However, he found it interesting that Lady Peregrine had requested the introduction.That was a twist he hadn’t expected.Yet, it shouldn’t shock him; she was rather bold when she wanted to be.Fascinating, really.
“Already bored?”Henley asked while Gabriel mused to himself.
“In a London ballroom?Always.But I must admit, I couldn’t resist the temptation of watching Ramsford’s fall.”
“Ah, so that’s what dragged you out here?I should have known.”
“There’s little else that could entice me here, I assure you.”Gabriel scanned the room.
The footmen meandered with warm champagne, and the perimeter of the ballroom was a flood of pastel color as this season’s debutantes waited to be asked to dance.He gave a slight shiver.
“My Lord.”Lady Peregrine’s voice captured Gabriel’s attention from the lonely edges of the ballroom.“I didn’t expect to see you.”Her tone was cold, her eyes even chillier, even if her smile pretended to be warm.
Gabriel almost shivered.
But rather than serve to make him distance himself from her, he found it a challenge.“Ah, Lady Peregrine, a delight as always.”
Her eyebrow rose, a disbelieving expression in her eyes.
“Lord Hawthorne, Lord Allendale,” the nameless partner of Lady Peregrine greeted them, then took his leave.
“And which of your swains was that?”Gabriel asked, watching as her expression turned mutinous.
The ballroom just got a lot more interesting.
“Lord Merligh.”
“I believe he is a friend of Lord Woodbury; I think I remember him from Eton as well, but I can’t be sure,” Henley offered.
The next song began, a waltz, and Gabriel couldn’t resist a devilish grin as he offered his hand to Lady Peregrine.“Would you do me the honor?”
Her eyes narrowed, then flickered to her brother, then back to him.For a moment he wondered if she’d refuse him outright.
He wiggled his fingers.
She scowled but placed her hand in his.“Of course, my lord.I’d never imagine refusing you,” she said with a false sweetness.
Henley nodded at them as Gabriel led her onto the dance floor.
As Gabriel pulled her into the frame of the waltz and into the throng of dancers, he couldn’t suppress a small laugh.“You might be smiling, but you’re not fooling me.Tell me, have you thought about how you’ll verbally dismember me, or do you need another minute to collect your thoughts?”He whispered the words, adding a velvet softness to his tone, wanting to draw her in against her will.
He was playing with fire and had never been more careless of the danger.
Lady Peregrine blinked, then narrowed her eyes.“I have no idea what you’re speaking of.”She all but shrugged.“Dismemberment would be too kind,” she added lowly, a frightening grin lighting up her features.
“Ah, I wait with bated breath,” Gabriel remarked, arching a brow.
“You’ll have to keep waiting.In fact, why don’t you keep holding that bated breath; let’s see what happens?Might save me from needing an alibi.”
Gabriel couldn’t resist the chuckle that escaped.
He decided a change of subject was needed.“What did you say to Ramsford?”
“Ah, yes.You were spying, weren’t you?I saw you hiding behind a pillar like a child being disciplined.”
“Or like a gentleman who didn’t wish to intrude.”
Her expression was delightfully sarcastic.
