She sighed as she watched him make his way back into the ballroom.
From the shadows, Adrian whistled through his hands, mimicking the sound of a blackbird. She turned. Her eyes widened.
He withdrew further into the garden and then whistled again. Just beyond the hedge was an almost private clearing where they would both be entirely cloaked by night.
Her brow furrowed, but she stepped off the terrace and followed him into the division in the brush.
Adrian faced her, taking both of her hands into his own. He lowered his head until their foreheads touched.
This deep into the garden, the light from the windows was so faint he could barely make out her features. But he didn’t need to see her to take comfort in her presence, any more than he’d had to see her, as the Blackbird, to rouse his passion.
“If you had encouraged Vane”—his hands tightened—“I would have interceded.”
She expelled a short puff of air—something even less than half-hearted laugh. “You told the Blackbird you had learned the lesson she set out to teach—women are not yours for the choosing.”
“No, they’re not.” He slid his thumb along her glove. “But does it follow that I cannot offer myself to a woman? To you?”
“I don’t know why you would.”
“Why wouldn’t I?”
“I made you beg.”
“I would have begged, even if you hadn’t asked. I wanted the Blackbird like no one I’ve ever wanted before—until you. But you were right, that first night, I wasn’t willing to give anything real in return.”
“And now?”
“Miss Eliza Wainwright has convinced me I have something worthy to offer.”
“You are not angry with me?”
“No.”
“I don’t understand, then. Why did you turn away from me back there?”
How he wanted to soothe the heartbreak in her voice! “I have a confession to make—I had once determined to behave in exactly the manner I just behaved. I intended to expose the Blackbird by touch, demonstrating we’d been intimately acquainted. Nightmarishly, the plan I had abandoned was coming true. I’d recognized you, and I did nothing to hide that recognition. If I’d lingered any longer, the gossip would only have gotten worse.”
“I felt as if I were trapped in a nightmare, too.” She hiccupped back a sob. “I thought I was losing you forever.”
“You won’t.” He kissed her forehead. “You can’t.”
“Stop.” She sounded panicked. “You can’t possibly still want me. You must be furious!”
“Furious? I’m delighted. Absolutely unable to believe my luck—friendship and passion. I never would have believed I could find both in one lady. But I did…”
“Adrian—”
He silenced her with a light kiss.
“Listen.” He could just make out the sounds of a waltz. He released her hands and held out his arms. “Dance with me, Miss Wainwright.”
“Waltzing is what got the Wainwright girls into trouble in the first place.” She wiped at her eyes. “And you can’t dance.”
“Icandance. For a long time, Ichosenot to do so. But then an enchanting Siren changed my mind, made me want to fully embrace my life.”
She made an inarticulate sound as she took his hand and then stepped forward, allowing him to place his arm around her waist.
Plaintive notes traced the air, wrung out of violin strings by long, rosined bows. The notes, strung together, became a phrase, and the phase sequenced into melody.One, two three. He counted the steps as he led, easing into the rhythm his bodyhad never forgotten. And soon he was spinning Eliza on a sing-song cloud of sound.
