Chapter 5: A Dangerous Temptation

The book Sebastian had given her sat in Eleanor's lap, unopened. She traced the embossed title with her fingertips, the gold lettering catching the dim light of her sitting room. It was late, the city outside her window bathed in a soft hush of nightfall, yet sleep was an impossible feat.

Her mind kept circling back to the way Sebastian had looked at her—not with expectation, not with judgment, but with something more dangerous: recognition. As though he saw the part of herself she worked so hard to suppress.

A knock at the door startled her.

Martha peeked her head inside, her expression careful. "Miss, you have a visitor."

Eleanor frowned, glancing at the clock. "At this hour?"

Martha hesitated before stepping aside. And there he was.

Sebastian Cavendish stood just beyond the threshold, hands in his pockets, an unreadable expression on his face. The sight of him here, in her carefully curated world, sent an unexpected thrill through her.

Eleanor quickly rose, smoothing the folds of her silk dressing gown. "This is highly improper," she murmured, though her feet carried her closer.

Sebastian's lips twitched. "Then send me away."

She should have. Every bit of logic told her to. And yet, she found herself meeting Martha's gaze instead. Her maid, ever perceptive, gave a knowing nod before quietly retreating, closing the door behind her.

Eleanor exhaled. "Why are you here?"

Sebastian studied her for a moment before stepping further into the room, his presence an intrusion she was rapidly growing accustomed to. "Because I couldn't stop thinking about you."

Her breath hitched.

His gaze never wavered. "And I suspect you couldn't stop thinking about me either."

Eleanor's spine stiffened. "You are insufferable."

A slow grin curved his lips. "You say that, yet you're not asking me to leave."

She crossed her arms, willing herself to find the upper hand. "What exactly do you want, Sebastian?"

He took another step closer, close enough that she could smell the faint scent of books and something undeniably him. "I want you to tell me why you hesitate every time you get too close to wanting something for yourself."

Eleanor swallowed hard. "You know nothing about me."

His gaze darkened, the playful edge slipping. "I know what it looks like to live a life that doesn't feel like your own."

The air between them tightened. Eleanor felt the walls around her cracking, the foundation of the life she had so meticulously built trembling under the weight of his words.

She tore her gaze away, her hands gripping the book in her lap as if it could anchor her. "This is ridiculous. You show up at my home in the dead of night to lecture me about my choices?"

Sebastian exhaled, running a hand through his hair. "No. I came because I needed to see you. Because I—" He cut himself off, jaw tensing.

Eleanor's pulse pounded. "Because you what?"

His expression shifted, something vulnerable flashing across it before he masked it with his signature smirk. "Because I figured you could use another book recommendation."

She let out a breathless, disbelieving laugh. "You're impossible."

"Guilty as charged."

A long silence stretched between them, filled with something unspoken. Then, without thinking, Eleanor stepped forward, just a fraction. Just enough for the energy between them to shift.

Sebastian's eyes flickered to her lips before snapping back to her gaze. He took a careful breath. "Eleanor…"

She shook her head, a battle raging inside her. "This is a mistake."

"Maybe." His voice was low, almost reverent. "But does that mean you don't want it?"

Eleanor hated that he could see through her so easily. Hated that she had no response.

His fingers ghosted over hers where she clutched the book, the briefest of touches, yet it sent a wildfire of sensation through her.

A choice lay before her.

To pull away, to retreat into the life that had been written for her.

Or to step forward into the unknown.

Sebastian held his breath, waiting.

Eleanor closed her eyes. And in that moment, she truly didn't know what she would choose.