Insperatus Read Online Free Page B

chin were very well-balanced. He had a strong jaw, short sideburns growing down his face, and flawless eyebrows. But then she noticed there were lifted scars on his face—very thin, but long. They were almost unnoticeable; almost.
    He glanced up while she was in the middle of studying him. There was a sudden change in his previously calm expression; he was startled.
    Then one of the sconce candles caught his eyes, and her insides wrenched. She stared at him speechlessly, her captivated feeling beginning to twist. His eyes were as unfeasible as the first man’s were. Although this man had pupils, full and dark, his surrounding irises were a fiery red.
    He closed his eyes in a long blink and opened them just as slowly, altering his stare hard past her, to the atrium, and then back into her eyes.
    She bit her lip quickly in frustration at herself for wearing such a shocked mask. He probably thought her an arrogant woman for making such an astonished face toward him. But as she stared, she realized that despite their alarming color, his eyes were gentle.
    “ I’m sorry,” she had to say, giving up any chance of an elegant greeting. She looked down and then changed her expression to a more formal one as her head rose. “I didn’t mean to stare, sir.”
    He looked grave in his stillness, and she could’ve sworn he muttered something to himself grimly. But although he returned her stare, his manner seemed reluctant. He stumbled to reply.
    “ Don’t…don’t apologize,” he said as if he was only talking to cover up thought. “It’s happened before.”
    She began to notice the smell of fresh, pleasing cologne coming from him, and the scent made her heart flutter. Although his burning red eyes were tense, he was charming, and she already felt pity for him because of his subtle facial scars and unique eye color. He had a heavy British accent, one that was elegant yet masculine and appealing. It seemed antiquated. As she memorized his appearance, all of his attributes began to seem alluring. Especially his eyes.
    “ I’m sorry,” she repeated, pulling her head out of that daze. “There was no reason…it’s just your eyes are such a bright… red .” She quickly tried to correct herself. “But they are rather stunning.”
    He looked genuinely shocked, as if he hadn’t heard a description like that before about himself. He looked at his books. “Stunning is an…an uncommon way of describing them,” he stuttered. “There was a laboratory accident I was in…where I am employed.” He looked at her small bag and then at her. “I live on this ship. Travel with it, working.”
    Rein hesitated as his eyes met hers, piercing any veil by which she was covered. She laughed with refinement. “It’s odd, because you aren’t the first person with…” she stopped. She was ruining the conversation, and all chances of having another one with him.
    “ I understand,” he said quietly.
    “ It’s just that…for a moment, your eyes make you almost seem—”
    “ Blind?”
    She huffed in anger of herself. That was exactly what she was going to say, but she tried to continue speaking more elegantly, returning the wrong answer. “I wasn’t going to say…You don’t look…”
    He stifled a laugh and cleared his throat a second time. “It’s all right. People tell me that often as well, and I am, in a fashion—”
    “ Oh, I’m sorry,” she murmured.
    He clenched his teeth with his head down, as if he were hiding as much of his face as he could in shadow. Perhaps it was that he hated the fact that he was blind. Was that it? Or those subtle scars? But he had to be capable of seeing slightly because he had met her eyes.
    Hoping that she would make him regain his composed bearing, she introduced herself. “I am Rein Pierson,” she said with delicacy. “I’ve just boarded—”
    “ I know,” he replied quietly, his masculine, smoky voice deepened.
    She paused at his quick words, but continued respectfully.