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Minutes passed, each one somehow becoming more uncomfortable than the next. He pulled back, his bloodshot eyes not meeting mine.
“You should go,” he croaked. “Your fiancé wouldn’t like you in another man’s room.”
I huffed. “Henrik…it’s not what you think. I’m not betrothed to him.”
“You told me you were engaged.”
“Don’t you remember? I told you my fiancé is twice my age.”
“Yes, well it seems he found the fountain of youth.”
I sighed, leaning against the wall. “Jacques is not my fiancé. He’s…he’s my fiancé’s son.”
I said the last part so quietly that I was sure Henrik didn’t hear it until he snapped his face toward me.
“Tell me I didn’t hear what I think I heard,” he said.
“His father, my real fiancé, has a knee injury, if I remember correctly. I’m guessing he sent Jacques to retrieve me for his sake.”
Henrik’s eyes fluttered shut as he sighed and ran his hands through his hair. He paused there for a moment, holding his head, looking up at me with complete confusion.
“You mean, all this time, I thought—” He groaned. “I should have realized. I mean, I didn’t even think…”
I shrugged. “You had a lot to think about.”
There was an awkward pause.
“So if he’s the son of your fiancé,” Henrik started, “then that would make him your—”
I covered his mouth with one hand. “Don’t say it. I hate it too much for you to say it.”
I could feel him smile behind my hand. I dropped it, staring at the ground.
“I owe you an apology, Esmeralda,” Henrik said after a moment. “In my own self-absorption, I failed to act like a gentleman.”
I stepped forward and patted his chest with my hand in reassurance. “No, no. I didn’t realize how much pain you were in. If I had known, I would have—”
Henrik’s hand wrapped around mine, his stare taking the words from my lips. The soft pads of his fingertips rubbed against my knuckles, sending fire through my arm and into the pit of my stomach. He stepped closer. I couldn’t move, struck by the intense gaze in his eyes as he looked around the edges of my face, stopping at my lips.
“I don’t know what I find more entertaining…the fact that those two brothers are fighting over you, or the fact that you don’t know why they’re doing it.”
Gasping, I stepped back. Henrik’s eyes widened in surprise.
“Sorry,” I said. “I just remembered something Luc wanted me to do. He’ll be furious if I forget. Forgive me this once?”
He exhaled, nodding. “Of course. If anyone should be asking for forgiveness, it should be me.”
I shook my head. “Let’s call ourselves even, then.”
Patting his hand, I stepped back and ran out the door, my heart racing in my chest as I shut it behind me.
Henrik’s touch…it had been so gentle, yet powerful. There was so much affection in the way he looked at me.
Was Luc right? Did Henrik really…?
I dropped my head, a wave of shame flooding through my veins.
Henrik couldn’t love me. No one could. And I could never have the luxury of loving someone. I already belonged to Jacques’s father. I couldn’t go back on my word.
