Still in My Heart Read Online Free PDF Page B

with awful certainty that they had shared more than just pillows.
     
     
Her clear skin flushed a deep rose, but she held his gaze. She looked so angry— angry with a touch of humiliation as she obviously remembered with perfect clarity what she had seen that made her reject him. He had thought Lydia had told her what happened. Why had Eleanor not told him this before?
     
     
"I saw the two of you together," she replied.
     
     
Brahm raised a brow. That statement could mean so much, especially in polite company— which he was not. "Together?" Before, after, or during?
     
     
The crimson of her cheeks deepened. Her entire neck and upper chest matched in hue. She was a proper lady, not used to such talk, and it was cruel of him to taunt her so, but since he had no memory of that night, hers would have to suffice for the both of them.
     
     
"You were naked," she informed him in a low, hoarse voice. "My sister was naked. And you were on top of her. Is that description enough for you, or do you wish me to continue? I assure you I remember every detail most acutely."
     
     
Brahm swallowed. The hurt in her voice bruised him. The accusation in her eyes stung. There was a hollow feeling in his chest, as though someone had reached in and pulled something out. He could not deny it because he didn't know anything different. If she had nothing but her sister's word, then there was a chance that he could deny it, both to himself and Eleanor, but if Eleanor had seen, then he had no other choice but to believe.
     
     
How could he have done something so awful to her? And how was he ever going to even begin to make amends for it?
     
     
"Eleanor, I am so sorry."
     
     
She made a scoffing noise. "Of course you are." But she didn't sound as if she believed it at all. "I have no idea why you are here, and I'm sure I do not care, but I am going to discuss this with my father, and he will rectify the situation." She thrust the crumpled invitation back at him, and after a moment's hesitation he took it.
     
     
Their gazes locked once more, and this time she was close enough that he could see himself in her eyes. He looked lost, stupefied, and very much like the blackguard she knew him to be.
     
     
"Until then, Lord Creed," she continued flatly, "please know that I have given you the explanation you sought and therefore owe you nothing."
     
     
Brahm could only watch as she swept from the room, her spine still so straight and regal, while his was surely slumped with shame.
     
     
No, Eleanor Durbane owed him nothing. But he certainly owed a great debt to her— one he had no idea in heaven how to even begin to repay.
     
     
    * * *
Eleanor stormed up the stairs to the next floor where her father's bedchamber was located, her sisters scurrying after her.
     
     
"What did he say?"
     
     
"What are you going to do?"
     
     
"Eleanor, say something!"
     
     
They were at the landing. To the left were the stairs to the family rooms. To the right were the stairs to the guest quarters. Eleanor spared Arabella the briefest glance as she willed her clenched jaw to relax enough to reply. "Papa invited him."
     
     
A collective gasp rose behind her as she neared the top of the stairs. Her sisters were, of course, suitably horrified. Eleanor, however, wasn't horrified. She felt hurt, confused, and more than a little betrayed. There was also a traitorous part that had leaped with excitement at the sight of him, but she wasn't going to address that now.
     
     
What the devil had her father been thinking?
     
     
Her father, like her sisters, didn't know the truth behind Eleanor's rejection of Brahm years before. Until today not even Brahm himself had known. She hadn't meant to reveal that she had seen him and Lydia engaged in their sordid liaison, but he had made her so angry. Normally she wasn't the kind to lose her temper, but Brahm Ryland brought out the worst in her.
     
     
He'd always held the ability to make her act out of character.