In all his life Mikhail had never been so tempted by beauty.
Tested by a smile.
Beguiled by a scent.
Enchanted by nervous laughter.
He didn’t appreciate his visceral reaction to her; in truth it made him wary that someone was capable of making the walls he had so ruthlessly built tremble, but he felt helpless to stop the cravings erupting inside him. If he had believed in such nonsense, Mikhail would have thought the desperate clenching sensation roaring to life inside was him falling into love.
An utterly implausible state he had no desire to suffer, considering he would never be able to allow one of the most crucial, intrinsic, and necessary desires between lovers.
Mutual touch.
Chapter Four
“You wish to remain secreted from society for several weeks?”
Prince Alexander Mikhail Konstantinovich, the Count of Montgomery and the Duke of Avondale—Mikhail to his close friends and family—stared at the surprised and irritated face of his most trustworthy confidant and cousin, Sebastian Thornton, the Duke of Calydon. It was not a common occurrence for Mikhail to surprise his normally unflappable cousin. Far from it. But the expressions that raced across the man’s face suggested Mikhail had said he wished to visit a brothel—a place Mikhail had an acute distaste for. “Yes.”
“Why?”
Tension stole through Mikhail. “You know the reasons.”
His cousin was aware of Mikhail’s aversion to scandal and the whispers that could sneak behind the rigid armor he’d built around his life and pierce him when he least expected.
Calydon grunted. “You walked away from Princess Tatiana in a crowded ballroom with her clinging to your sleeves and crying. Heartless, cold, a miscreant, vile seducer of innocence, debauched rake are a few of the words Aunt Josephine told me you were called. The princess is shamelessly insisting you compromised her, and her family is expecting a wedding.” Calydon scrubbed a hand over his face, anger snapping in his eyes. “You are the Duke of Avondale, whom all of London is so blasted eager to meet. When you asked me yesterday not to introduce you, I thought you meant for a day or two, not weeks,” he ended on a near growl.
Mikhail remained silent.
“And what of your ambitions to find a wife? The mammas of the marriage mart will happily throw balls and parties in your honor, and the leading belles of the haute monde will present themselves.”
Mikhail arched a brow. “I have no such ambition; it is father’s hope.” A humorless chuckle rolled through him. “In time I will marry. I know my duty to my lands and titles.”
Though I may have very well found a woman I could marry. He stiffened, a jerk of shock punching him at his unbidden thought. It seemed Payton Peppiwell was firmly lodged in his subconscious. Never was it more apparent he could not blame the prick in his iron control on the two shots of vodka and three glasses of brandy he’d indulged.
Calydon leaned forward, planting his elbows on his desk. “And what of Princess Tatiana? Your father’s health will not stand up to you not repairing the damage in your relationship. You know he has long dreamed of an alliance between the Konstantinoviches and the Kraznovses.”
Mikhail’s father had a heart condition, and he used it to try and manipulate Mikhail shamelessly. While he normally indulged his father, he would not marry a woman simply because the Dvoryanstvo demanded it. “She is ruined by her own actions. She has claimed I seduced her when she knows it is not so. Father loves Princess Tatiana as he would his own daughter. Her brother, Prince Kirill, is one of my closest friends, but I will not be pressured into marriage because she tried to force my hand. She is insisting she is enceinte with my child, but I never touched her. I suspect she may very well be, but the culprit is without wealth and would be unsuitable.”
The desperate, tear-filled face of Princess Tatiana floated through his mind. “My father wanted our union because he desires to see me with a wife and children. But when I do take such a step, it will be because I decide it,” Mikhail said flatly.
Calydon grimaced. “I know all too well how difficult it is to accept the betrayal of someone for whom you held affections. Princess Tatiana is a family friend. I urge you to not let her foolish actions embitter you.”
Mikhail stilled. He was already hardened; he doubted there was room for any other emotions to worm their way into his heart.
Have your forgotten this morning so soon? His conscience prodded. The memory of laughing dark eyes surfaced. There was a void in his soul, and he swore that for the first time in years, while bantering with Payton, he had felt a bit of peace. The notion was absolutely ludicrous…and frightfully intriguing.