"Congratulations are in order," he told her. "You must be very happy..." He heard the mockery in his own voice and wondered where the devil that had come from.
"Yes, of course," she replied, but the ease with which she said it didn't reach her eyes.
He reached for her gloved hand, determined to play out his game and learn what he could from her.
It was a simple gesture, it shouldn't have meant anything other than the simplest courtesy, there shouldn't have been the heat that burned through that simple contact. He saw it in her eyes and realized that she had felt it as well, and they suddenly darkened.
Something appeared just beyond her circle of vision, as if it was there, then gone, that sense that they might have met before. Elyse stared at a man she didn't know, couldn't remember, and yet felt an inexplicable heat in the touch of his hand.
Good heavens, what was the matter with her? she thought as she pulled her hand from his. She should have been relieved. Instead, she felt that same sense of loss and emptiness she experienced after her dreams.
Everything in the ballroom seemed suddenly different, as if she were standing still, and the entire room and everyone in it, spun about her.
No, not everything was out of control, she realized.Hewas there, like the calm in the middle of a storm. She pressed her fingers against her forehead. The room had become unbearably warm.
She closed her eyes, hoping she could open them in a few moments and find everything as it was before... before Sir William St. James had appeared.
"Perhaps a walk outside for some fresh air," he suggested. He slipped his arm through hers. It fed his sense of recklessness to steal her away from all of them, including her fiancé.
She was a few steps ahead of Zach as he guided her through the doors and out onto the veranda. She stopped abruptly. "I'm really feeling much better now. It's not necessary for you to remain with me," she informed him with a shaky voice.
"I wouldn't dream of abandoning you." His voice was low, almost intimate. "How would it seem if I retreated too quickly? Someone might assume that we exchanged more than idle conversation."
"I don't really care what people might think," she replied. To be perfectly honest, the only thing she'd thought about since they were first introduced was curiosity and that feeling that they had met before.
"You really should. It might be the beginning of something very scandalous. And Lord Barrington seems very conscious of such things," Zach teased, reaching to hold her gloved hand in his.
She'd met many foreigners on the Grand Tour, but this one certainly qualified as the most...interesting. She composed herself, forcing her eyes away from the black eye-patch he wore.
Was he badly scarred with only a gaping hole beneath the slash of his brow? How had it happened? Was it an accident or something else? Was he once with the military and suffered the wound in some far-off place?
There was something about it that bothered her. It wasn't the idea of scarred flesh. What she felt was more like sadness that he might have suffered great pain for it.
"A penny for your thoughts." Zach smiled down at her, unable to resist the temptation of knowing what she was thinking at just that moment.
"I'm afraid a mere penny wouldn't do." She hid the sadness with a faint smile. "It may very well cost you an entire fortune."
There was something elusive about her smile, something almost lost and mournful in her eyes.
"It would be worth losing a fortune, I think," he said then.
A man who wanted to know her thoughts? It was quite amazing. She took a step back as she changed the topic of their conversation. "I really should return," she informed him, then struck a light note. "I thank you for asking, but I don't dance with pirates. It could be dangerous."
Zach burst out laughing, to cover his reaction at just how accurate her comment was. "Oh, I think you will. It would be very bad form for you to refuse."
Her chin angled slightly; her eyes filled with humor.
"Do you always get what you want?"
"Always." Zach smiled down at her. "You see," he said, and took a step toward her, closing the distance between them once more. "I don't like losing, but winning... " He paused.
"I didn't realize it was a game?"
"Everything in life is a game," he replied, his gaze darkening to slate as he thought of many prizes to be sought and won. "Winning is everything."
He knew the exact effect his words would have on her. And he was right as alight sparkled in her eyes. She liked a challenge. Zach smiled. Barrington was twice a fool. He had no idea.
She most definitely felt better. It might have been the night air, or the challenging conversation. Or possibly both.
