Still in My Heart Read Online Free PDF

and Eleanor. "If Eleanor wants us to leave, we must respect that."
     
     
Yes! Alone with Eleanor. It was a small victory, but a victory all the same.
     
     
Arabella's hand went to Eleanor's shoulder. "We will be in the corridor if you need us."
     
     
Apparently Eleanor wasn't going to be the one to look away first either. She held his gaze as she covered the hand on her shoulder with her own. "Thank you, Bella."
     
     
The three Durbane sisters each shot him a look of warning as they reluctantly left Eleanor's side. Thank God Lydia hadn't been present. Her presence would have been a barb for both him and Eleanor— and might have made it all the easier for Eleanor to toss him out on his arse.
     
     
Brahm didn't look at the sisters as they filed out, but he knew the minute they were gone— not because he heard the door close, but because the air thickened when he and Eleanor were left alone. Suddenly his mouth became a little dry and the skin beneath his collar a little damp.
     
     
He opened his mouth to speak, uncertain of what to say.
     
     
Eleanor beat him to it. "You were not invited to this party."
     
     
Brahm closed his mouth and tried again. "I was." It wasn't as eloquent a statement as it could have been, but it served its purpose.
     
     
Her slender arms folded across her chest. Did she realize that belligerent pose pushed her breasts upward in a most enticing manner? Probably not. "Prove it."
     
     
He slipped his hand inside his jacket and withdrew the invitation. He paused before giving it to her, enjoying the heightened emotions playing across her face as she waited. When he offered it, she snatched it from him as though she was afraid his touch might burn. He should have been offended, but he wasn't.
     
     
She had to lower her gaze from his to read the invitation, something she was loath to do, he could tell. What did she think he was going to do, pounce on her while her attention was diverted? It wasn't an entirely unpleasant thought, but he preferred willing flesh to unwilling. And he wanted Eleanor willing. So willing he was ashamed of it.
     
     
The vellum crumpled in her fingers as the hands holding it clenched into fists. She knew his claim was true. He had been invited. Someone other than he had betrayed her this time.
     
     
Those silvered blue eyes flashed, almost blinding him with the force of their emotion as her gaze snapped to his. "How dare you accept."
     
     
Brahm chuckled. He couldn't help it. Did she honestly think that he could have refused such an opportunity? "It would have been rude of me not to."
     
     
"It was cruel of you otherwise." A catch in her voice sliced at his heart and robbed him of his smile. "I never told anyone what a blackguard you are, and this is how you repay me?"
     
     
Repay her? Did she expect him to believe that he had been the one she sought to protect?
     
     
"If you want retribution for your silence, then speak to your sister. I neither expected nor asked for your secrecy. The only thing I owe you is an apology, which I am here to give."
     
     
She looked as though she might choke. "An apology? After all these years? I do not want it. I would not believe it."
     
     
"What about what you owe to me?"
     
     
Eyes widened, then narrowed to angry slits. "I owe you nothing." The words fairly seethed out of her.
     
     
Did she not? A few moments ago he might have believed that, but heightened emotion now had him thinking otherwise. "You owe me the chance to explain. You never gave me that when you broke our engagement."
     
     
"Explain?" A quick glance at the door lowered her tone. "There was nothing to explain. I know what you did."
     
     
"You know what your sister told you."
     
     
She took a lurching step forward, as though she wanted to strike him but managed to stop herself just in time. "I know what I saw ."
     
     
Saw? Oh dear God. "What did you see?" He had no memory of that night, nothing except waking up beside Lydia and knowing