Page 20 of One Naughty Christmas Night

“Well hello, Victoria,” he said, stepping inside and shutting the door behind him.

“Bastion,” she replied, hoping her tone was as frigid as she meant it to be. “What are you doing here?”

The golden-haired devil flashed his most charming smile.

“I simply came to look at books,” he said, meandering over to the other side of the room. “Did I come to the wrong place?”

Victoria motioned to the shelves, not willing to play the game. “You did not. There are many fine books to choose from. Adventure, mystery, romance…”

Her voice faded when he sidled to her side of the room, perusing the bookshelf next to her.

The moonlight streamed through the window behind her, highlighting his still handsome face.

He wouldn’t get uglier just because he hurt you.

He was still the same charlatan who betrayed her. That hadn’t changed.

“Would you allow me a moment of your time?” he asked. He leaned against the bookshelf and stared at her.

“What could you possibly need to speak to me about?” she asked, strolling down the shelves away from him.

“Now Victoria,” he cooed, “Why must you treat me so?”

He closed the distance between them, and the hairs on her neck stood on end.

“Do you excuse your treatment of me over the last half year?” she asked, stepping around the book ladder that hung from the shelves, putting it between them.

He leaned against it, staring at her. “I do not. I treated you abominably. I hope you bear me no ill will.”

Bastion stepped around the ladder, sidling up next to Victoria. She froze, unsure of whether to run or to stay, tucking her book under her arm.

“I-I bear you and your wife no ill will, of course,” she replied, trying to calm her racing heart. “I wish you every happiness.”

Irritation flitted across his face at the mention of his wife, but it quickly disappeared. “I’ll be sure to reassure Ophelia of that. She was quite distressed at coming to a party where everyone might dislike her.”

“She seems a lovely woman, your wife. I doubt anyone could truly dislike her. It’s not as if she acted alone in her pursuit of passion.”

His mouth dropped open, but nothing came out.

A question flitted across Victoria’s mind, and before she could stop it, she asked, “Did you marry her for love, Bastion, or because society demanded the union?”

His lips thinned. “I did my duty to her, as honor demands.”

Victoria’s heart skipped a beat when his smile returned. She took a step back, bumping the bookshelf behind her. The realization that she had nowhere to run hit her, and she swallowed.

Bastion’s body surrounded her, the smell of brandy filling the small space between them.

“Bastion, this is highly inappropriate,” she whispered, tamping down the fear that rose.

“Why?” he whispered, his hand coming to tease the skin at her neck.

She stared at his face, the face of the man she thought she would marry.

This is not the same man.

“You’re a married man, and I’m an unmarried woman, in a library in the middle of the night. Anyone could come in and find us together.”

He stepped closer to her, and she put her hands firmly on his chest, a small sound coming from her when he speared his hands through her hair.