It was perhaps the most delightful thing she had ever seen. Tiny, pastel cakes in his large hands.
He was enjoying them; she could see that, even if his expression remained stubbornly neutral throughout.
The band began to play, and the large dance floor was cleared. “We have to dance first,” she said.
He nodded slowly, and then he held his hand out to her.
She curtsied, and then placed her hand in his. He wrapped his fingers around hers, completely engulfing them.
And then he pulled her out to the center of the floor, his arm tight around her waist, his other hand holding hers like she was anchoring him.
“You remember,” she whispered.
Of course, when they had practiced dancing, things had not been so easy between them. And what she remembered wasn’t just the dancing. His resistance. His angry kiss.
Her heart began to beat as he took the first step in time with the music. As she moved with him.
As he swept her over the dance floor and she kept imagining his mouth on hers, her back pressed against the bookcase. His hard, hot body right on hers.
His hands. Those large hands on her hips.
And she could see the memory reflected in his own gaze. In the blue depths, fire and ice and all that he was.
He was such a complicated man.
A puzzle to be solved. And maybe she would make that the mission of the next two years as well.
To untangle all of the aspects of him. To find the man beneath the warrior. The man beneath all of his pain.
She wondered about his missing memories. Would he ever get them back? Was it more of a blessing if he didn’t?
She wondered about all of that while memories of the kiss echoed persistently in her brain.
While he held her close, in time to the music, beneath the keen gaze of their audience.
And finally, halfway through the song, they were joined by the rest of the attendees at the ball. Still, even surrounded by all those people, it felt like they might be the only two in the world.
A dangerous feeling. When they were here to serve. When they were here to be of use to the people of this country. To forge alliances. They weren’t the only two people.
She had to remember that.
But tonight would be for the two of them. On that she had decided.
They danced through several songs, and then exhausted themselves making another circuit of the room. Until they had spoken to everyone. She could feel Ragnar losing strength. And it made her think again about his life. About all the things that he had done. And about how few of those things included these kinds of arduous social situations.
Of course it was exhausting. The man would probably rather be on a battlefield.
As soon as the clock struck midnight, it was their cue to leave. And they were officially excused as they had come in.
Once they were out in the antechamber, in the silence, away from everyone, she turned to him. “I don’t wish to go back to my room tonight.”
“You do not?”
“No. I intend to go back to yours.”
Chapter Nine
RAGNAR HAD NOTanticipated this.
