Page 31 of Arcane Entanglement

The door was slightly ajar when they reached the room.

Jack rapped his knuckles on the wood. “It’s me.”

“Come in. I’m almost done cleaning up.”

Viggo’s voice was deep and gravelly and did all kinds of unseemly things to Evander’s pulse.

Jack pushed the door open.

Evander’s first impression of Viggo’s modest office was of books.

He blinked. They were everywhere.

On the solid oak shelves and cases lining all the walls bar one. On the weathered walnut desk buried under piles of ledgers. On the floor, stacked in haphazard towers that threatened to tumble at the mere whisper of a breeze.

It took a moment for his startled gaze to find the man he’d come to see.

Viggo stood with his back to them to the left of the room. He was splashing his face and neck with cold water from a basin, rinsing away the sweat and grime from the fight. He reached for a flannel hanging on a hook and started wiping his face as he straightened.

Their eyes met in the mirror above the basin. Viggo froze.

Evander wasn’t quite sure how to describe the feeling that swept through him in that moment. It was like being struck by lightning, his body tingling and sparking from dozens of blistering shocks. He felt dizzy and breathless, as if he’d run a considerable distance.

One thing he did recognise, much to his chagrin.

The sharp punch to the gut he was experiencing could only be sexual attraction. It was immediate and so wonderfully and terrifyingly strong, Evander found it a miracle he wasn’t sporting an erection.

Viggo turned.

“Who is this?” he asked, his expression cryptic.

His gaze flitted to Ginny before locking on Evander once more, like he couldn’t look away from him either.

Jack introduced them. “This is Lady Hartley.” He paused, wariness creeping into his voice. “And this is Duke Evander Ravenwood.”

The change that came over the Brute was sudden and spine-chilling.

One moment he was on the other side of the room, the next he’d crossed the floor, lifted Evander up by the collar of his cloak, and slammed him into the bookcase on the opposite wall.

“Evander!” Ginny cried out.

Evander grunted and grabbed Viggo’s wrist, books spilling out around him. His heels found purchase on a shelf.

Viggo’s eyes burned with the rage of a thousand suns as he glared at him.

“Don’t!” Evander snapped when he saw Ginny reach for her pistol out of the corner of his eye.

He dared not look away from the Brute.

Evander’s heart raced as he met Viggo’s livid gaze. It was taking all of his will power to fight his body’s instinct to unleash his magic and defend himself.

Solomon and Finn framed Ginny, their expressions vacillating between concern for their boss and open hostility towards him.

Jack approached and placed a hand on Viggo’s shoulder.

“Stop,” he told his nephew firmly. “He came here to talk. Says he has some information for you.”

Viggo clenched his jaw, his hand hot against Evander’s skin. He could no doubt feel the pulse drumming frantically at the base of his throat.