He stood in the gallery doorway, immaculately attired in a charcoal suit that hugged his broad shoulders. His face was its usual mask of cool reserve, but his eyes… His eyes cast across the room like an animal, fixed on us. On me in Julian's arms, in the dress that shouted rebellion. On Julian's hand on my back, possessive and unapologetic.
The mask slipped. For a moment. A burst of clean, untainted surprise, followed by a wave of darkness that swept over his face. His jaw clenched, a muscle twitching in his cheek. His eyes, when at last they met mine across the room, weren't cold remoteness now. They were a storm of rage, jealousy, and something else, something primal and possessive that stole my breath. It was a look that incinerated the carefully constructed ice over my heart, igniting a lethal flash of recognition. The chemistry between us, always liable to explode, now crackled like live electrical wires through the air between us, thick with betrayal and an inescapable, hateful
