Free Unchanged by Heather Crews Page B

third person. He was a young man, good-looking in a bland way, with innocent hazel eyes and an eager-to-please air about him. Eve barely paid him attention and turned impatiently to her stepfather, waiting to hear what he could possibly have to say to her.
    "Eve, this is Cayden. I'm training him to be my assistant, since Jocelyn is hopeless with the lighthouse operations."
    "Oh," Eve said dully. It didn't matter to her who her stepfather trained and she didn't care about being polite either.
    Esmond turned to the boy. "What do you think?"
    "Yes, sir," Cayden said enthusiastically. His smile, though, appeared strained.
    Eve's eyes darted back and forth between the two of them as she struggled to understand. "What are you talking about?" she demanded acidly.
    Her stepfather looked much too comfortable and pleased with himself in the big leather chair behind his desk. He said, "Cayden has expressed an interest in marrying you, Eve. I've given my consent."
    His words stunned her. She groped for the right response and couldn't find it. "How could he have expressed an interest?" she finally cried. "He never even met me before now! This is your doing!"
    "Eve, please. Your conduct is very unbecoming of a lady."
    "I'm no lady! You've seen to that, haven't you?"
    On those words she stormed out of the room. Let him come up with a suitable explanation for her behavior!
    She couldn't fight anything he did. Tears burned her eyes. She had never hated Esmond Havelock more. By training Cayden as his assistant and arranging for him to marry Eve, he had ensured she would never be able to leave home. Well, Cayden might have been someone he could easily manipulate, but Eve certainly wouldn't be falling for his tricks any longer. She'd find a way out no matter what, even if it killed her—
    "Whoa!"
    The cry of amused surprise came just as Eve crashed into someone. She had stalked outside without any real aim and hadn't been paying attention to her surroundings. Quickly she blinked away her angry tears and looked up into the face of a man she'd never seen before. He was tall and pale with longish, unruly black curls. His eyes were dark and sparkled with silent laughter. She could discern these things and yet he seemed too oddly blurry for her to get a real sense of his appearance. She blamed it on the tears.
    "Who are you?" Eve demanded rudely.
    He smiled in way that might have been charming. "I am Merko."
    "How nice."
    She brushed past him and made her way into the trees. She found a fallen log and sat upon it, hands clutching her skirt. She didn't know what to do. She thought Ahaziel might come to her and offer some consolation. She began to think that impossible as murder seemed, it was better than nothing.
    From her perch she watched Esmond and Cayden emerge from around the front of the house and amble down the path to the lighthouse. Was it nearly dusk already? She glared at them and felt a new flare of rage.
    The crack of a twig drew her attention away from them. Had Ahaziel come? No, not Ahaziel. It was Merko, whoever he was. He had moved so stealthily she didn't notice him until he was upon her. She coolly narrowed her eyes at him. She didn't know why, since she'd barely met him, but she didn't like him at all.
    Merko didn't bother with pretense. "It makes you unhappy to know you're to marry that boy, does it not?"
    "How . . .?"
    "Never mind that."
    Who was this person? Oh, she didn't really care; she had too much else to worry about. She tossed her head arrogantly. "I'm not marrying him," she declared. She almost believed the claim herself.
    "Oh? Your stepfather seems to have a different idea.” He shrugged when she made no response. "You're waiting for Ahaziel," he guessed.
    Eve's eyes flicked to him. "How do you know Ahaziel?"
    "We're old acquaintances. You are in love with him, aren't you?"
    "No," she spat childishly. "I don't love anyone."
    The sun was quickly falling and she didn't want to be alone with Merko in the woods after dark.