Glynnis tried to sink into his embrace, to ignore the thoughts in her head, and to let the sizzling and the throbbing begin.
Nothing. His lips were firm, his breath was clean, his nose didn’t knock awkwardly against hers. Yet no part of her body heated and pulsed, and she couldn’t stop comparing the kiss to Hargrove’s.Where was the blossoming passion?
On the other hand, as Lord Dodd tilted his head in the other direction and resumed the kiss, she wasn’t revolted in the least. It was a good, solid kiss. It wouldn’t be the worst thing to kiss this man for the rest of her life. As they became used to one another, as their feelings deepened and she hopefully fell in love with him, and as they enjoyed the other things that husbands and wives did, then she believed his kiss would begin to move her, even to thrill her.
Thus, she was confounded as to why Hargrove’s kiss already had the power to send her to the moon and had from the very first one. It was a conundrum.
Lord Dodd was breathing hard when he broke away, clearly more stirred than she was.How she wished she felt the same!In time, she would, she promised herself.
“I burn for you,” he declared.
Enough to offer her his hand?she wondered.
“I am engaged, as you know,” Glynnis said. “Thus, there is nothing we can do about your feelings. That is, unless you can think of some remedy.”
“We shall see,” Lord Dodd said, and nothing more.
As they approached the assembly room, she startled. Up ahead, Hargrove stood just outside the door, arms crossed. She would vow he’d been scanning the area for her.
“You look like a porter,” Lord Dodd quipped and led her past him. Her gown even brushed the viscount’s leg.
Glynnis would swear she could feel waves of anger emanating from him, and she was compelled to look back, catching his eye. Hargrove’s gaze was decidedly condemning, as if he knew what she’d been doing behind the elm tree.
Inside, little had changed. Isabelle was still by the prince’s side, a glass of champagne in her hand. But the Castle’s master of ceremonies signaled the dancing was about to begin with a vigorous shake of a bell.
“May I claim the first dance?” Lord Dodd asked.
“Yes, of course,” she said.
They began with a minuet, which was easily arranged in the eighty-foot ballroom. The space appeared even larger due to the strategically hung mirrors placed on opposite walls, with three lamps in every girandole sconce between each looking glass. The light reflected from side to side, creating a dazzling effect, and illuminated the Wedgewood cameos and delicate moldings around the room’s perimeter.
Hargrove partnered with a blonde from the picnic, and Glynnis wished she wasn’t so aware always of his location.
After the first dance, when Lord Dodd had finally excused himself, Hargrove approached her.
“Will you dance with me?” he asked.
“I’m surprised you wish to,” she said tartly. “You haven’t spoken a word to me all evening.”
He pursed his lips. “How was yourstrolloutside?”
Unthinkingly, she put her gloved hand to her mouth, and Hargrove’s gaze narrowed as his jaw tightened.
“You’re playing with fire again,” he muttered.
“Don’t tell me Lord Dodd is a petticoat-pensioner or married or a terrible libertine.”
“No,” Hargrove bit out. “None of those things. Must I remind you that you are engaged. You are putting your future happiness at terrible risk.”
What could she say to that?Glynnis shrugged.
Without another word, he swept her into his arms for a waltz, and she did two things. She sniffed the familiar scent — something expensive and custom-made for him from Floris on Jermyn Street, she guessed — and she started to tingle all over. Maybe she’d caught an illness the first time he’d kissed her, a germ from his mouth to hers that would forever cause her to react strongly to him.Perhaps he was a curse to her constitution!
She didn’t know. All she knew was no one else made her feel this way, and that was a shame.
After the second turn down the length of the room, she asked, “Why did you change your mind about Miss Montrose?”
His blue eyes met hers. “I’m not sure I understand your question.”
