Total pages in book: 151
Estimated words: 142976 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 715(@200wpm)___ 572(@250wpm)___ 477(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 142976 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 715(@200wpm)___ 572(@250wpm)___ 477(@300wpm)
Caught staring, Cade offered her a wry grin, hoping she’d accept the silently offered apology but alarm flared in her gaze and she immediately diverted her eyes. Thrown by that response, Cade frowned. He wasn’t accustomed to being so blatantly snubbed.
How… interesting.
He downed his drink and set the glass on a passing tray, snatching up two more flutes in a smooth movement, before sauntering over to where the woman had partially sidled behind one of the heavy overly ornate brocade drapes. Cade slid in next to her, and she gasped as her eyes snapped up to meet his behind the gloom of the curtains.
“Hey, hope you don’t mind sharing your hiding place? I could use a breather from that crowd.”
Despite the gloom behind the drapes, there was enough light filtering in for him to see her lush lips part on a soundless oh, while she continued to blink up at him in mounting alarm. Aware that he’d boxed her in—the wall on her left, a window behind her—Cade was careful to keep a few inches of space between them.
He lifted the second glass of bubbly, holding it up to her with a placating smile.
“Thirsty?”
She took the glass but maintained her silence.
He tilted his glass toward hers, clinking them together in a show of camaraderie before taking a sip.
It was musty back here, the dust tickled his sinuses, threatening a sneeze.
“You’re Niall Hawthorne,” she said, her eyes still glued on his face, her gaze oddly intent and probing. A frown furrowed her smooth forehead and wrinkled her dark eyebrows.
He watched her for a beat, not liking the sound of that name on her pretty lips, and made a snap decision.
“Cade,” he corrected, taking another drink, successfully stifling the urge to sneeze.
She looked confused. Who could blame her? He felt a little confused himself, not entirely certain why he’d asked her to call him that.
“What?”
“I prefer Cade. Only the people I like”—of which there were few—“call me Cade.”
“Your family calls you Niall. Don’t you like them?”
His lips twisted into a bitter smile. His family—well his siblings anyway—hadn’t always called him Niall. That they now did had always felt like a betrayal to him.
“Oh, I love them very much but sometimes I’m hard-pressed to like them.”
She tugged her pink lower lip between small, even white teeth and nodded.
“I get it,” she offered in a small voice, her somber gaze never wavering from his face.
She took a tentative sip from her glass and continued to stare at him pensively.
He didn’t push for details, instead he leaned back against the cool glass of the window behind them and stared at the deep green fabric of the drapes. The ostentatious, overly embellished gold pelmets above them were boxy and pushed the curtains far enough from the wall and window to give them a cozy, private nook. Back here the sounds of the party were muffled enough to make them feel like they were far removed from everyone else.
“Why’re you hiding here?” he asked and watched in fascination as color bloomed from beneath the high collar of her dress, up into her face.
“I’m not hiding.”
He lifted a skeptical brow and swept his pointed gaze around their gloomy, fabric hidey hole, before bringing his eyes back to her flushed face.
“Well, I wasn’t hiding until you did that thing.”
He lifted his brows and she averted her gaze, stubbornly staring straight ahead at nothing. Cade canted his head as he inspected her profile.
“What thing?”
“You stared at me like you meant to talk to me.”
He felt his lips twitch, and he choked back a chuckle.
“And what was so wrong with that?”
“I didn’t want to talk to you.”
“Aah. And yet now you are.”
“Like I have a choice,” she grumbled.
“You do,” he told her gently. “We could just stand here in silence.”
Her eyes fluttered back to his face, uncertainty flickering in those grave gray depths.
“Really?”
“Sure… but before we descend into said silence, you mind telling me why you don’t want to speak with me?”
She shook her head.
“What about your name? Is that something you’d feel comfortable divulging?”
She hesitated and then shifted from foot to foot. Cade expected her to flatly refuse but she surprised him when she said, her voice no louder than a whisper, “Fern.”
He liked the name, it suited her. Delicate and somewhat unique, but also completely without artifice.
“Fern? Nice to meet you.”
“This isn’t a meeting. It’s an encounter.”
Cade smiled. He wasn’t sure what he’d expected from the seemingly quiet and shy woman in the corner, but this tartness certainly wasn’t it. Something in the way she carried herself—tried to hide herself—had told him to expect timidity, fear maybe. But she wasn’t afraid of him… and he liked that.
“Shouldn’t you be hosting or something?” Her question was pointed, and his smile broadened at her prickliness.
“Nah, I just show up to these things, stay where they put me, smile when I have to, and escape as soon as humanly possible.”