“I do,” he said quietly.
She hesitated. She wasn’t anywhere near as sure as he seemed to be. They might be getting themselves in over their heads. She still couldn’t forget what it had felt like to kiss him.
It wasnota good idea to dance with him.
It was not a good idea to allow him to take her in his arms, even though there would be dozens of witnesses this time preventing things from going too far.
And yet, in spite of the fact that she knew she shouldn’t do it, she couldn’t seem to stop herself. She nodded and took his hand, letting herself be led back out onto the floor.
He took her in his arms, just as Lord Hennington had—but with the duke, it felt entirely different. It felt as if every part of her body was awake and alive in a way it simply hadn’t been until this moment. She wouldn’t have stood a chance at walking away from him even if she had wanted to.
And she knew then that she wouldneverhave the strength it took. No matter how many times they managed to walk away from one another, every time he came back, she would turn back to him.
She had developed feelings for him, in a way she never would for Lord Hennington.
The duke held her at a respectful distance as they danced. Lavinia knew that no one would see anything odd or inappropriate about it. But to her, it felt as if their embrace was as intimate and tender as the kiss they had shared in the library.
Perhaps it was because that was all she could bring herself to think about.
She knew only one thing—she had allowed things with the duke to go much too far, and she had no way of knowing now if she would be able to get back. How could she hope to fall in love with someone else when she was so afraid that her heart now belonged to him?
CHAPTER 27
“Ididn’t intend to do this, you know,” Seth said.
“To do what?” Lady Lavinia asked him.
“Dance with you today.” He was surprised he was even confessing that fact to her, but it seemed impossible to keep his mouth shut around Lady Lavinia, even when he knew perfectly well that he ought to. He certainly shouldn’t be telling her that he had reservations about dancing with her now. It was showing far too much of his hand.
“I wouldn’t have expected you to,” she said, gazing up at him. He found her eyes captivating, as he always did—that mix of green and brown that made him want to stare into them forever, trying to unravel the mystery of what color they truly were. He felt as if he could look into her eyes forever and still continued to see things that were new to him. “You didn’t need to dance with me. I had no expectations. In fact, if you’d asked me, I’d have said you weren’t planning on speaking to me at all tonight.”
“And I wasn’t,” Seth agreed. “I still think I must be crazy for having approached you at all.”
“You think that, and yet you did,” Lady Lavinia said. “Why?”
Seth wasn’t ready to grapple with that question yet, so he told her what he knew to be a lie. “I wanted to make sure you were ready, that’s all,” he said. “I wanted to make sure you were prepared to face the challenges of this ball.”
“How much more sure can you be?” Lady Lavinia asked him. “You’ve been through all this preparation with me. Either I’m ready or I’m not ready, but either way, you must know the answer by now. You can’t possibly be surprised by anything about me.”
“Perhaps not,” Seth said quietly. “I don’t know. I don’t know how you manage to keep surprising me—I agree that it doesn’t make sense. And yet, it continues to happen.”
“Well, you said that I seemed calm and in control of myself when I was with Lord Hennington,” Lady Lavinia said. “You approve of the way I conducted myself there.”
“I do,” Seth agreed.
“So this—what’s happening now—this is a test,” she said. “You’re testing me to see whether or not I’m ready. Whether or not I pass.”
It sounded cold when she said it like that, but could he really deny it? “I suppose I am,” Seth said.
Lady Lavinia looked down for a moment, and Seth got the impression she couldn’t bring herself to look at him.
Then she swallowed and looked back up at him. Her eyes were clear of any emotion. Had he imagined he would see her crying? She was far stronger than that. She wouldn’t cry. Not over him. Even if she felt something, as he imagined she must, she would never cry for him. Not now that he had made it clear to her that there would never be anything between the two of them.
“And?” she asked.
“And what?”
“Have I passed your test?”
