And no sequins or feathers for Fiona.No, the only embellishment on the silk gown was a slightly darker hue of a cut velvet design against the silk taffeta gown.But the dress was red, a lush crimson that brought to mind life, passion, and, yes, rage.
The bold color stood in stark contrast to her pale skin.It also highlighted the creamy expanse of her bosom and the slender length of her arms before her gloves covered them.It added a thread of auburn to her dark hair.
With her shoulders nearly bared and her hair piled loosely in a Psyche knot, the long grace of her neck begged for a man’s lips.Once upon a time, Aylesbury would have reviled himself for allowing even a trace of desire to stir his body.
Or his mind.
Because even while forsaking his unthinkable desire to have her lithe, athletic body beneath his, to have her long legs wrapped around his hips, he had always—quite simply—liked her.
A smile kicked up the corner of his mouth, and Aylesbury had to fight what might have been his first urge to truly smile in almost two years.His heart, which had done little more than sustain his life all that time, warmed with pleasure even when her olive-green gaze narrowed with rage as he lifted his glass in a silent salute.
God, hewasstill alive, wasn’t he?He had almost begun to doubt it.
Fiona spun about and stalked out of the room in silence, though he thought he could hear her internal screech of fury screaming in his ears.The thought was oddly heartening.
“Will you excuse me for a moment?”Setting his glass aside, he bowed politely to his hostess and host and followed her from the room.
* * *
“Fiona!”
Déjà vustruck Fiona between this night and that afternoon not long ago.Both times, she had run from him, from his presence, like a coward when she considered herself anything but.It had to end.This madness of avoidance, when he seemed to be everywhere she turned, was unlike her.Perhaps it was better just to lay the matter to rest at last.
Slowing to a halt, she turned to face Aylesbury, pleased that her position on the stairs allowed her to look down on him regally as she descended again.“Is there something you needed, Lord Aylesbury?”
“I wanted to speak to you.”
“Whatever about?”she asked airily.“You needn’t worry your head over my feelings, Lord Aylesbury.You were right.It was just a foolhardy infatuation.A girlish fascination with a clever wit and ready smile.Since those qualities are no longer in evidence, any reason I had to be enamored of you years ago is gone.Poof.”She waved a hand through the air dismissively.“A childish whim disappeared into a foggy mist.”
Aylesbury frowned at that, not sure what to believe.Though it made sense that a young girl would have been infatuated with his perpetual charm and flirtation, some part of him believed more fully what she had said before.As if he had known the truth all along.
“Fiona...”
“It’s what you wanted to hear, isn’t it?”she interrupted before he could ask any more questions.“You left Edinburgh to spare me and yourself any more uncomfortable situations.”
“That is not why I left Edinburgh.”
Another wave of her hand dismissed the actual reason.“Whatever whim struck you then...”
“It wasn’t a whim.It was...”
Reaching the bottom step, Fiona held up a hand to cut him off.“Whatever it was, it doesn’t matter any longer.I’ve moved on from what happened and come to terms with it.I don’t need you changing the facts now.”
His brows snapped together.“You don’t even know them.”
“Neither did you, and that seemed to suit you just fine.”
“Dash it all!You are still the single most obstinate woman I’ve ever known!”He ran a hand through his short locks.
Fiona laughed shortly.“Woman?I thought I was nothing more than a pesky child?”
She’d have him gnashing his teeth before long.Aylesbury glared at her, perched on the last step as if those five inches let her retain some superiority over him.All it did was allow him to look her straight in the eye, to have that green fire spit at him directly and enflame him all the more.
“You’re never going to let that go, are you?”
“On the contrary, I’m trying to let you go,” she shot back, leaning toward him.“If only you would take the hint.”
“Take the hint?Bugger it, Fiona!”Aylesbury ground out, aware that just below eye level her breasts were heaving against that crimson silk with every breath she took.Her pulse beat rapidly down the length of her neck.He could feel the heat of her fury radiating off of her.
