“Well, you can bloody well have it back,” she muttered, turning on her heel.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Grimacing through the faint ache that still bothered her ankle, she headed out of the bedchamber and limped along the hallway. She had forgotten that her friends might be lurking nearby, but they were fortunately absent as she continued on toward the other side of the landing, unhindered by any interruptions.
By now, everyone else would either be in their chambers or downstairs, the manor eerily silent as if it was holding its breath in anticipation.
Coming to Hugo’s door, she did not hesitate and she did not knock. With all the might of her fury and frustration, she swung the door open and marched inside, closing the door behind her.
Of course, some rational part of her knew that this was beyond improper, a situation far worse than Hugo had placed her in when he had spoken to her in the study, but she was too agitated to care.
“What is this?” she asked, brandishing the jewelry box.
Hugo, seated by the fireplace, looked up in surprise. His eyes, so exactly like those jewels, widened and his jaw dropped open. She had shocked him with her intrusion, which was something at least, but it was not yet the satisfaction she had gone there to seek.
“I see that we are breaking rules again,” he said, recovering. A half-smile lifted his lips as he took a sip from what appeared to be a glass of port.
“Sometimes, it is necessary,” she replied tersely, shaking the jewelry box again. “Why did you invade my bedchamber to leave this?”
“You do not like it?” he asked, rising.
“It does not matter what I think of it,” she shot back. “It is not mine.”
He quirked an eyebrow. “On the contrary, Evelyn. Did you not see the note?”
“I saw it.” She closed the gap between them and thrust the box into his chest. “But it is not mine. Clearly, it is destined for Selina.”
“If it was for her, I would have put it in her room,” he pointed out, making no move to take the box, so that Evelyn had no choice but to keep holding it there against his chest.
He had undressed for the evening to make himself more comfortable. His tailcoat and waistcoat were draped over the back of a chair, his white shirt untucked and unbuttoned to the middle of his chest, exposing a sun warmed triangle of skin that Evelyn’s eyes kept drifting to, noting the lines of muscle that couldjustbe peeked.
“I cannot accept it,” Evelyn croaked. “Give it to my friend instead.”
Hugo’s expression darkened, his hand coming up to grasp her wrist lightly. “I will not,” he said, his voice firm. “It is not hers. It is yours. A gesture of my gratitude.”
“Gratitude? For what?” she rasped, his palm rough and warm against her skin.
“For helping me,” he replied. “For being a presence that I have needed.”
She peered up into his eyes, her heart hammering like a desperate prisoner. “I have offered you no help that would warrant such a gift, Your Grace. I have not… earned something so… lovely. No, Your Grace, there is no possible way that I could ever wear this.”
“Why not?” he asked, subtly taking a half step forward, bringing them so close together that Evelyn found she could not breathe, like he had moved into the air between them and stolen it all.
How do I explain? How is it not already obvious?Her mind raced with a suitable response, but the right words were all tangled up with the dizzying effect of his proximity and the reminder of all the moments where they had been this close before.
“You see, you cannot give me a reason,” he said silkily. “The necklace is yours, and such a beautiful thingmustbe worn. Would you deny it its destiny?”
“Would you ignore mine?” she blurted out, her breathing ragged. “I cannot wear this necklace because… you have no right to give it to me. If I accept this, it will feel like… like… a mark. Your mark. On me. And… it is not appropriate when I am… expected to marry another gentleman.”
Intensity flared in those unusual blue eyes of his, his grip upon her wrist tightening ever so slightly, as if to confirm what she had said. That hedidwish to leave his mark upon her, to stake his claim to her. Of course, she reasoned, she must surely be imagining things, for it was Selina that he wanted; had he not proven that by taking Evelyn’s advice?
His hand slid down hers as his gaze wandered to her lips, and he did not stop staring at her mouth as he took the necklace box from her.
What is he thinking? Why is he looking at my lips like that?Her heart whispered a suggestion that made her breath catch in her throat. Whyelsewould a man gaze at a woman’s lips like that, if he was not thinking about kissing her?
“I bought it for you because I saw it and I thought that no one else should have it but you,” he said, opening the box. “It is as if it was made for you, and I must see you wear it.”
He gently pulled the necklace free of its trappings and discarded the box. The thin silver chain and the exquisite little jewels draped elegantly from his fingertips as he walked around her, and when he brought the jewelry over her head, the cold metal touching her skin, she found she could not even gasp in shock. He had robbed her of her ability to breathe entirely, his closeness firing up wayward thoughts in her mind.
