Chapter 27

The rest of the ball passed by in a whirl.

Colin did not approach Alice again, although he continued to watch her from the side. She could feel his heated gaze on her the whole night. When she glanced back at him, his lips would tilt up in an almost imperceptible smile.

It was just like he was the hunter, and she, his hapless prey. Wherever she turned, she would always find herself being drawn to him.

It was maddening. It was thrilling.

Eventually, the revelries dwindled, and the guests began to make their way back to their rooms one by one. Alice, Phoebe, and their friends had been among the last to leave—her sister because she was having too much fun with their friends, and Alice because she was still nervous about what lay before her.

Thankfully, Ethan only danced once with her as was proper. He claimed that he did not care much for dancing, even joking slightly that he much preferred to talk to young ladies away from the loud music, although she did catch him dancing with Phoebe once.

Her sister, who had always been the picture of a graceful young debutante, appeared flustered for once, and Alice was worried that Ethan might have said something slightly inappropriate for her to react so. She would have to ask Phoebe about it tomorrow.

For now, she was getting ready for bed, and her heart was pounding so loudly that she feared it was going to beat right out of her chest.

"It is done, M'Lady."

She watched as the maid set aside the silver-backed brush she had used on Alice's hair. She stepped away slightly and asked if there was anything else she needed.

Alice shook her head. "That is all for tonight. You may leave."

"I shall be back in the morning, M'Lady."

"Yes, thank you."

Alice faked a delicate yawn behind her hand as she walked to the canopied bed. She lay on the cool covers, staring up at the canopy for a while as she listened to the maid open and close the door behind her. Moments later, the footfalls in the hallway faded until she could no longer hear them.

Almost as soon as quiet descended on the hallway, she threw the covers back and sat up. Everyone should have gone to bed now. If she went to Colin's room, would anybody notice?

Alice fell back on the bed and waited for a little while longer, just to be sure.

As she lay there, she thought of the events of the past week—from their very first meeting up to when he pulled her close to him in the ballroom just a few hours earlier.

Mine, he had called her, and it had thrilled her endlessly.

But for all that Ethan told her that she was someone Colin had needed all his life, he had never told her that. He did say he wanted her. He had shown her as much.

But was it enough for him to do the right thing and make their fake betrothal a real one? Alice was not so sure.

All she knew was that this could not carry on any longer. This push and pull between them, this fierce yearning in the face of his cool aloofness—it was simply setting the stage for a great heartache.

She could rush headlong into everything and pray for the best, but she knew that she could not carry on pretending anymore. Lying had never been her strongest suit. She had even told Colin that she was an awful liar.

She sat back up, her hands balling into fists.

No more.

Colin might enjoy this little game between them, but Alice knew that she could not hold on any longer. If he was not going to break this farce between them, then she would.

What if he tells everyone that I was the one who wanted to climb into his bed? That I was the one who sneakedinto the Blackthorn Estate?

She shook her head at that. If he had no evidence of that encounter, then she could simply deny it.

Deny, deny, deny.

What she could not deny was the turmoil that she now found herself in—that she had no wish to endure for much longer.

Quietly, she got out of bed and slipped her feet into the silken slippers that had been set aside for her use. She took one of the candles and slowly opened her door. The hallway stretched before her, dark and empty. If she blew out the candle, she would not be able to see much of anything.

Would it be safer, then, to hurry over to Colin under the cover of near-complete darkness?

Her hands were shaking so badly that she nearly dropped her candle as she raised one hand to knock softly on his door. Before her fist could fall on the smooth wood, however, the door suddenly swung open, and she felt herself being pulled inward. In the slight scuffle, the fragile dancing flame of her candle was snuffed out, plunging the hallway into darkness.

"Where have you been, little lamb? I have been waiting for you…"

His voice, warm and dark and rich, slid over her senses, and she shivered a little. She raised her hands up to brace herself and found her palms pressing against his warm, solid chest.

She frowned. "We need to talk."

He pulled away from her, his dark eyebrows snapping together. His earlier smirk was gone, and in its place, his mouth was pressed into a grim line.

"About what?" he asked flatly.

She shook her head, stepping away from him, away from the maddening effect he had on her. She stretched her arm out, keeping him at a distance, but she knew it was not enough.

It would never be enough.

There was no place far enough from him where she could escape the torment he brought her.

"About our betrothal," she whispered brokenly. "Our fake betrothal."

His expression cooled, his eyes becoming like dark chips of ice. "What about it?"

"We have to end it," she told him. "I… It is only hurting us both, and I cannot stay like this any longer!"

The last few words came out in a rush, bringing with them all the tense longing and unfulfilled wishes of her heart. She looked up at him, and the shuttered look in his eyes stabbed her chest much more painfully than any dagger could.

"You are right," he said in a cool voice. "We are far too different to suit each other."

She wanted to yell and contradict him. To tell him that even if they were as different as night and day, she yearned for him as much as the darkness yearned for the light. That she would dance too close to the sun for him if he could reciprocate even a tenth of that longing.

But Colin was a Wolf, and in his eyes, she was probably no different from all the other women he had had before her. It hurt her, but Alice knew that she must part with him before the damage grew greater.

Before it became irreparable for both of them.

"I… I am glad that you understand," she finally choked out.

"Oh, I can understand your dilemma quite well." He stepped around her, his narrowed gaze on her. "After all, your main purpose for this betrothal was to find a more suitable match, was it not?"

Alice frowned, taking a step back. "That is not what I was saying?—"

He reached out and tilted her chin up so that she would meet his fierce gaze. "Oh, I know very well that I may not be the sort of husband you had in mind. So… who is it, then? Who do you think would be better than me?" He paused and allowed a feral smile to tug at his lips. "Ethan, perhaps?"

"You are mad!" She choked on her nervous laughter, backing towards the door as she looked at him with wide eyes. "You must be going insane!"

He stepped towards her, his long legs eating up the meager distance she managed to put between them. "For you," he breathed hoarsely. "Yes, I am mad. For you, Alice."

Her back hit the door, and she looked up at him, his eyes glazed with lust as he devoured her with his gaze alone. She felt her body heat up with that look, felt herself coil and uncoil, felt the pulsing and the beating and the fierce, fierce longing to feel his hands on her once more.

He braced his hands on either side of the door as he stared at her, his pupils dilating until she could hardly see the blue in them.

"I am going insane with want, and I cannot stay away any longer," he rasped against her cheek. "I am going to make you mine tonight, little lamb. Just for tonight."

"You—"

Her words were cut off when his mouth crashed onto hers in a fierce kiss that stole her words and breath away. She threw her arms around him as the passion she felt for him razed all sense and logic to the ground.

She kissed him back in wild abandon, her blood singing as his tongue thrust into her mouth. His muscled body pressed against hers, caging her between his hardness and that of the door.

She moaned into the kiss, her fingers spearing into his hair as she pressed herself closer to him. She had been longing for this ever since he had touched her so intimately in his study, had wanted him to touch and brand her in a way that only he could. Wanted him to imprint himself on her until there was no doubt that she was his.

Breathless, they gazed at each other, acknowledging the wild passion that flared hot and white between them.

"Just for tonight," she murmured.

He smiled at her, pulling her flush against his hard body, his fingers digging into the soft flesh of her hip.

"Just for tonight."