“Pardon me,” Gideon muttered under his breath as he broke away from Lewis. He didn’t take his eyes off Amelia as he stalked toward her. And she didn’t notice him, so caught up was she in whatever this gentleman was saying—until he was all but standing before her.
Her smile fell. Gideon held her gaze for a moment longer before turning his attention to the gentleman right beside her. “Excuse me, but I don’t believe we have been introduced,” Gideon said, his voice politely cold.
“Lord Harold Fenton, the Baron Fenton, Your Grace.” The gentleman stuck out a hand. “It is nice to finally be acquainted with you.”
“I’m sure it is.” Gideon didn’t take the hand. Instead, he stepped closer to Amelia, sliding a hand around her waist and pulling her into his side. She hiccupped in surprise. “I see that you have done a good job of acquainting yourself with my wife.”
“Oh!” Lord Fenton’s eyes went wide. “I did not know…”
“I did not think it mattered for me to say,” Amelia said quietly.
“I see.” Gideon fixed the baron with a hard stare. “Well, I trust you won’t mind if I steal her away. The evening’s first dance is about to begin, after all.”
“A-ah, well, Your Grace,” Lord Fenton stammered to Amelia. “Perhaps we could continue our conversation another time. Perhaps during a dance—”
“She will be otherwise engaged,” Gideon interjected briskly. “Now, if you’ll excuse us.”
He turned, guiding Amelia along his side, just as the orchestra struck the first chord to signal the commencement of the first set. Couples began to break away from the crowd of guests to meet in the center of the ballroom and Gideon joined them. Once there, he smoothly swept Amelia into his arms without a word, readying for the waltz.
“Well, that was rather rude,” Amelia said after a long moment.
He still didn’t acknowledge her, moving mindlessly through the beginning steps of the dance. Now, he understood the dark emotion—jealousy. It wasn’t the sort of emotion Gideon experienced often. Or at all, for that matter. He couldn’t understand it.
“Lord Fenton should know better than to flirt with another man’s wife,” Gideon whispered darkly.
“F-flirt?” Amelia gasped, looking up at him. Her steps didn’t falter in the slightest, easily moving in perfect harmony with Gideon as they drifted back and forth. “He wasnotflirting with me.”
“I know what I saw.”
“But what does it matter to you if he was?”
“It doesn’t. I was only ensuring he understood what he was doing.”
For some reason, Gideon was having a hard time meeting her eyes. Because of that, he was all too aware of the fact that she was pressed up against him, her bosom brushing against his chest now and again. The hand he had rested on the small of her back twitched, tempted as he was to lower it. He took a discreet step away from her, hoping that she would not notice the fact that his breeches were tightening.
If Amelia had a retort to that, she swallowed it, allowing the silence to fill the air. Her delicate floral fragrance all but assaulted his nose, his mind now heady with unspeakable things. Yet every time he thought back to the way Amelia had laughed at whatever Lord Fenton had said to her, he felt his jealousy smother his lust.
“So, what were the two of you discussing?” he asked after a long while.
“Why does it matter to you?” she countered.
Gideon sighed. “Must you answer all my questions with ones of your own? I am merely curious, that is all.”
“I am under no obligation to satisfy your curiosity.”
This time, Gideon could not resist looking down at her, taken aback. It seemed shewascapable of biting back when aggravated enough. And he had certainly annoyed her if the frown marring her brows was any indication.
That troubled him for a moment but he didn’t know how to diffuse the tension brewing between them. Nor did he bother to ask himself why he cared to.
“Fine. Let me ask you something else then.” She shot him a glare and he quickly tried to rephrase. “It is simple enough to answer, I’m sure. Do you have any hobbies?”
Her glare softened. “I like to read.”
“Is that so?” A boring answer.
“And write.”
“Poetry?”
