She nodded and let him lead her from the dark, secret outbuilding and back toward the brightly lit ballroom. Only as they neared the others, she wished she could hold back. Stay with him and only him.
She wished she could find a way to never let this night end.
Celia sat in Gray’s carriage, watching as her brother-in-law helped Rosalinde into her place. He leaned into the door and smiled. “I see Stenfax getting ready to depart. Let me speak to him a moment, will you?”
Rosalinde nodded and Gray backed away, leaving the sisters alone.
“The ball went well, I think,” Rosalinde said, turning her attention back to Celia.
Celia blinked and forced herself to smile. The last hour of the ball she’d been fighting distraction as she thought of all the pleasures she’d shared with Aiden outside.
“Y-yes,” she stammered. “It was a…a fine evening, indeed.”
Rosalinde wrinkled her brow. “I received several congratulations on your being courted by the Duke of Clairemont, so it seems news of that development is traveling fast.”
Celia nodded. “Yes, it seems so.”
“I was sorry he left early,” Rosalinde continued. “An ache in his head, he told Gray.”
Celia pressed her lips together. She had no response to that. Aiden had slipped away without even a goodbye very soon after they returned. It was troubling.
“Where did you go?”
Celia swallowed hard at the question. “Go?” she repeated.
Rosalinde nodded. “You went outside at some point and I didn’t see you for what felt like a while. Where did you go?”
“I was…” She trailed off as she tried to force calm. “I went to get air and bumped into first Stenfax, then Aiden.”
Rosalinde’s eyes went slightly wider. “There is an interesting combination. The former fiancé and the potential future one. They got along?”
“As well as can be expected. I explained to Aiden that there was nothing between Stenfax and I. Afterward we…we took a walk in the garden together.”
Rosalinde, who had been examining a loose thread on her gown, now jerked her head up. She stared at Celia. “A walk in the garden,” she repeated, accentuating each word.
Panic blasted through Celia as she straightened. “Yes.”
Rosalinde bit her lip. “Celia—” she began.
But before she could finish her sentence, Gray climbed into the carriage and took his place next to her, grabbing her hand as the footman closed the door and they began to move.
Celia had never been so happy to see Gray as she was in that moment. He smiled at the two women, and as he and Rosalinde began to talk, Celia settled back against the carriage seat.
Her mind wandered once more to those moments when Aiden had pleasured her so thoroughly. She’d heard the basics of what to expect when a man made love to her, but she’d never understood any of it until now.
Now that she’d experienced that thrilling sensation of buildup and release, she knew why women would risk it all for a night with a man. Why Rosalinde had surrendered to Gray even when they were enemies all those months ago.
She understood it all. But she had no idea what to do next. Something held Aiden back from fully committing to her, and that hurt her. But in many ways, it seemed her future was at last secure. Aiden wanted her, he was courting her, they would be together in the end. She would work hard to overcome those walls between them, and hopefully one day he would fall in love with her as she had fallen in love with him.
And with that more secure future, she did have one decision in mind to make. One thing shecoulddo.
She glanced at Rosalinde. Her sister was staring at her, even as she talked to Gray. Rosalinde wouldn’t approve.
But that wasn’t going to stop Celia.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Celia hadn’t been in her grandfather’s home since the previous October, and yet when she stepped into the parlor to await his entrance the place felt exactly the same. Cold. Unwelcoming.
