“You accused me of that last night,” he said. “And I assure you, I do not play games.”
She shook her head. “Allmen play games.”
There was something about her tone that drew Graham up short, and he stared at her. For months he had been wrapped up in his own pain and betrayal and heartbreak. He’d been incapable of recognizing anyone else’s feelings. Now he saw hers, flitting across that slender face before she packed them away and hid them.
And a strange part of him longed to dig those feelings out. Allow her to express them as she clearly did not do. Comfort her.
He didn’t, of course. It wasn’t his place. Not in this world or any other. But just because he had no connection to this woman didn’t mean he couldn’t be gentlemanly. He had the capacity, he just hadn’t been in practice lately.
“Adelaide, let me assure you I was not playing a game with you last night. I danced with you because I was uncomfortable with the situation, but I was honest with you about that, wasn’t I?”
Her lips parted and his attention was drawn to her mouth immediately. He shook off the reaction as she said, “Well…yes.”
“I chose you because I thought you wouldn’t hound me about Meg and Simon. Which, of course, you did.”
She gasped in outrage. “I did not!”
He found himself chuckling a little as he shook his head, and was shocked by it. He hadn’t laughed in a very long time. “Youdid, Adelaide. But I somehow didn’t mind your questions. They’re the same ones all my friends have been dancing around for months. You are the first to be so damned direct, and perhaps I needed it in that moment where I felt so…vulnerable.”
Her brow wrinkled. “Oh.”
“And I admit I asked you because I didn’t think you’d assume my invitation to take a turn around the dancefloor was an indication that I wished to link my life to yours for the rest of my days.”
She clenched her jaw slightly. “Of course not, don’t be foolish.”
He nodded. “You see, you are practical. I like that about you. Either way, the reason I asked you onto the terrace afterward was because Ididenjoy the dance and I didn’t necessarily wish to stop talking to you. None of that was a game. None of that was a lie.”
“But what about what you said on the terrace?” she countered. “You told me you thought I was pretty and Iknowthat is a lie. One you probably tell without thinking because it’s what simpering, ridiculous fools want you to say when you look into their eyes and pretend to like them.”
He shook his head slowly. What the hell had someone done to this woman? Her sharp reaction was too specific not to think it hadn’t been born from bitter experience.
“First,” he said, ticking one finger with the other. “It isn’t a lie. You have an interesting face, Adelaide. Second, I haven’t stared into a ridiculous fool’s eyes and told her anything for almost a decade. If you recall, I have been engaged up until recently, so I haven’t been bent on seducing anyone since I was nineteen.” He huffed out his breath. “But if you do not want me to call you pretty, then I will certainly never do so again. I will only compliment you on your intelligence and your wit and the fact that you may be the most frustrating person I have ever had the pleasure of talking to.”
He stopped talking for a moment, and his face fell. Great God, what had he just said to this person? This lady? This stranger? And now she was just staring at him, eyes wide beneath her spectacles, face unreadable, but filled with tension.
He opened his mouth to apologize, but before he could, she tilted her head back and began to laugh. The sound took him utterly off guard, for it was a throaty, rich laugh that echoed in the small room around them. A lovely laugh. A sensual laugh, actually.
And a laugh that drew him in and made him smile despite himself.
“Goodness, I’m so sorry,” she said as she regained her composure. “I must have seemed like a wretched girl having such a strong reaction to some simple words.”
He shook his head. “You didn’t. But whydidyou react so strongly?”
She shrugged and the pleasure left her face. “Experience, Your Grace. We all have it, don’t we? And sometimes it’s impossible not let the past wheedle its way into the present and even damage the future.” She moved toward him again, carefully. “But now it seems that you and I are going to see more of each other. I’m so close to Emma, and if you are renewing your friendship with Abernathe we would not be able to avoid it if we wished to. So…so will you allow me to start again?”
He nodded, though he was taken aback by her confidence beneath that shifting wallflower surface. It felt…familiar somehow, though he had no idea why.
“Yes,” he said. “I’d like that.”
She held out a hand. “Adelaide,” she said, as a means to introduce herself.
He stared at her offering and then took it, shaking gently. “Graham,” he said, foregoing his title. “At least in private.”
“Graham,” she said, sliding her fingers from his. “A pleasure to meet you.”
Their hosts reentered the room in that moment, and Adelaide blushed as she stepped away from him.
“Well, it’s all arranged,” Emma said brightly, though her gaze flitted to Adelaide and then slowly to Graham. “I hope you two were able to entertain yourselves.”
