Page 37 of A Very Bellamy Christmas

“What is wrong with you?” Stacia’s hand had jumped to her heart, as if by laying a hand over it she could soothe its frantic rhythm. She glared up into a face that would make angels weep, her eyes colliding with a pair that were an unearthly shade of blue.

I’d have to be desperate indeed to foist my attentions on such a drab, downtrodden little dab of a female!

“Are you all right, Miss Martin?”

The sound of her name on his tongue snapped her from confusion and misery to icy control. So. He had finally remembered it after all these years, had he?

Rather than please her, it only made her hate him more. “I am fine, my lord. At least I was until you leapt out of nowhere and all but stopped my heart.”

He recoiled at her harsh tone, momentarily taken off guard. But he recovered quickly enough, his eyelids lowering and his unfairly perfect lips pulling up into a lazy smirk that was, even after all these years, enough to snatch the air from her lungs. “I normally prefer to stop a lady’s heart using more… pleasant means.”

Her jaw dropped.

The knowing expression on his face said he was accustomed to robbing women of words and laying waste to their wits. He gifted her an amused, condescending smile and held out his arm. “Allow me to make up for my boorish behavior by escorting you back to the drawing room.”

I’d have to be desperate indeed to foist my attentions on such a drab, downtrodden little dab of a female!

The words snapped her from her besotted fugue.

“Oh, dear me!” she said in an exaggerated, gushing tone. “Such a treat would likely make my head swell, my lord. I’m sure it is far safer for my peace of mind to walk into the room unassisted.”

His expression of stupefaction was so complete that she was tempted to linger and enjoy it. But Stacia knew the value of a well-timed exit and took advantage of the stunned silence to sail past him, her chin high.

Only when he was behind her did she allow herself a triumphant smile. Take that you insufferable, arrogant toad.