Also, he hadn’t been lying when he’d told the Darrows that he thought she could be the belle of Brighton’s summer season. Looking at her now, he realised she was gazing a little wistfully at the dancers, and he felt stirred by an emotion he couldn’t quite identify. She looked more beautiful than ever. Her fair hair had slipped delightfully from its pins, allowing a cascade of untamed locks to add a subtle glow to her face. Her green eyes held a newmagic, because in the light of the ballroom’s many candelabras they sparkled with flashes of pure gold.
He said suddenly, ‘You are watching the dancers. Do you envy them, Kate?’
She turned to him. ‘Of course,’ she said quietly. ‘I think it must be rather wonderful to be able to dance.’
Those simple words pierced his iron-armoured heart and must have addled his brain too, because to his astonishment he found himself saying, ‘Well then. Why don’t you try it?’
‘But I can’t.’ She was looking at him in amazement. ‘You know that!’
‘I know nothing of the sort.’ He pointed to the doors leading out into the garden. ‘Come outside with me, and I’ll show you what it’s like.’
Her expression was frozen now. ‘I think you must be making fun of me.’
He shook his head. ‘Please, Kate. Trust me. Will you?’
Then he took her hand and he led her outside.
CHAPTER TEN
Kate’s heart was beating unevenly and she was aware of a disturbing sense of exhilaration, not least because it was absolutely beautiful out here. The garden was lit by soft lamplight, the scent of nearby roses filled the air and the music drifted from the ballroom as if by magic…
She stopped. This was not wise. This was not sensible.Kate! Why are you trusting him? Will you never learn?She began to speak. ‘My lord—’
‘Dan,’ he said softly. ‘My name is Dan. Remember?’
Then he smiled and led her further from the house, and she knew that even if he was taking her to perdition, she had neither the will nor the desire to stop him.
At last, he came to a halt. The evening air was cooler here and she had forgotten her shawl, but how could she be cold when this man was clasping both her hands in his warm ones and was murmuring, ‘Kate. Look at me, will you?’
She obeyed. The moonlight was casting harsh shadows across his face, and the stark angles of his jaw and cheekbones should have been forbidding. But his amazing blue eyes, as they searched hers, were full of something that sent her emotions churning. Compassion? Understanding? Desire, even?
The music that pursued them was fainter now, but he was listening and after a moment he said, ‘We can waltz to this.’
‘But I don’t even know the steps!’
‘You’re not afraid to try, are you? I can help you. Guide you.’
She nodded slowly. She knew that the intimate hold required by this particular dance had the strictest matrons of London swooning in horror, but she said, ‘I am not afraid.’
He put one arm round her waist, he took her hand in his and they were waltzing together. He had to help her considerably at first, but always she felt his hand firmly on her waist, steadying her, taking some of her weight if she was insecure. Sometimes she missed a step or lost the rhythm, but quickly she would catch it again, then he would smile and murmur, ‘I have you safe, you see. Just listen to the music and let me be your guide.’
She listened, she danced, and when he told her to clasp his shoulders she reached up and did so, closing her eyes and letting herself be transported by the wonder of moving in unison with this man whose powerful body was so close and so warm against hers. She felt a sense of sheer delight until the moment came when she realised,this is not enough. I never want the dancing to end, and yet somehow, I want more. So much more.
He made her feel different; he made her feel beautiful. Her breasts were aching for his touch, and her body was possessed by a physical sensation she hadn’t the words to describe. There was a fierce kind of yearning low down in the core of her being, that made her wonder what it would be like to be kissed by him. To be loved by him…
‘The music has stopped now, Kate.’ He said it very gently.
‘Oh.’ She backed away, embarrassed. ‘I hadn’t realised.’
She felt like an idiot. How stupid of her to cling to him so, and for a moment she wished she could melt away into the darkness. She tried to smile up at him. ‘It was a beginner’s error, I fear, not to recognise when it’s time to stop.’
‘Perhaps it stopped too soon,’ he said softly.
She gazed up into his brooding face to see that his blue eyes were as dark as sin, and she thought,what was that feeling in her heart? Why did she want to hold on to him and say,those were the most magical moments of my life. Don’t you realise it?
She said nothing, though, because he was the Earl of Rivington, who was impervious to romance, and she was Kate Summerby, who had declared over and over that she could live very happily without a man in her life. By bringing her out to dance, the Earl was being kind to her, that was all.
‘I suppose we really should go back inside,’ she began. ‘It’s been very generous of you—’
