Leading her onto the floor now, he said, “Ashford has Ava, thank God. It’s dashed taxing having a sister to keep an eye on, and I’ve got three! Ava is a handful, and I suspect Ingrid will be just as bad. Heather at least should be less of a worry.”
“Tell me about them, Heather and Ingrid,” she prompted.
“Heather is sweet, though I might be biased. We have always had more of an affinity for each other. Not that I don’t love Ava and Ingrid equally as well, but Heather inspires fewer headaches. Ingrid is a little rebel, and Ava just has too muchvivacity for her own good and my peace of mind. Heather on the other hand is restful and sweet tempered, gentle.”
“Your womanly ideal?”
“I used to think so, but not since I met you,” he said ruefully.
“Meaning I am not restful, sweet tempered, and gentle?”
“At the risk of saying something intemperate, no.”
“How would you describe me then?”
“You were described to me as a warm, vital, loving creature, with a soft heart and caring nature. Which I have come to think is a fair description.”
Sarah flushed with pleasure and smiled. “Whoever said such a lovely thing of me?”
“That I am not prepared to tell you, but I do agree with it.” He certainly wasn’t going to tell her Lannister had said such a thing. Her reaction might confirm her partiality for him. He pulled her a little closer and wished he could whisk her off into an alcove and kiss her. She looked lovely tonight in a pale-lavender silk gown with lace cap sleeves and a bodice low cut enough to be distracting. Not that it was extreme—Sarah was by far too modest to adopt the very fashionable bodices that were nearly indecent.
He smiled down into her face and their eyes locked.
For an endless moment, time stood still. Her eyes widened slightly, and he felt a surge of something warm pass between them, something like the communion of souls he had so longed for. His chest filled with that warmth, and he forgot to breathe. It seemed to last forever and be over in a moment.
Her cheeks flushed, and she broke the connection by dropping her gaze, and the wrench of it actually made him stumble. His heart thudded hard and the pain beneath his sternum was sharp enough to make him gasp.
“Sarah?” he murmured, his mouth close to her ear, as he fought to recover the rhythm of the music. He glanced up, themovement of the dance had brought them close to a curtained-off alcove. On impulse, he swept her behind the curtain. It was a small space occupied largely by a damaged alabaster statue that was due for repair, hence the curtain to hide it.
He wrapped his arms around her, his hand coming up to cradle the back of her head and press her face into his chest, where his heart thumped and ached. His eyes stung. What the hell is wrong with me? Am I ill? Having some kind of seizure?
She leaned against him in silence, her hands resting against the lapels of his jacket. He kissed her hair gently, careful not to disturb her elaborate coiffure of curls and combs.
“Sarah?” he said again softly.
She raised her head, her eyes glinting in the dimness of the alcove, and irresistibly he bent his and kissed her, a soft touch of his lips, trying to recapture that moment of connection. When she responded, his heart lifted, and he deepened the kiss, pulling her closer against him. Heat surged behind his breeches and his body ignited, hot desire flooding his senses.
If he didn’t end this soon, he wouldn’t be in a fit state to appear in public. But the last thing he wanted to do was end something that felt so good, so right.
As she wrapped her arms round his neck and gave him back kiss for kiss, he lost his head a little and pushed her back against the wall, the kiss escalating to something hungry and devouring. His late-night lewd impulses threatened to break free as desire consumed him in a tingling hot rush. He was hard, burning and aching with desire. For her. He tried and failed to stifle a groan in his throat as he ground himself against her belly.Oh, Sarah, I want you!
Her body jerked with what he assumed was alarm, penetrating the fog of desire clouding his mind. He realized with horror what he was doing and pulled back.Damnation! I have no control where this woman is concerned. What in Hadesis making me behave this way?He stepped away fighting for composure.
“I’m sorry.”
The dance was drawing to a close, someone was going to notice their absence.And here I have been worrying about Ava causing a scene!
“Please,” he waved to her to leave him. “I’ll rejoin you in a moment.”
She eyed him with a look he couldn’t interpret and slipped from the alcove, leaving him to rearrange his breeches and try to think about bills and agriculture. Thank God the wedding was only three weeks away. He was getting eaten up with wanting her and all they’d done was kiss, he’d not touched her anywhere inappropriate. How the hell am I going to manage the wedding night if I lose control at the smallest provocation?
Thinking about that didn’t help his current predicament.Bills! How many acres can we put under corn by the middle of the year?
A few minutes later, order restored to his breeches, he left the alcove looking for Sarah and spotted her with his mother. He would not go there right now. He was still shaken by the events of the last few minutes, and he didn’t need his mother’s sharp eyes ferreting out his business. It was a shock to realize that itwasonly a few minutes. It had seemed like an eon.
The event felt seismic to him, as if the whole world had shifted around him.
Did I imagine it?He began to wonder. Could he have imagined that moment of connection?Do I want it so badly I am making things up, or did she feel it, too?He would have sworn in the moment that she did. He fervently hoped that it wasn’t his imagination. The moment seemed so fragile, in retrospect, as if it could be blown away in a puff of wind,destroyed by sound or movement. By the infinitesimal ticking of the clock.
