“As you should, and it pleases me to hear it.”
Anna frowned, confused by his words.Wasn’t he implying he was going try to win her affections?As if she were some unfeeling and arbitrary prize?
Confused, she asked, “So you mean to say…”
“I do appreciate the frank sort of conversation.”He nodded, then smiled down at her.
“As do I.Which is why I’m waiting for you to clarify,” she added, then pulled slightly away from his hold, noticing just how close they had moved during the conversation.
Without any resistance, he gave her the space her movements requested, adding to the dichotomy that was Henley Rosewood, Viscount of Allendale.He’d kiss her in a darkened hall but give her whatever space she required when she asked.
And honestly, she hadn’t exactly pushed him away when he kissed her.
But that was beside the point.She’d consider it later, when she wasn’t needing all her wits about her.
“Clarity, my lord,” she added again, meeting his eye.
Her hand shifted as he shrugged his shoulder, the movement so slight she felt rather than saw it.“You are more, far more, than others may make you.And I’m very… pleased… that you understand your value because too often people do not, and it’s to their detriment.”
“I assure you I am not in danger of such a thing,” she replied with slight exasperation.
“Aren’t you?”He raised an eyebrow just as the music ended.“I’ll take you to your parents.”He released her waist and started to lead her from the ballroom floor.
Still mulling over his cryptic remark, she gave a nod as he bowed to her parents, gave one last look in her direction then disappeared into the crowd.
“The carriage should be ready; I don’t want to linger.We have quite a day tomorrow,” Duchess Kinfield whispered lowly.
Anna nodded and followed her parents from the room.
As she stepped into the waiting carriage, her mother’s voice startled her with its enthusiasm.“My dear!Didn’t I tell you it would work?You certainly drew the viscount’s attention this evening.That waltz was a statement enough.I’m certain it will be whispered about all evening and into tomorrow.”Her mother patted her hand gently.“It’s exactly as we hoped.”
“Indeed,” Anna replied, smiling at her mother.
“I spoke briefly with the earl, it does appear promising,” her father added.
“Of course it’s promising!He waltzed with her,” her mother added, smacking her husband with a fan lightly.
“His attention was quite definitive, was it not?”Anna added, her heart fluttering quickly at the knowledge of it.
She shoved all other intrusive thoughts to the side, focusing only on the viscount.
“Yes, very much so.And it was so kind of Henley to offer for the supper waltz,” her mother stated.“Very accommodating, one could possibly read that he was giving his brother a blessing.”She sighed wistfully.
Anna blinked in the darkness of the carriage, thankful her expression couldn’t be clearly seen.There was no schooling her features as she listened to her mother’s words.
“Perhaps,” she answered, nearly choking on the word.
No, she didn’t think it was approval Henley was giving.
A gauntlet thrown, maybe, but he wasn’t exactly throwing her in his brother’s direction.No, he’d tried to do quite the opposite.Which was ever so confusing.Her skin broke out in gooseflesh as she remembered his kiss.Her lips burned with the memory, and she held back a shiver of something she couldn’t name.
But it was the wrong reaction to the wrong brother.
Sleep, she needed to have a solid night’s rest and then she would sort through the mess in the morning.
*
Lady Anna blinkedas the words printed on the page of her book came back into focus.She’d lingered on the same page for heaven knew how long, unable to make it through a single paragraph without the distraction of remembering last night’s events.Especially one.Her lips tingled, and instinctively she licked them, bringing a myriad of emotions to the surface that she didn’t know how to sort through.It was remarkably confusing.
