The King's Bride By Arrangement - Annie West Page 0,48

the honey and sat back, curiously deflated. It wasn’t that she’d had an earth-shatteringly unique idea but that it had seemed a perfect use for a beautiful, neglected place.

The feeling of connection and partnership she’d begun to experience around Paul disintegrated under his frown.

‘It’s a very worthy proposal. I’ll think about it. In the meantime—’

‘Why don’t you approve?’

Paul noted that obstinately raised chin and clear, questioning gaze and knew Eva wouldn’t give up. It was her tenacious look.

He’d learned to respect it even if she chose the most inconvenient times to stand her ground. Such as these past weeks, sticking to her determination to avoid physical intimacy.

Maybe that was why he felt out of sorts. As if his skin didn’t fit any more. After weeks living under the same roof, Paul was more than ever conscious of Eva sleeping a corridor away. Thirty metres and five doors away, to be precise.

More than once he’d prowled the distance in the middle of the night, drawn to her by a longing so fierce, so all-consuming, it drove him crazy.

But, instead of tapping on the door and waiting for her husky invitation, he’d stand there, hands clenching and unclenching, shoulders high and senses on alert for any sign that she was awake and waiting for him. Then he’d turn silently away and trudge back to his room, or more often his study or the gym, since sleep would elude him.

Because he respected her right to say no.

Even though he was going slowly out of his mind with frustration and thwarted longing.

‘Paul?’

He blinked, focusing on bright eyes and parted lips. He recalled that moment when he leaned close, touching her shoulder, inhaling her fresh hyacinth scent, revelling in the fact she didn’t shy away. But it wasn’t nearly enough for a man raw with hunger.

‘It’s not a matter of approval. It’s just—’

‘You don’t like it.’

The light had gone out of her bright eyes, snuffed out by his inability to share her enthusiasm.

‘I’m considering it.’

She arched one eyebrow and waited, making him feel for the first time in years as if he had to explain himself.

Maybe he did. Eva knew a lot about his past but there was much he preferred to keep to himself. Territory he chose not to visit.

‘On the face of it, it’s an excellent idea.’

‘But you’re not happy about it. I thought you’d be pleased. The way you spoke about the lodge that night made it sound like you’d be happy to tear it down. I know it wouldn’t create an income stream but at least this way someone would get benefit from the place.’

Paul reached for his coffee, sipping it slowly as he considered what, if anything, to tell her.

‘You’re right,’ he said finally. ‘Far better that it gets used.’

Eva said nothing, just regarded him across her untouched meal. She looked as if she’d happily sit there all morning if that was what it took.

Paul drained his cup and put it down with a decisive click.

‘Look, it’s just me being selfish, okay? But I promise the proposal will be considered properly.’ In fact, it made so much sense he could just about guarantee the suggestion would become reality soon.

‘You’re not selfish.’

A huff of laughter escaped him. ‘Of course I am. I’m just like anyone else.’

Eva shook her head, the morning light picking out strands of honey and caramel in her hair. ‘You spend almost every waking hour working for your people, to help St Ancilla thrive. Your plan to release me from our engagement was for my benefit, and you’re even promising to return my dowry, despite the fact it wasn’t you who spent it. I’ve known you for years and have never seen you do a selfish thing yet.’

Paul stared at Eva, taken aback by her intensity as she leaned across the table.

‘You make me sound...’

He shook his head. Didn’t she realise what he’d done that night at the old lodge was pure selfishness? There’d been no noble holding back. One kiss was all it had taken for his vaunted control to drop, and he’d grabbed for what he wanted.

‘I’m no knight in shining armour, Eva. The simple fact is I think of the old lodge as my private place, and now I discover I don’t like sharing.’

‘I wondered if it might be something like that,’ she surprised him by saying. ‘You love it there so much?’

Love? The place had been a punishment then later a bolthole.

‘My attachment to the place is complicated.’

Eva folded her hands together on the