Page 2 of How to Seduce a Duke this Autumn
Without a second thought, she gripped it tightly and swung. The crack of porcelain meeting flesh rang out like thunder in the enclosed room.
David staggered backward, a guttural snarl of pain erupting from him as he clutched his face. Crimson seeped through his fingers, where a jagged shard had drawn blood, leaving a small but glaring gash. His eyes blazed with fury, and his lips twisted, revealing the uneven edge of a broken tooth.
Charlene gasped, stumbling back. Her chest heaved as she fought for air, her trembling hands still gripping the jagged remnants of the shattered vase.
David staggered back, one hand clutching his bleeding face, rage flashing in his dark eyes. Charlene barely had time to catch her breath, the jagged edge of the vase still trembling in her hand, when a sharp voice roared through the suffocating stillness.
“Hey!”
The single word struck like a bullet. Charlene whirled, her heart slamming against her ribs as her gaze fixed on the figure in the doorway.
It was Adam.
He stood tall and unyielding, the firelight casting sharp angles across his face. His dark hair, charmingly disheveled even now, shadowed eyes that burned with an intensity that pinned her to the spot. But it wasn’t just anger in his stormy gaze; it was disbelief. Shock.
Charlene’s stomach twisted.
No. He can’t see this. Not like this.
The thought screamed through her head as shame and panic crashed over her. Her lips still burned where David had kissed her.She was compromised. By David. Oh, please no!
“Adam,” she managed, her voice a hoarse rasp.
His focus didn’t waver. His gaze flicked from her disheveled dress and trembling hands to David’s bloodied face. And then back to her, as if the answers to his unspoken questions were etched on every inch of her.
“What is happening here?” His voice was like a whip, cutting through the moment. He took a step forward, his broad shoulders blocking the doorway, commanding every ounce of attention in the room.
Charlene opened her mouth, but no words came out. Her knees shook, and she stumbled back, clutching the settee for support, her mind racing but offering no explanation.
David, still clutching his face, straightened just enough to sneer, blood smearing his teeth as he spoke. “A misunderstanding, brother,” he said, his tone dripping venom. “No need to swoop in like a knight. Charlene and I were merely… sorting things out.”
Adam’s expression darkened as his gaze snapped to David, a muscle ticking in his jaw. “Sorting things out? That’s what you call this?”
David’s smirk faltered, the tension pulsing like a living thing between them. But Charlene couldn’t take her eyes off Adam. The man she had longed for, the man she could never stop thinking about, was here. And he’d seen her at her most vulnerable.
Her voice finally broke through, weak and trembling. “Adam, I—”
“Enough.” His tone left no room for argument, his eyes locking onto hers with a force that made her chest tighten. “We’ll deal with this.” He didn’t say how, but the promise in his voice was unshakable, lethal.
The room crackled with silence as Adam’s presence seemed to suck all the air from it. Charlene couldn’t look away from him, her heart hammering as the moment stretched unbearably. Her world had just unraveled, and Adam was the one witness to every broken piece.
*
Just outside thedrawing room…
Adam stepped into the front hall of the evening’s ball, his boots clicking against the polished tiles as he drew in a deep breath. After a grueling year away at university, he was finally home. The calm familiarity of this place should have eased the persistent tension in his chest. But tonight, it didn’t.
He had left for university full of guilt and uncertainty about Charlene. Now, he returned with a degree, a newfound sense of purpose, and a single resolve—to tell her the truth. The truth he had swallowed down for years.
I love you. With all my heart.
Always have.
Yet as he arrived, something felt amiss. Mother assured him earlier that Charlene would be at the ball. But there had been no sign of her. Nor David.
David. His brother’s schemes always left a sour taste in Adam’s mouth. A low dread crept in.
Adam stopped outside the library door. From within came muffled voices, and his stomach turned to ice when he recognized them. David’s familiar, mocking tone. And Charlene’s voice.
