Enticing Eve: Scandalous Secrets, Book 2 Read Online Free PDF Page B

contemplate that such a tragedy would befall her family.
    His expression softened. “I would have returned sooner had I known.”
    “There was no need,” she smiled. “Tristan comforted me. Unlike yours, his affection has been resolute.”
    “Do you love him?” The words escaped Colin’s lips before he could stop them.
    Studying Eve, he noted that she averted her eyes before answering, “Yes, I do.”
    He could swear he noted a tinge of regret in her tone. “Do you love him as much as you love me?”  
    Why in bloody hell did he ask such a question? Perhaps he wished to further torture himself.
    Eve’s eye flashed in defiance. “I don’t love you – not any longer.”  
    “I don’t believe you,” he surveyed her, testing her resolve though Eve remained silent. “What? Have you no rebuke?”
    Squaring her shoulders, as if in preparation for battle, Eve offered him a jaunty grin. “I don’t need one. You mean nothing to me.”
    With that final stinging reproof, she turned and marched out of the room. He listened, focusing on the sound of her gauzy skirts swaying rapidly.  
    She was running from him. The knowledge caused his heart to weigh heavy with remorse.
    Colin’s pulse pounded harder against his temples with each step she took, realization taking root and growing in intensity. The woman he loved beyond reason was betrothed to his brother. Never, even in his wildest imaginings, did Colin consider this particular outcome.  
    He crossed the room, slumping against the large window as he watched Eve proceed to her carriage.  
    Look at me , he willed. Just look at me, and I will know you still love me.
    Not once did Eve glance in his direction. Instead, she ascended the steps of her carriage and disappeared out of sight, her words haunting him like a phantom howling in the harsh wind.
    You mean nothing to me.
    Colin believed her. Because he judged her, taunted her, insulted her until he was certain that he indeed meant nothing to her. Crossing the room, he leaned against the fireplace mantel where an antique tulipiere rested front and center, flanked on either side by brass candlesticks and several porcelain figurines in the shape of various birds.
    “Damn it to hell,” Colin moaned through gritted teeth as he shoved the contents from the mantel with one swift motion, the delicate antiques crashing to the floor with an ear-piercing mixture of shattering porcelain and marble.
    Colin studied the wreckage, his fingers tightening around the now empty mantel. For years, he had devoted himself to amassing a fortune for the sole purpose of proving himself worthy of Eve Weston, and in the end it was hopeless.
    Damn it to hell! Why did I goad her?  
    He knew the answer all too well – Eve was betrothed to his younger brother and Colin knew himself well enough to realize that he would still want her, perhaps even attempt to take her away from Tristan. After everything Colin was capable of, destroying his brother’s happiness would pale in comparison to some of his other sins.
    Quite simply, he had eliminated the unavoidable temptation that he would no doubt feel. After all, if Eve despised him, it would be impossible for Colin to win her back.
    Colin’s heart hung heavy within his chest, laden with regrets. How could he watch Tristan and Eve wed, knowing all the while that his brother would be claiming the life that Colin himself so desperately sought?
    She loves Tristan.  
    He wanted it to be true yet, deep within his subconscious, lay a nagging suspicion that Eve did not love his brother.
    If she loved Tristan, would Eve have allowed Colin to take such liberties as he had today? An embrace or two, caresses of her cheek and neck, standing in such close proximity that they almost kissed were not the acts of a woman committed to another man.  
    Then there was her admission of love for Tristan. It caused Colin to remember her avowals of love to him years earlier. Her eyes danced as she spoke the words yet no