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Sweet? Did I want him to think I was sweet? I dropped my lashes and reached for my drink. The wine was crisp and cool, helping tame the flush in my cheeks. Merrick was already deep in conversation with Osian’s parents, speaking Welsh quietly in the corner.
“So, you just graduated then?” Osian asked.
I turned in my chair to face him. His gaze traveled down, assessing me for the first time. Taking his painstaking time looking at my mouth, then my throat, and finally my breasts.
He was thinking about me naked. It was so obvious and he wasn’t even attempting to hide it. Heat flared in my belly and I looked away, embarrassed and shocked that he would be so blatant about checking me out.
“Yes,” I said, remembering he’d just asked me a question.
He dragged his eyes back up. “What are your plans now?”
“I guess, get married,” I said.
Was that the answer he was hoping for?
“No plans to use your degree?”
I shook my head. “I went to school for fun.”
He sat back, letting his arm rest on the back of my chair. “That’s a good girl.”
I felt my jaw drop, but I hurried to cover up my shock. Candice would absolutely loathe this man.
“Um…where did you go to school?”
“Duke for my undergrad,” he said. “I have an MBA.”
“Oh, I went to school in North Carolina too.”
“Really? Where?”
“Chapel Hill.”
“Really?” he said, his scarred brow lifting. “I’d have thought Merrick Llwyd could afford to send you to an Ivy League.”
“I got into one, but I wanted to go to Chapel Hill because I liked the setting better,” I explained. “I figured I could go wherever I wanted if I wasn’t planning on using the degree.”
He shrugged. “Makes sense.
There was a short silence where I felt his gaze once more move over me at a snail’s pace. Fixating on the tendril of hair by my ear. I knew I looked good in my dress, but I hadn’t expected such shameless attention. It was throwing me off, making me feel naked.
Not in a sexy way either. My body just felt so small under his gaze, like he had me laid out on the table ready to carve me to pieces.
I shifted awkwardly and my eyes fell on Merrick across the table. He had taken his jacket off and rolled up his sleeves to the elbow. It was hot in the corner of the room and the base of his throat was flushed.
His eyes fixed on Osian. Observing him closely as my future fiancé made his slow, bold perusal of my body. I’d never seen Merrick look like that.
Like there was something dark and dangerous bubbling just beneath the surface.
I shivered.
“You cold?” Osian asked.
“No, I’m good,” I said, offering a quick smile.
Osian stood, shrugging out of his jacket, and draped it over my shoulders. It smelled good, like him, but it didn’t help my anxiety. My heart pumped so loudly I could feel it all over my body. Osian sat and pushed his chair in, leaning close so his mouth was an inch from my ear.
“Does Merrick hate me?”
