“Don’t you miss dancing?”
Did she? She’d adored her lessons growing up, but Maudsley had been insanely possessive. Even when she’d danced with caution if her partners were too young and attractive. Her husband had been the sort of man to wreak payment on her body with heavy fists for circumstances out of her control. Her unusual height had normally been a determent, as most men came only to her nose. Even Griston was close to her exact height.Everyone but Brock.“I haven’t danced much since the first year of my marriage as you well know,” she said.
“You and Brock would look lovely on the ballroom floor.”
“Would we?” She turned a too-sweet smile on her friend. Of course, Lorelei didn’t take offense. No, Lorelei just returned it with her own cat-that-got-the-cream smile that Ginny wouldn’t trust in a million years. “What is up with Kimpton tonight?”
Kimpton was quiet and watchful. He made Ginny nervous. The undercurrents were as thick as a vat of honey. She couldn’t tell who he was observing as he rarely glanced toward her when she spoke to Griston or anyone else, yet there was no question he was wholly engaged when she and Lorelei conversed.
Lorelei’s expression turned thoughtful. “I’m not certain, but something is on his mind.”
A servant moved about offering flutes of champagne, of which Ginny gladly partook. Maeve, Lady Alymer, sauntered up. “Hello, Lorelei, Ginny. Lovely party, isn’t it?”
“Is it?” Ginny muttered.
“I was just saying the same,” Lorelei said. “Sadly, there is no dancing.”
“I heard Lady Griston talking about that very thing. It’s planned for tomorrow night.”
Just as Ginny let out a snort, the door opened, and the men filtered in. Her eyes went straight to the tallest of the pack. Brock. His broad, confident frame, his unruly chestnut hair and piercing eyes, made her knees weak. Blast it, Lorelei was right, she and Brock would fit perfectly together.
Lorelei nudged her. “What are you scowling about?”
Ginny cleared her expression. Why did Lorelei have to putthatimage in her head? Ginny, more than anyone, knew how well she and Brock fit, and yet they’d never danced with one another. At least not on the dance floor—a trail of thought that led to nowhere.
She shuddered to think how Brock would react to secrets she’d kept from him over the years. The sinking feeling deep in her belly told her that her own sins were the truly unforgivable ones.
“He adores you, you know,” Maeve said softly.
Her words rattled and infuriated Ginny. “He’s confided this to you, has he?”
“He didn’t have to. Anyone with eyes in their heads can see he can’t keep his eyes off of you. That man is a catch, and you should snap him up before someone else beats you to him.” Maeve shook out her skirts, muffling a small groan. “Ladies, if you’ll excuse me, my mother beckons.”
“Let us know if you need a reprieve,” Lorelei told her, grinning.
“Poor Maeve,” Ginny said, watching her walk up to her mother, then shaking her head. “At least I don’t have to contend withmymother.” In fact, she hadn’t seen her mother in a decade. Maudsley had forbidden it. The one upside in the whole horrifying debacle. Now, with Maudsley dead, she was free to do as she pleased. A truly liberating thought.
Lorelei patted Ginny’s hand. “See? I knew you could find the positive.” She glanced about. “Hmm. I wonder where Griston disappeared to.”
Kimpton answered as he and Brock walked up, “He received a note from his butler and excused himself.”
A look passed between the two most attractive men in the parlor that sent an icy sliver down Ginny’s neck. “I don’t understand.”
“It’s nothing,” Brock said. His brisk tone said differently, however, and she resented the outright lie and disrespect for her intellect.
So now she and Lorelei were simpletons? Her temper frayed. She smirked. “Of course not, my lord. As mere feeble women, Lorelei and I are deaf and blind, as you well know.”
“Oh, for God’s sake,” Brock bit out under his breath. He took her by the arm. “Kimpton, Lady Kimpton, please accept our pardons.” Unless she made a scene, there was no escape. Brock didn’t stop outside the parlor. Instead, he manhandled her up the stairs and down the hall.Not toward the family wing. His chamber then. At the last door, he shoved it open then pulled her across the threshold.
Surprised flooded her. “What are you doing?” she hissed.
He backed her to the door. “Something I should have done years ago despite you being married to that blackguard. He assumed the worst of us anyway. We should have made good on his accusations.”
His mouth crashed down onto hers in a sensual assault that left her shamelessly clinging to his shoulders. His tongue swept into her mouth, stroking hers until she was helpless with need and giving back as good as she received. She ran her hands through silken hair she hadn’t touched in ten years, and for the life of her, she couldn’t understand how,or why, she’d put him off for so long. He was right. Maudsley had always believed the worst of her. She should have lived up to his recriminations, then at least the beatings would have been worth something.
Ginny breathed in the familiar bay scent that had haunted her dreams, that more times than not had kept her alive, had stoked her desires into a frenzy.
He pulled his mouth from hers with an audible groan. His lips were wet and shiny, his chest heaving with short, rapid breaths. “God, what you do to me,” he growled.
