She grinned to herself and almost asked him to stop the coach so she could go have a look at it, but didn’t want him to know just how pleased she was. This bargain might work out after all, if she could just think of the horses she would be getting and not think of what he would be getting in return.
Chapter Forty-Six
IT COULD HAVE BEENa dream come true, dancing with the most handsome man in the room at her first ball. It was intoxicating, exciting. Brooke was dazzled and wanted it to never end.
They’d caused quite a stir upon their arrival when Dominic had her heralded as his fiancée. She didn’t need to be warned that London society was aware of Dominic’s duels. With the last one so public, it had definitely made the rounds. But if everyone there didn’t already know that he was now allying himself with the very family whose heir he’d tried to kill, they certainly did now. They just didn’t know why, which became apparent when the couple were stopped several times on the way to the dance floor and she heard such remarks as “Getting your toes stepped on by Prinny doesn’t usually turn out so well” and “Should you be thanking Lord Robert now?” and more bluntly “What did Robert do to warrant...?”
Dominic had simply walked away from that fellow. But the entire room was probably dying to question him about his reasons for dueling in the first place. Which did explain why he seemed reluctant to leave the dance floor and they were now twirling to the fourth dance in a row.
He wasn’t a coward. She knew that well. She guessed he was simply delaying the anger that was bound to get poked by the gossipmongers tonight, and avoiding making a scene because of it. After all, their marriage was not a subject he could be civil about. She could be. If he wanted to keep her close, she could fend off... actually...
“One simple word will fly through the room and convince them we—”
“Was I supposed to be reading your thoughts?” Dominic cut in.
“You’re rather good at it, so I suspect you know exactly what I was trying to say. But if you aren’t worried about getting badgered with questions about our marriage tonight, then I won’t mention a brilliant way to keep those questions from even being asked.”
“I’m listening.”
“If you kiss me right here and now, people will think the Regent has done us a favor and we are marrying for love.”
“So love solves everything, does it?”
“I have no idea if it does or not. But it does explain what you’re doing here with me.”
“And would ruin my chance of a dalliance forming tonight, or is that no longer your main concern?”
She hadn’t thought of that, only of helping him to avoid an angry scene. She ought to stop putting concerns for him before her own. But she was silent long enough for him to stop dancing and draw her close. He did kiss her right there on the ballroom floor, scattering her thoughts, igniting her passion. She heard a few gasps. One might have been her own. She didn’t care. Nothing mattered when his mouth was moving so sensually over hers. She was about to wrap her arms around his neck when they were jostled apart, another couple twirling right into them.
Brooke laughed. Still smiling, she also took advantage of the moment and took Dominic’s hand to lead him off the floor to the sidelines. No one approached with any rude questions.
She whispered, “I think it worked, or half worked. Though it might take a few minutes for that word to fly through the room.”
“I wasn’t serious about ruined chances.”
“No?”
He shrugged. “It’s been my experience that women tend to want what they think they can’t have.”
She snorted. “What an absurd statement.”
“Then you haven’t experienced it yourself yet. It’s human nature and besets men as well.”
She was quite familiar with human nature, or was he still not being serious?
“Besides,” he added, “there are too many innocents here tonight, so it didn’t matter.”
She hadn’t yet looked at the people there, having been so enchanted by the lights, the glitter, and the beautiful clothes—her husband-to-be. But it was quite nice to know that he viewed innocents as off-limits. “Is this a debutantes ball?”
“No, though this Season’s crop would still have been invited.”
She perused the crowd and concluded, “Not even half the women here are as young as you just implied.”
“Aren’t they? But then they come with chaperones, and very few chaperones are old and doddering.”
She rolled her eyes. “Make up your mind.”
A few more small groups of people did still come over to greet Dominic and get introduced to her, friends of his who wanted to congratulate him on the coming nuptials. One rakish fellow said, “If this is what you get for dueling, Dominic, I need to find someone to challenge.”
