Too Dangerous to Desire (7 page)

nm

t was a warm afternoon. Evelyn grasped the soft blue fabric in her hands, cutting and stitching the material. She paused every so often to stare at the rhythmic swell of the water—her empty grave.

She should be at the bottom of the ocean right now, she reflected. Instead she was sitting on a grassy knoll, observing the waves and sandy beach, sewing drapes for Adam.

Adam.

Where was he? He had rushed off without a snippet of food. That had been a half hour ago. Was he all right?

But it was foolish for her to fret over him: a robust man who danced light with a sword. What danger could possibly befall him?

A figure darted through the garden, so quick Evelyn gasped and dropped her sewing. She searched the landscape once more, but the move
ment was gone.

He’s found me!

Her pulse thumped loud in her ears; it washed away the steady sound of the rolling tide. She stumbled across the grassy knoll, treaded quietly along the beach.

Where was Adam?

With care she watched the cottage, the sur
rounding garden for more life. But only a fresh sea breeze teased the leaves and caressed the flowers. Otherwise the terrain appeared still, peaceful.

But Evelyn knew better.
He
was hiding some
where. Skulking behind the woodshed. Or per
haps he had sneaked inside the house?

Each step shaky, she crossed the beach. She wanted to call out to Adam, but something stran
gled her voice, closed her throat.

Feet tangled, Evelyn tripped. Dazed, she stared at the pair of trousers twisted around her ankles.

Adam’s trousers.

Quickly she tossed the article of clothing aside and bounced to her feet. She was sweating. Shak
ing. The sight of more clothes—a shirt, leggings, boots—crushed her spirit.

He
had thrashed Adam.

The apparel was tossed across the sand in a wild fashion, ripped apart in the heat of a strug
gle. But where was Adam’s body?

“Adam!” she croaked.

Her voice so raw and tight, she had to struggle to breathe.

Adam was gone.

She was alone.

With
him
.

Evelyn started to move toward the ocean, her only means of escape. She retreated into the salty water; she was already doused with tears and sweat.

She ignored the strong current and the bark of the sea ordering her back to the beach. Only the thought of evading
him
filled her mind.

Evelyn maintained her steady backward march into the ocean. She still trained her wide eyes on the distant cottage, searching for the devil. But he remained elusive.

I won’t let you take me
, she thought.
I won’t suffer my sister’s fate!

Evelyn screamed as two thick arms circled her waist from behind and all but crushed her bones.

The sea roared, “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

Adam!

He hoisted her out of the water and climbed the steady ascent to land. He set her on the sand with unceremonious roughness before he grabbed her shoulders.

“Are you mad, Evie?!”

She gasped for breath, bemused. He was like a merman from the water, soaked and near nude. Only a set of drawers protected him from immodesty.

But Evelyn was too overcome with delight at the sight of him to notice the man’s lack of attire. “You’re alive.”

“Of course, I’m alive.” Adam’s stone blue eyes pierced her with a hard stare. “Why the devil would I be dead?”

“You’d disappeared.” She couldn’t see him very well through her tears, and blinked to clear away the moisture. “I saw your clothes tossed everywhere.”

“I went for a swim.”

“But I thought
he
had killed you.”

He cupped her cheeks in a firm hold. “Why would you think that?”

“Because he’s
here
!”

Adam bristled. “Where?”

“I don’t know; he’s hiding somewhere. But I saw him dash through the garden a minute ago.”

“Wait here.”

Adam started for the cottage.

She grabbed him by the forearm. “You can’t go back there! He’ll kill you!”

In a moment of panic, she didn’t think Adam
might actually defeat
him
. All she could think about was being alone—again—if anything hap
pened to Adam.

“Don’t worry about me.” He pressed a finger against her nose. “And
don’t
wade in the water again.”

Evelyn watched him bound across the beach. As he neared the cottage, he hunkered and moved across the terrain with more stealth before he van
ished behind a cluster of bushes.

She dropped to her knees, muscles weak. Her heart thumped wildly, every beat a sharp pang. She pressed her fingers to her lips to keep the sobs away.

And then the crushing pressure squeezing her breast lifted.

Adam appeared. He sauntered across the beach with a confident gait . . . a stray dog at his heels.

At first Evelyn didn’t understand the appear
ance of the animal, her mind still gripped with images of
him
. But as Adam and the beast ap
proached, her thoughts scrambled and formed a new conclusion: she had witnessed the
dog
dart across the garden.

Evelyn dropped her head in bewilderment. Was it right to laugh at her own folly? Or should she weep? She did both.

The lost mutt was spooked by her cries and choking laughter, and soon wandered off again. But Adam maintained a steady advance.

With the threat to her person no more, Evelyn took a moment to reflect upon the movement of muscle heading straight for her. With little attire to cloak his masculine form, Adam was like his namesake coming from the garden in glorious virtue.

Evelyn wiped the tears from her eyes. She had never observed a man in an improper way. The impulse to do so had never crossed her mind. In truth, she had done her best to avoid the male sex for most of her life.

And yet she was struck by Adam’s virility. Her heart beat at a swift tempo, though the panic in her breast was gone. It beat now for another, more sensuous, reason.

Adam dropped to his knees in front of her and took her cheeks between the large palms of his hands. “You
are
mad, aren’t you, woman?”

“No, I thought . . .”

Words deserted her. The energy, the sinewy strength thrumming through him was potent and easy to feel, and it stirred her senses and scram
bled her wits.

“I know what you thought, Evie.”

He leaned in.

The proximity to his lips was intoxicating; she could not take her eyes off his sensual mouth.

“But if you ever go near the water again, I’ll drown you myself.”

Hardly the comforting words she had expected to hear from him. But then again, she had noticed he had a tendency to become irate whenever she neared the ocean.

Adam set off to collect his scattered clothing.

Bemused, Evelyn tried to gather her own scat
tered senses, to sort out the peculiar loss she was suffering at his separation. But her eyes, her thoughts shifted to Adam once more.

He snatched his trousers from the beach and stepped into the pair with a jerking movement. She might have been alarmed by his clear vexa
tion, if she wasn’t so distracted by the sight of his sturdy legs.

A shameful inclination to press her fingers over his strapping limbs consumed her. A sudden desire to know him more intimately possessed her. She beat back the alarming and inexplicable pas
sions, tried to put her thoughts to right. But when he next stretched his thick arms above his head, the muscles across his chest and belly elongating, and yanked the shirt over his midriff, she couldn’t prevent the breath of disappointment at seeing him covered from passing between her lips.

Briskly he returned to her side and tugged at her arm. “Let’s go.”

She was still flustered and a bit shaky after ad
miring him dress, but she scrambled to her feet. “Where are we going?”

He dragged her. “To the cliff.”

nm

balmy breeze teased Evelyn’s skin, as she took in the salty tang of ocean air. “Why are we here?”

“Because this is where I first spotted you.”

Adam stood beside her on the cliff in rumpled attire. He had hauled her up the mountain so quickly, he hadn’t the opportunity to tuck in his shirt. The hardy hike had also put a deep glow in his already bronzed skin and a pulsing life in his eyes.

Her heart pulsed, too: the effect of being so close to him. Why did he shake her senses so?

Together they overlooked the vast and restless ocean.

“You were more afraid of
him
than death two days ago.” With a firm hand, Adam tipped her chin upward. “Are you going to run to the sea every time you see a shadow or hear a knock at the door?”

She turned away from him, a great upheaval in her soul. “You don’t understand, Adam.”

“Then make me understand.”

He stood behind her, all brawn. It was so easy for him to confront his troubles, she thought. He had a hammer for a fist and could crush his adversary with little effort. She didn’t even have the strength of mind to defeat
him
in her nightmares.

“You can ease your fears, Evie.”

She was restless like the ocean. “How?”

“Admit them aloud; they won’t have such power over you then.”

“It sounds too simple.”

He squeezed her shoulder. “It’s a start.”

The man’s comforting caress made her shiver with inexplicable delight. She was still baffled by her peculiar response to his often innocent touch.

But she was also encouraged by it.

“I don’t know where to begin,” she said. The past few years of her life had been a whirlwind of confusion. She was strapped for words.

“Start at the beginning,” he said in a low voice. “Where are your parents?”

With a heavy breath, she sorted through her chaotic thoughts to admit: “My mother is dead.”

“And your father?”

“After my mother’s demise, Father took to his
room. He rarely ventured out, he was so cheer less.” She reached for the pendant at her throat and twisted her fingers around the gold heart. “He started to drink.”

Evelyn remembered the inebriated hollers of madness every night, the foxed footsteps of a grief-filled husband, trolling the house in search of a wife’s lost ghost.

“He started to gamble, too,” she said.

And then life turned really bleak. The comforts Evelyn and her sister, Ella, had grown accustomed to started to vanish, one by one, the deeper their father descended into debt.

“It wasn’t long before we had very little left. A leaky roof, really.”

“And you had to let the servants go?” he guessed. “Like your cook, Mrs. MacFaden?”

“Father could not afford to pay her anymore. Ella and I tended to household chores after that.”

“So that’s why you can cook?”

“And sew.”

“And chop wood?”

Evelyn shrugged. “Someone had to do it.”

Adam stepped forward, meeting her gaze. “You lived a comfortable life before your mother died and your father took to gambling, didn’t you?”

She drew solace from the look of understand
ing in his eyes. “Yes, but Father didn’t want to live in poverty anymore.”

“Did he stop gambling?”

“No . . . he sold Ella.”

Adam took in a sharp breath. “He did
what
?”

Evelyn swallowed the sob slowly forming in her throat. “Father met a rich foreigner who liked unique beauty.”

“Him?
”

She nodded. “He offered to pay off Fa-ther’s gaming debt in return for Ella’s hand in marriage.”

“Who is
he
, Evie? Tell me his name.”

It was like summoning a curse, his name. But she gathered her valor and whispered: “Vadik.”

For a moment she believed Vadik might appear, but she soon dismissed the wild thought as ridic
ulous fancy. Yet still her fingers trembled.

“Vadik took Ella to his home on the continent. I last saw my sister on her wedding day, three years ago.”

“Did she write?”

“Sometimes . . . but she had to sneak the letters to the post. Vadik did not want her to commu
nicate with me or our father. Not that our father cared about Ella. Only I cared.”

“Your father continued to drink?”

“And gamble. He pretended Ella was happily wed and never mentioned her name again.” A sharp cramp seized Evelyn’s heart. “Ella’s letters were so gloomy. She was in such pain.”

The tears spilled at last.

“And there was nothing I could do to help her,” she sobbed. “I had no money to travel abroad and sneak a visit with her. Father never offered me a coin; he’d gambled most of it away a second time. And there was no one I could ask for help. I had no other family or friends. After my mother died and my father turned wild, all respectable com
pany deserted us. I was alone.”

Adam wiped the dampness from her cheeks with the pads of his thumbs.

Why
did
his touch bring her such comfort? Ella’s letters had been so grisly. A man’s touch was sup
posed to be foul . . . but Adam’s was not.

She took in a shaky breath and swallowed the last of her tears. “Vadik mistreated Ella in a very vile way. But Ella still protected me; she informed me of his character and warned me to avoid him should anything happen to her.”

“And something did happen?”

“Her last letter was a good-bye; she feared for her life. She mailed me her half of the heart and counseled me to be brave, to run away if I had to. But I was to stay away from
him
at all cost.”

“What does Vadik want with you?”

The crashing surf below matched the flurry of thoughts in her head. “He wants me to replace his late wife.”

Adam’s jaw hardened. “He wants to
marry
you?”

“Yes,” she whispered, voice quivering.

After a respectable period of mourning had passed, a letter had arrived from Vadik. In it he’d announced he was coming to England for a friendly visit. But Evelyn knew the real reason for his trip to the island. Ella had cautioned her about the man’s
obsession
with beauty.

“That’s why I ran away,” she said. “That’s why I came here to the cliff.”

“I understand, Evie.”

“I
don’t
want to be with him, Adam. I
don’t
want to endure what my sister endured. Her letters . . . they were so ghastly.”

He stepped even closer to her. She was over
whelmed by the strength he possessed—the strength she very much lacked.

“You’re safe from him here, Evie.”

But she wasn’t so sure about that. “Vadik is rich and powerful, with many servants to do his bid
ding. Henchmen, really. I live but ten miles from here; I know they’re looking for me right now. I don’t think I will ever be safe.”

“Did you leave a note, confessing your inten
tion to drown in the sea?”

“No.”

“Then don’t panic. If the henchmen are looking for you, there are many miles to cover in many directions. You
are
safe.”

She gazed into his soulful eyes, so determined. What fuelled his dogged assurances? His confi
dence? What provoked his passion so?

“What about your father?” said Adam. “He might be a drunkard, but surely he will not let
another
daughter die at the hands of a villain?”

A choking laugh. “Father is always searching for more money so he can gamble. He already consented to the betrothal with Vadik. We are to celebrate our engagement tomorrow night.”

The depth of anger in Adam’s voice was stag
gering. “But he murdered your sister!”

“No one believes Vadik killed her. It was pur
ported she had died in a riding accident. But I know the truth. Only I read Ella’s letters.”

Adam approached the precipice in clear agita
tion. “He’s your brother-in-law, though. He cannot lawfully wed you.”

“In England, no. But there’s no such law pro
hibiting the union in his home country. We’re to announce our engagement in England, then sail to the continent for the wedding.”

“That’s
not
going to happen.”

Evelyn wanted to believe him, but . . . “I can’t hide here forever.”

She was not his kin. He had no real obligation toward her. True, he had promised to protect her, but he had made the rash vow in the emotional af
termath of their first stormy encounter. He wasn’t going to give her shelter forever. She had already intruded upon his life, and one day she would have to leave, allow him to return to his comfort able existence.

Adam was quiet for an unpleasant moment before he said, “You’re right; you can’t stay here forever.”

Her heart pinched.

“I’m a widower. And you belong with a proper chaperone.” He returned to her side, his gaze thoughtful. “You deserve a fitting home. A place where you can live in comfort and security.”

She expected him to say that. She didn’t expect the crushing sensation in her breast, though. She didn’t understand it, either.

“But we don’t have to think about that right now,” he assured her. “You are safe from Vadik here. And while you are here, I want you to learn how to fight.”

Evelyn wasn’t so sure she
could
learn. “Ella always took care of me.” She let out a sigh, lighter in her heart for having confessed her ordeal. “I miss my sister so much. I feel lost without her.”

“I understand.”

“Do you? Do you feel lost without your brother?”

Adam looked back out to sea. The sun’s crimson rays caressed his tanned skin, his woeful eyes.

Evelyn could sense the deep turmoil in his soul. It pained him to think about his dead brother. She wanted to ask him more about his sibling, but she sensed he wasn’t ready to confess his heartache yet.

“Yes, I feel lost,” he admitted quietly. He looked back at her with those piercing blue eyes. “Come. Let’s return to the cottage.”