Page 19

“Good evening.” His eyes landed on the glass in my hand. “What an excellent idea, Evie, I could do with a drink myself. I trust you don’t mind if I join you.”

It was not a question.His slightly too-loud tone, and the almost wild look in his eyes, told me that, wherever he had been, he’d already had plenty to drink.

But I simply raised my glass to him, and kept my place at the window.

“Certainly, it is your house, you may do as you like. Did you have a pleasant evening?”

He paused as he withdrew the stopper from the carafe of cognac, and ran his tongue along his teeth as he grinned.

“Yes, I suppose I did.” He lifted an eyebrow as his gaze fell in my direction. “Would you like to know where I went?”

“If you insist on telling me, I suppose I can’t stop you.”

He chuckled as he poured himself a drink. “I do love these moments we share, Evie. Did your aunt take dinner with you?”

“No, we took tea together and then she left.”

“So you have been alone all this evening, with nothing but your thoughts.” He sucked on his teeth. “Hmmm.”

“I do not mind being alone.”

He turned to face me, holding his glass in one hand and yanking at his neck tie with the other. His icy eyes stayed fixed on me as the tie came loose, and the collar of his shirt fell open, revealing the muscular plane of his chest. I quickly averted my eyes and took another sip of my drink.

“Your aunt does not care for me.”

“What makes you think that?” I asked without looking at him.

“I think that is rather obvious, don’t you?”

I shrugged. “I would simply say your reputation precedes you.”

“I have a reputation? How thrilling.” He sprawled down in an armchair, his legs spread wide, and grinned at me over the edge of his glass. “Tell me of this reputation.”

I fixed him with a glare. “You know perfectly well that you have a reputation. And you are teasing me because you are drunk.”

“I am not.” He looked me up and down almost lecherously. “I just want to know what it is that people say about me, seeing as I am oh so very scandalous. What is it that your aunt said about me?”

“Nothing, we had more important things to discuss than Azriel Caine.”

He chuckled again, a dark and threatening sound. “And what were those?”

“The houses I have inquired after in Leicester.”

He kept his eyes on me, nodding. “You truly intend to leave then?”

“Of course.” I gestured around the room with my glass. “This is all yours, your family home, not mine.”

He snorted out a laugh, casting an almost disgusted gaze around him. “This house, with all its cracked and crumbling walls. You can practically see through them.”

“It is old, perhaps, but it is your father’s legacy, and I would not wish to take it from you.” I took a short breath. “And I told you already that I wish to make way for your wife and family. I am sure you are most eager to honour your father’s memory, and continue his line. He would want you to live a decent life within these walls.”

His grin became lethal, and he rose from his chair, swirling his cognac around and around. “You mean, instead of fucking whores in his study?”

I sucked in a breath, almost dropping my glass. “Azriel, that is obscene.”

“An obscenity you seemed to enjoy observing for quite some time.” He ambled towards me, his eyes lit with a fiery flame. “Did you like what you saw?”

I gulped down another sip of cognac to appease my achingly dry throat, and refused to meet his gaze. “I don’t know what you mean.”