Page 29 of The Marquess’s Forbidden Bride

Chapter Ten

Emma was staring moodily into the darkness, trying to summon the will to return to the ballroom when a tingling over her skin alerted her to Richland’s approach a bare moment before he reached her side.

‘What’s this—hiding away? It’s no good. I told you I’d find you for a waltz.’

Relief that it was Richland, not Aldersby, had her idiotically close to tears. ‘I didn’t think you would have the time.’

He made a scoffing sound. ‘Nonsense. I need a waltz with an intelligent female now more than ever.’

She managed a smile. ‘Sarah would not have introduced you to any nodcocks. I’m sure you’ve met many charming, intelligent ladies—and gentlemen.’

‘Oh, yes, charming,’ he said, his voice dripping irony. ‘Some doubtless wondering how this nobody came to be a marquess, some silently sympathetic to the boy I supplanted, some just gawking at the person at the centre of the latest on-dit. I wanted to be with the lady who’d found me charming, witty and handsome before I became a marquess.’

For some reason, that avowal brought the threatening tears closer. ‘Doubtless a person of s-superior sense.’

He must have noticed the break in her voice, for he reached over to tilt her face toward the torchlight. ‘What’s this?’ he asked, wiping away the tear that had escaped. Amusement vanishing, he frowned. ‘Has someone upset you? Is that why you’re out here, all alone?’

She could hardly say she’d lingered here fighting the acute sadness of realising she was losing him to his destiny. Or admit the depth of bleakness that idea caused her.

‘No, it’s nothing. Well, Aldersby has been annoying, but no more so than usual.’

‘I may have to plant him a facer. I see I must watch you more closely, no matter how surrounded I am. I did promise to protect you, after all. Unthinkable for me to shirk that obligation when you have been so wonderfully protective of me.’

‘Sarah’s “safe” ladies have proved helpful?’

He nodded. ‘They are providing quite exceptional camouflage—better than a rifleman’s green coat in a forest! Only a single determined matron made it through their gauntlet—and then, only because she was a relation of Lady Jersey’s—who speedily sent her on her way after allowing her to present her daughter to me.’ He laughed. ‘Lady Jersey told her I was far too newly come into my title to yet require a wife. And that I was definitely in need of some ton polish, which she and her friends knew best how to apply.’

‘Hurrah for Lady Jersey! I’m glad her assistance has been helpful.’

‘I appreciate her rescuing me from marriage-minded maidens, but even with those deterred, the attention focused on me is nearly overwhelming. If I hadn’t seen you sneak out here, I might have snuck out myself. I, too, felt the need of some cool air and quiet.’

They stood together silently, Emma revelling in the intimate closeness. With darkness all around, the twinkling of stars overhead, the scent of spring flowers from the garden below wafting around them, she could imagine that there were only the two of them suspended in this timeless moment.

‘Our bargain of mutual protection was a good one,’ he murmured, breaking the spell. Looking down at her, he added, ‘Maybe we need to renew it.’

Her heartbeat accelerated. ‘You mean—we should seal it again?’

‘If you are willing. I know I shouldn’t ask and you ought to slap my face for effrontery, but when you look like that, so appealing and adorable, I—’

‘I’m willing!’ Her relief that he still meant to protect her and joy in his nearness blinding her to any thought of what she risked, she lifted her chin and pulled him to her.

His lips brushed hers with a gossamer touch, so gentle yet so profoundly moving that breath halted altogether and her knees grew weak. She clung to him as he deepened the kiss, teasing open her lips to explore her mouth, his tongue probing, wicked, insistent.

She responded by exploring with her own, the hot contact of plush surfaces of mouth and tongue firing a melting sensation deep within her and a tingling at her core. He put a hand at the back of her head, urging her closer still.

When he finally broke the kiss, she was panting, her pulse racing, her senses on fire. She wanted to protest his ending it, but her wits seemed suspended and her mouth wouldn’t produce speech.

‘You are so lovely,’ he murmured, hugging her briefly against his chest, where she felt his heart hammer against her own. ‘But I’d better end this madness and take you back in before we are discovered.’

‘If you must,’ she said, finally finding her tongue, her mind still so blinded by sensation that the realisation of what they’d been risking barely registered.

‘I’ve treated you badly, taking such liberties! But… I can’t make myself regret it.’ After a pause, he added, ‘Do you?’

‘Not at all! Later, when I can think rationally about my behaviour, I may be horrified by my boldness. But I’ll still not regret it.’

He grinned. ‘Good. But we must be responsible now. I’ll escort you in—and claim that waltz you promised.’

Thrusting away any thought but the joy of basking in the afterglow of his kiss, Emma walked back in on his arm. She’d not count on having his escort very often in future or trust that he’d be able to seek her out—or seal more bargains. But for now, she would give herself over to fully enjoying this dance with him.