Evelyn’s breath caught ihroat. This was not the cold, arrogant duke she had spent months loathing. This was a man uripped of his pride, standing before her with nothing but raw, unguarded emotion.

  “Let me go, Damian,” she whispered, but her voice wavered.

  His fiightened around her wrist—not in force, but in silent desperation. His stray eyes searched hers, as if looking for something, anything, that would allow him to pull her closer instead of letting her slip away.

  “You don’t uand, do you?” His voice was rough, like he was fighting a battle within himself. “I thought hating you would be easier than this.”

  Evelyn swallowed hard. “And what is this?”

  Damian exhaled sharply, shaking his head as if the words burned his tohen, as if surrendering to an unseen force, he cupped her fa his hands, his touch agly gentle.

  “This,” he murmured, brushing his lips barely an inch from hers. “This madness you put me through. The way you e my every thought. The way I ’t bear the idea of another man looking at you the way I do.”

  Evelyn’s heart pounded. He was too close, his warmth intoxig, his voice threading into her very bones. But she refused to give in so easily.

  “You expect me to believe you?” she challehough her voice betrayed her.

  Damia out a low chuckle, but there was no humor in it—only resignation. “I don’t expeything, Evelyn,” he admitted, his thumb trag the curve of her cheek. “But whether you believe me or not doesn’t ge the truth.”

  He leaned in, just enough for her to feel the ghost of his breath against her lips. “I wao hate you,” he fessed. “But I ood a ce.”

  And with that, he did what he had been holding back for far too long—he kissed her.

  A kiss that was nothing like the cold, distant man she onew. It was deep, ing, and filled with a longing so inte left them both breathless.

  She should have pushed him away. She should have resisted.

  But instead, she found herself lost in him, in the fire that had burned between them for so long—ohat had finally, irrevocably, turned into something else.

  Somethiher of them could escape.

  Hi guys:) this is Adele _hill , how's the story so far , do ent below your reviews.