He stilled, then turned in his seat to look fully on her. She tried to motion again to the book, but he was apparently done with the ruse. “You would teach me to dance?”
She lowered the book to her lap. “Of course.”
“Why?”
He seemed genuinely confused by her offer.
She smiled, hoping a bit of teasing would put him at ease. “Never fear, for you can pay me back later.”
He didn’t even crack a smile. But there was a definite change in his eyes, a slight crinkling at the corners, a warming of the cool blue that told her he acknowledged her ribbing, and even found it amusing. “And when are we to do these secretive dance lessons, Miss Hartley? For if you wish to keep from embarrassing me in front of the others, I don’t know how we shall manage the lessons necessary to carry out such a thing.”
She pursed her lips. That was a difficulty she hadn’t considered. She either embarrassed him, or met with him in secret after the others went to bed.
The latter brought a sudden image into her mind, of them together in the concealing darkness of night, his arms about her, twirling to unheard music.
A tremor of pure heat worked over her skin, tingling along her limbs, condensing over the tips of her breasts. Pooling low in her belly.
He seemed to read her thoughts. His gaze fell to her lips, his eyelids growing heavy. “Will you meet me in the dead of night, Miss Hartley?” he murmured, the faint mocking in his voice doing nothing to hide the thickness beneath. “Will you risk your reputation to help me, a man who has taken your lost lover’s place? Even you, for all your sweetness and light, cannot be that good.”
The words stung. Yet beyond her hurt, she knew what he was trying to do. He was attempting to scare her off, to push her away. He might have succeeded, had she not noticed his tightly pressed lips, his clenched hands, all proof of the fear he was trying with all his might to hide beneath a rude façade. Though whether that fear was that she might accept or refuse, she didn’t know.
But did it matter? She couldn’t ignore the challenge of it, no matter that she knew better. Much better.
“Meet me tonight, Mr. Ashford, and you shall see what I dare to do.”
***
That daring did not last the evening. In truth, it didn’t last beyond ten minutes.
She should have told him to forget the whole thing. But he seemed to know she regretted her rash decision. The rest of the evening he cast her mocking glances, his golden brow raised, daring her to break and relent with her false show of bravado. That, and that alone, kept the steel in her spine, kept her resolve, however faltering, in place.
And now it was too late to back out.
She stood before the doors to the ballroom. The lantern in her hand shook, the light from the flame shivering, as if it, too, felt her trepidation.
Taking a steadying breath, she pushed against the door.
It swung open silently, revealing the great vastness of the space beyond, all bathed in pale blue moonlight. Except for the one patch of gold in the center, Mr. Ashford and his light shining like a beacon. He had placed the lantern on the ground, and it shimmered on the polished parquet floor like a pool of fairy dust.
As if she called out to him, he turned. His face was in shadow, though his eyes glinted in the faint light. He stood as still as a statue, waiting. And her body responded, like a puppet on a string, her feet carrying her to where he stood. Soon she was before him, so close she could have reached out and touched him. Her fingers itched to do so, her heart pounding in her chest, begging her to follow through.
“You came.”
His voice was deep and rasping. A shiver ran through her and she nearly closed her eyes in pleasure. “I told you I would,” she managed.
“I admit, I doubted it.”
“You mean you wanted me to stay away,” she shot back.
His lips quirked. “Perhaps.” Suddenly his face darkened again. “It isn’t wise for you to be here with me like this.”
There was a flash of memory, that electric moment at the pools, her desire to kiss him nearly overwhelming her. She ruthlessly squashed it. But he was waiting for her reply. “You won’t harm me,” she finally said, surprised by the surety she felt. For all his size and strength and brusqueness, she had nothing to fear from this man.
Except your sanity, a small voice whispered in her head.And perhaps your heart.
Flustered, she took a hasty step back. He caught the movement, his eyes narrowing.
“Are you ready to start?” she asked with more bravado than she felt. “There’s much to go over if you’re to be at all comfortable dancing at the assembly rooms Friday. Unless,” she continued tentatively, “you’ve changed your mind?”
