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It fits. “You have delicate hands,” he says, my left hand still in his. “I always heard she did, too.”
“It makes sense.” My thumb brushes against his fingers. “You have artistic hands.”
The words come out before I can stop them. It’s the first personal comment I’ve made to him—the first thing I’ve said that indicates I’ve noticed anything about him at all. And for the first time, I see a flicker of surprise crosshisface.
He says nothing. But the hand holding mine pulls me closer, his other hand on my waist, and his mouth lowers to mine.
It’s the first time I’ve kissed him, beyond the kiss at the altar when Father O’Halloran blessed our betrothal. It’s the first time I’ve kissed himalone—and there’s no one to see, no one to stop us.
No one to tell me afterward tobe careful.
I’d be better off if there was. Because Theo’s mouth feels far too good. He’s a good kisser, his lips soft and warm against mine, teasing gently at my mouth until Iwantto part my lips for him, his tongue lightly grazing against the curve of my lower lip. He pulls me closer still, close enough that my body is brushing against his, the heat of him sinking through the thin gold silk of my dress. His hand slides around my waist to the small of my back, holding me there as his tongue slips into my mouth, and I’m lost.
The kiss is somehow urgent without being demanding, passionate without being insistent. His hand slides no lower than the small of my back, his other hand wrapped around mine, his lips slanting over my mouth as he deepens the kiss. When he pulls me close, I can feel the hard press of his cock against my thigh, but he doesn’t grind against me, doesn’t push for more. And the way he’s kissing me, the restraint and desire in it all at once, sends a flood of desire through me that I wasn’t expecting.
I have the thought that if he were to try to take me upstairs, I’m not so certain that it would be easy for me to say no. And that terrifies me.
Theo is getting under my skin already. Making me want him. And it occurs to me, as his mouth presses against mine, making me gasp softly, that maybe that’s what all of this is.
A carefully calculated night to make me want him. To make me fall underhisspell, just as my brother expects me to make Theo fall under mine.
You don’t know that he’s not a liar. And a good one, if so.
I pull away, breaking the kiss. “I’m tired,” I say abruptly, pulling my hand out of his. “I should go inside. I can go with you, if you need help finding your way out—”
“No, I think I can manage.” His stiff bearing returns and he takes a step back. It’s all I can do not to let my gaze flick downwards, where I know he’s still hard from the kiss.
A few weeks, and you’ll be in bed with him. You’ll know exactly what he looks like. What he feels like—
I repress the shudder that runs through me, a shiver of desire that I neither want nor need. “There’s security everywhere,” I tell him coolly. “I’ll make sure to let them know when I go in not to bother you. I assume your driver is still out front.”
“Of course.” Theo smiles politely at me. “I’ll see you on our wedding day, Marika.”
The way he says it makes me catch my breath, a sort of calm self-assuredness to the words that reminds me that in only a few short weeks, I’ll be his wife. But more than that, it tells me that whatever tonight was meant to make him make up his mind about, or whatever he was hoping he would find out, it was enough for him. He doesn’t plan to see me again, before our wedding day.
I shouldn’t feel the sharp pang of disappointment that I do. I should be glad that I won’t see him again until the wedding.
But a part of me wants another night like this.
I watch him leave, walking down the path and out of sight. There’s no reason for me to stand there until I hear the creak of the garden gate, but I do, and only then do I turn to head up to the back door of the mansion, to let the security guards there know to leave Theo be, that it was alright that he was here. It’s entirely possible that Nikolai will find out he was here, but Nikolai won’t care. Lilliana will have told him that Theo took me out tonight—about the invitation—and if anything, he’ll be glad that it went well enough that Theo came back to the mansion with me.
I don’t even know that he’d care if Theo had taken me to bed. The contract is signed—there’s no backing out of it, whether Theo waits until our wedding night or not to claim my supposed virginity. All that would mean is that he desires me so much that he couldn’t wait, which plays into Nikolai’s plans perfectly.
“Marika.”
The voice behind me stops me in my tracks, and makes my heart sink, because it’s Adrik—and I have no idea what he might have seen. I didn’t even know he was here tonight.
“Adrik?” I turn slowly, and I feel my heart wrench in my chest at the expression on his face. He’s standing at the foot of the stairs, a little below me, and I know he must have seen Theo and me out in the garden.
“What was he doing here?” He takes the steps two at a time, until he’s standing in front of me, nearly pressing me up against the railing. “You already had the meeting to sign the betrothal. The wedding hasn’t happened yet. So what—”
“He took me out to dinner.” My heartbeat is speeding up, and I know I need to be careful what I say. I don’t want Adrik to be so desperate that he confesses to Nikolai purely because he doesn’t believe he’ll ever be able to have me. “Adrik—we talked about this—”
“Not about this.” He reaches for my hand, and I wince as the ring presses into his palm. I feel him flinch when it touches his skin, and he draws my hand upwards, holding it up to the light as he looks at the emerald.
“This is all he could give you?” Adrik scoffs, looking at the small gem. “Thisis all he thinks you’re worth? I’m nothing but a bodyguard, and I’d try to do better than this for you.”
I’m torn, in that instant, between feeling touched that Adrik has even considered what sort of ring he’d ask me to marry him with—that he sees that kind of a future with me—and a protectiveness towards Theo that startles me. “It’s a family heirloom,” I tell Adrik, pulling my hand away. “It’s been in his family since before they were rich.”
