, and you know it.”
“What I know,” she said, “is that you aren’t the honorable man you are pretending to be. And not that it is any of your business, but there is nothing between Jude and me. He’s my friend. Much as he is yours. So, you may cease with your jealous warnings.”
“Ha. Jealous. I feel obliged to see you are all right, but I assure you I am not jealous.” He wouldn’t use the word jealous, at least not out loud. Driven to distraction and on fire from everything she did and said, yes. But not jealous.
She responded by rolling her eyes, which only irritated him more.
Evan drew a deep breath. “If he should try anything untoward, you can come to me and I shall see to the matter.”
Marina laughed in his face. “Like I could trust you to do anything you say. But please, continue on with your lack of jealousy.”
“Marina,” he ground out. “I’m serious.”
“I don’t know how many more ways I can tell you that Jude will never dally with any of us. Nor would I be interested if he attempted to. Are you quite content now?”
He didn’t believe she actually wished for him to respond, so he remained quiet.
Once the dance ended, he escorted her back to her friends. Hudson engaged him in conversation, but Evan only nodded and laughed where it seemed appropriate. He watched Marina out of the corner of his eye, annoyed by their conversation.
The more he was around her, the more he knew she would fight him at every turn. A marriage to her would have been much the same. It was for the best that things had ended between them.
Yet, he couldn’t help but remember the image of her face that lasttime he pleasured her, as it had etched itself into his memories and flashed in his thoughts more often than he cared to admit. He was the one who introduced the vexing woman to such things, yet she retained the hold over him.
Perhaps he should consider one of the willing widows. He might forget about their time together if he took a woman to bed, replacing the image in his head with someone else. The notion just increased his seething, and he didn’t care to think more about the reaction. He wasn’t a monk before he met her, but he couldn’t seem to allow himself to replace her either. Marina ruined him, and he didn’t even wish to be in her presence to do anything about it.
He’d have to figure out the solution to his conundrum, because he wasn’t going the rest of his life without the touch of a woman.
All of a sudden, the room became suffocatingly hot, and he longed for a breath of fresh air. He excused himself from the group and started toward the terrace, seeking solitude to gather his thoughts.
A hand clasped his, and he knew who it was from the feel of the small gloved hand in his before he turned his head to see Marina next to him.
“Follow me,” she commanded, her tone was urgent. “Now.”
She released him and started toward a long corridor, entering one of the empty rooms. What further torture could she bestow on him this evening? He should just pull away from her and seek the fresh air he so desperately needed in order to think.
Curiosity got the better of him and he followed her. Checking that no one was watching him, he entered the room behind her, then closed and locked the door. The last thing they needed was for someone to find them alone together.
Because his reasons for walking away from her were still there. He must continue to keep the scandal surrounding his father’s death secret while resolving the long-term financial issues he faced. And she deserved better than all of it. Even if she was the most difficult andtrying woman that he had ever met.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
She narrowed her eyes at him. “Were you about to meet Diana on the terrace?”
“What? Why would I meet Diana?” He stared. The woman had lost it. Or she was jealous for some reason, which would be far more entertaining.
“I saw you heading toward the terrace. She didn’t ask you to join her?”
He shook his head and crossed his arms while Marina paced the room.
“She must have changed her mind,” Marina mumbled, speaking more to herself than him. “But I saw her go out there.”
She tapped her finger against her lips, and he told himself to quit looking at her lips. “Why don’t you tell me what you are talking about?” he asked.
