Page 68 of The Lady’s Great Escape

“I see that. Do you perhaps have a dance left that I could secure?”

She smiled beautifully and held out her dance card for his inspection.

“I shall see you for the supper dance,” he said and bowed. “It was a pleasure to see you again.”

“I look forward to it, my lord.”

Celia and Kit moved away, but she saw him look over his shoulder at the woman he’d obtained a dance with.

“I can’t believe that woman is little Willa. She’s magnificent.”

Celia worried she might need to pick his jaw up from the floor so he didn’t step on it. “Yes. As I said. Not a gorgon. You have not been turned to stone.”

“True.” He bent his arms as if testing their flexibility.

“Now. On to the matter of who you’ve selected for me, as you now have a dance reserved with a prospect.”

Perhaps focusing on her own possibilities would alleviate the pressure in her chest at seeing Kit’s reaction to the woman Celia chose for him. She was pleased for him, and if things went well with the girl, Celia would be glad to see him find happiness.

The fact that his reaction stung ever so slightly was of little importance and accounted for the fact they had only recently shifted their relationship from lovers to friends.

Memories of their last night still caught her off guard and made her blood heat as well as her heart hurt. It was bound to get easier.

“Very well,” he said. “At the moment I only saw three men here I would consider for your… appraisal.” He pointed them out and introduced her to the gentleman she found most appealing.

Lord Beckstone was tall with dark hair and stunning blue eyes. There was a dimple in his chin that never went away which gave him the look of being pleasant. But she was to find out during their dance he was not very pleasant at all.

“You are Lord Penbrook’s sister are you not?” Beckstone asked while staring openly at her birthmark.

Out of habit, she turned her face so he couldn’t see it. After the months she’d spent with Kit and his constant praise she’d almost forgotten she was unappealing to some men because of her imperfection.

How silly she was to pick the most attractive of the men Kit presented and think she would lure him to her bed as if she was some great seductress. This knowledge made her feel awkward, and the feeling was made worse when she stumbled and then stuttered an apology without looking the man in the eye.

“I seem to remember your husband as being quite aged, was he not?”

“He was. But he was a kind man.” As casual conversation went, Lord Beckstone was moving swiftly into personal topics one didn’t speak of with people they’d just been introduced to.

“Yes, I imagine he would have needed to be kind.” Again, he glanced at the mark on her face as he said the last word with a sneer. “I’ve heard the marriage was not legitimate. The case is being brought to the house soon. I can say you seem to be the type of woman who assumes she deserves more than she should.”

He looked at her as if the very idea of touching her during the dance repulsed him.

The entire meeting was a disaster and she wanted to flee the ballroom and go home where it was safe. She didn’t belong here with all these beautiful people of the ton. What had she been thinking?

Why had Kit thought this man would want to be her lover? He was awful. For a brief moment she worried Kit had done this on purpose to keep her from finding a man, but she decided Kit would never expose her to someone he knew was this cruel.

When the dance came to a close, some thirteen hours later—or so it seemed—she headed to the nearest exit. Kit caught up with her on the terrace.

“What has happened?” he asked. Then he gave her a wicked smile. “Are you to meet him in some dark place in the garden?”

She laughed, but the sound held no humor. “No. Definitely not.” Her lip quivered and her eyes stung. Neither of which escaped Kit’s notice.

“What did he do?” Once again Kit’s fingers were balled up and his brow was creased in simmering rage. Celia almost wanted to launch Kit at the horrible man she’d just danced with, but she couldn’t allow him to do something that would ruin his chances at finding a suitable wife.

“It wasn’t him. It was me. I forgot who I am for a moment.”

“What the hell does that mean?”

Without thinking her fingers unknowingly reached for her temple as if to hide the spot from him. It was preposterous. Kit had seen all of her. More than anyone else. She couldn’t hide anything from him.