She gazed up at him in their intimate nearness, and he down at her. His eyes truly were the loveliest green she’d ever seen, rimmed in a darker shade. He had a sharp, square jaw with high cheekbones evident beyond the bottom of his metal helm. The only thing soft on his visible facial features was his mouth with lips that were full and sensual.
Sensual.
What a word! Certainly, it was one that had never entered her vocabulary before this night. And yet, once lodged there, she found the stubbornly appropriate word would not be vanquished.
Yes, sensual.
What would it be like to kiss such plush lips? To be kissed by them?
His mouth lifted at the corner as if he could read her thoughts.
Heaven help her if he could. Her cheeks blazed behind the cover of her mask. His grip on her was secure as he led her in the dance with an assuredness that made her think of strength and leadership, a powerful combination that made her knees go weak. And all the while, he kept his gaze locked on hers.
“You are even more beautiful than I remember, Lady Cecelia Stopford,” he murmured.
His compliment swept her away as sure as his confident hold on her did. “You mean Hermia?” she chided playfully.
He leaned toward her as they turned, his head dipping toward hers as he whispered, “A rose by any other name…”
“That’s the wrong tale,” she said, rather breathless.
But then, she had never experienced the full impact of Demetrius’s charm before. There was something about him that made her blood thrum in her veins. She wanted his flirtation, and appreciated the way her heart raced at such flirtation.
Demetrius, indeed. This man was different when he wore his mask—exciting and titillating. With him, it was easy to forget her pressing obligations. He was a wondrous distraction from the boredom of an empty home and a lackluster life. She hadn’t only lost herself to the magic of the enchanted Midsummer Night’s Dream ball. She had lost herself to Demetrius.
Philip wondered at the woman he danced with. Lady Cecelia was far more beautiful than he recalled, slender and elegant. And completely different. What had become of the girl who climbed trees and waded into brooks? Her smile had come to life at a moment’s notice, and her laughter had been as unfettered and carefree as her personality.
But this woman dancing in Philip’s arms flushed with a genuine shyness that startled him.
“Tell me what changed about you since last we met,” he said.
Her blue gaze slid from his guiltily. “Do forgive me for having declined your previous offer of courtship.”
His immediate confusion was replaced with the reminder that he was playing another man with her. Not Demetrius in truth, but the other man she had been expecting: Lord Brightstone.
And thus, he would not press her for more information, not when it was not his right to know. Instead, he caught Cecelia’s slim waist and spun her about.
She was slight in his arms yet curved beneath those shapeless robes. He had the sudden desire to slide the heavy cloth from her body, unveiling her like an Athenian goddess.
And she did look like a goddess this evening, with her glossy blonde hair bound up in a strand of golden ribbon and her gilt mask with wide, blue eyes blinking up at him. A woman of her beauty held power. But the woman she had become did not appear to know how to wield it.
“My family needed me.” Her gaze searched his as though begging him to understand. “I feared if I agreed to a courtship, I wouldn’t be there…”
“It was admirable of you.” Philip held her to him as they twirled over the dance floor together.
“It was foolish of me.”
She answered so quickly that it made him wonder at her affection for this Lord Brightstone.
“How is it foolish to be there for those who need you?” He pressed, genuinely curious about this enigmatic creature Cecelia had become.
“Because my family no longer has need of me.” The corner of her lips tucked downward. “Because I sacrificed too much.”
“What did you sacrifice?” He regretted the question immediately.
Was it love?
If it was, he had no business being here. He would not stand between two who had hoped to be together.
