She faltered. If he was going to talk about kisses again, then she was not sure she had the strength to refuse him. David’s very being seemed to have crept under her skin and was stuck there, so she found it impossible to think of anyone other than him. On a night like tonight, when she was tired of the ton, and all she wanted was the freedom David could offer, she was weak to him.
“David, don’t,” she pleaded, backing up. She walked away, going for the door in the wall, but she wasn’t looking where she put her feet and tripped on the golden hem of her gown. She yelped in surprise, only she did not fall. Instead, a pair of hands were there to catch her.
She angled her head around, seeing David’s hazel eyes so close to her own. She was breathing heavily, the two of them frozen together.
“Don’t hate me for this,” he begged, then moved his lips towards hers again. The moment he kissed her, she forgot all objections. She pulled herself up to stand on her own two feet and flung her arms around his neck. He kissed her back with equal fervour, and the two ended up staggering together, in danger of falling in the nearby rosemary and thyme bushes.
All that mattered was that David kept kissing her. All that she wanted to think about was this heat, this excitement, feeling this safe in David’s arms far away from the ton, and then …
David pulled back. He kept hold of her, but his gaze had jerked away.
“What is it?” she whispered, her hands slipping down his chest.
He was peering at something in the doorway of the garden.
“Who’s there?” he shouted at the shadowy figure.
The woman turned and hurried off. As she moved from the shadows to a spot where the moonlight shone down clearly upon her, Caroline felt she had been punched hard in the stomach.
It was Lady Markworthy running away back towards the ballroom.
“Oh no,” Caroline whispered.
“Oh no, what?” David replied. “A maid and a groom kissing, well, that is hardly the scandal of the century.” Yet his smile faltered as he evidently caught her expression.
“It matters very much indeed.”
Chapter 20
“Oh no.” Alaina muttered the words under her breath as she saw the Earl of Woolworth walking towards her. He looked rather in his cups, staggering to the side and even nearly knocking over a particularly elderly lady who clutched her chest in shock. As the earl hastened to apologize, Alaina saw her opportunity to leave the room before the earl could get close enough to see she was not his daughter after all.
She darted towards the door leading to the corridor. She hesitated just long enough to look back into the centre of the room and try to catch Marcus’ eye. It worked, for he noticed her and clearly ended a conversation, moving to follow her.
She took her chance and hastened into the corridor, heading through the house and all the way to the one room she had longed to be all night with Marcus. She hid inside and lit a candle in the darkness so that the room basked in a pleasant orange glow. She had just lit a second candle when Marcus found her.
“Callie, is everything all right?” he asked, moving towards her.
She sighed with happiness as she looked at him, unable to keep the smile off her face. He clearly sensed her change, for he mirrored her smile as he reached her. Gently, he placed his hand on her arm, and she moved forward, finding a safe place against his chest.
“Where you’ve wanted to be all night, eh?” he teased her under his breath, and she smiled against his shirt.
“It is,” she whispered. She couldn’t tell him that she had come here for one last moment alone with him, away from everyone else’s eyes, before the truth came out. That end was imminent now, with Caroline having set her heart on revealing the truth and their swap. She clutched the edge of his tailcoat, and he held a hand over hers, holding her tight to him. “Thank you for your poem,” she whispered. “I cannot tell you what it means to me. I have had more fun here than I have ever had in my life before. I have never felt this wanted,” she confessed in a whisper.
“Wanted?” He shifted the two of them together, his hands moving to her cheeks and tilting her face up towards him. He smiled down at her, his look so intense that she felt greatly desired. “How could you not feel wanted?”
He moved his lips to hers, kissing her strongly. Feeling weak to his touch, she folded herself back into his chest, pulling on the edges of his tailcoat.
She had this wonderful idea of not returning to the ball. She wished that she and Marcus could stay in this library together for the rest of the night. They could explore one another again, as they had before, and make love with passion in this room.
If only we could.
He pulled back from her, sweetly resting their foreheads together.
“There’s something I need to tell you, Callie. Something I’ve been wanting to say for a while now.” He moved his hands to take one of hers and lifted it between them. “I want you to know …” He breathed deeply. “I’m in love with you.” He looked relieved the moment he said it.
Alaina didn’t know whether her heart soared or plummeted.
Do you love me and the money? Or … just me?
