s wheelchair away from hospital staff before the family could arrive-Camren Durham sat slumped

ge as he glared at the man standin

sed, gripping the wheelchair's armrests. "You lied to

down," Alexandre

the sharp, roguish beauty of the Clay lineage-high cheekbones, a blade-straight nose, and hooded, almond-shaped eyes t

speak to family? Whe

Oh, so now you remember you're my uncle? Then why the hell did

he first pun

You're supposed to y

nely believed they fought to a draw-one broken leg for one fractured rib. Yet here stood Alexandre, leaning lazily

e clinic staff to claim a cracked rib, purely

ed an injury to keep her on a leash. A hypocrite like you doe

years," Alexandre murmured, his v

He pushed off the banister, descended two steps, and leaned forward until both hands

sten to me very carefully. I have already had my people scrub the incident from the campus security logs. Your uncle Augustin is on his

a defiant smirk tugging at his mouth. "You

authority. But with Alexandre, who was only eleven years older and on his mother's side of the family, the dynamic was completely di

s forehead. "By all means, call him in here. Tell him you shattered your tibia because

grandfather and the elder Durhams discovered that an untenured substitute instructor was the cause of an incestuous f

poken rules of their world, and he cleared hi

the phone discussing a breakup with Ms. Henson earlier, weren't you? And

clenched into the pa

s chin lifting with brash, youthful arrogance. "You made your choice with your f

uing

rk of laughter, straightening up and

about real commitments? A heated argument isn't an end. In the end,

r a

ren like a physical

ngs with something scandalous and forbidden. For a split second, a suffoc

enom in Keira's voice when she

he day she actually puts your ring on her finger and stands at the altar as my aunt, you don't have the rig

ugh, pulled his baseball cap down over his bruised brow, and descended the concrete stairs

live wire through his veins. His knuckles were raw from gripping the rubber armrests. Defying his uncl

and turned his wheelchair around, pushing through the heavy fire

aled a shaky breath, and

c click, the heavy ma

cold gray light filtering from the winter sky outside. But the mo

of Virginia tobac

he city, a tall, immaculate figure was already standing. One hand was buried casually in his trouser

of the wheelchair, the

tin Durham's razor-edged, bottomless eyes

patriarch h