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She could even now feel his hands on her face, framing her lips before kissing her.
She could even now feel his hard strong arms pressing her willing body against his....
“Mariah?” Abigail said, interrupting Mariah’s thoughts. “Dear? Let us go down to the ballroom. The string quartet is even now starting the waltzes.”
Abigail placed a hand to Mariah’s elbow as Mariah looked gloomily at her. “Come, dear,” she persisted. “We must give you a reason to erase that frown from your lovely face. It will be better for you to mingle with other people and get your mind off Echohawk.”
“Yes, I’m sure you are right,” Mariah said, swallowing hard. She wanted to take a last glance at Echohawk, but she turned away from the window.
“We will have such a wonderful time tonight,” Abigail said, sweeping Mariah from the room and hurriedly down the corridor and then the narrow staircase.
Mariah’s heart pounded as they moved down another corridor, the sound of music and laughter drawing closer. She sucked in a nervous breath, then went into the ballroom at Abigail’s side. She stopped and took a quick step back, struck almost numb with fear when she saw the throng of people. Some were milling about, sipping either punch or wine from long-stemmed glasses, while others were whirling across the polished parquet, crinolines and silken ruffles billowing, the string quartet on a platform at the far end of the room.
Abigail laughed softly and took Mariah’s hand, leading her into the room. Mariah’s heart fluttered and her face became flushed with a building excitement, and she was glad for the moment to be able to put Echohawk at least partly from her mind. She allowed Abigail to usher her around the room, introducing her to the other guests.
Soon Mariah found herself spinning around the room with one handsome gentleman after another, her dress billowing prettily about her, the ruffle of her petticoat seeming to foam around her delicate ankles.
She excused herself each time she stepped clumsily on the feet of the men, trying to hide her embarrassment behind winning smiles.
But too soon her merriment became strained, and even more awkward, when Tanner McCloud was suddenly there, his strange yellow eyes gleaming into hers. She did not have time to protest when he grabbed her roughly by the hand and took her among the dancers and began whirling her around the room, all the while smiling in his leering way.
Everything about him made her uncomfortable. She saw him as a repulsive, vile old man. And he always seemed to have the stench of death on him after working with dead animals all day, removing their pelts.
“Tanner McCloud, this one dance is all you will get from me,” she said icily. She glared up at him. “Must I remind you that my father sent you away when you brought the bride price to pay for me?”
“That was then,” Tanner said, chuckling. “This is now.”
“Nothing has changed,” Mariah fumed. “Nothing!”
“I’d say everything has changed,” Tanner said, leaning down into her face, the stench of alcohol on his breath causing Mariah to turn her face away, gagging. “It’s apparent you’ve run away from your pa. As I see it, because you ain’t with him and his bossin’ ways any longer, you can make your own decisions.” His yellow eyes gleamed into hers. “It’s all up to you, Mariah. Marry me. I’ll give you the world.”
“Marry you?” Mariah said, staring disbelievingly up at him. Then she threw her head back and laughed. “Not if you were the last man on earth!”
Then she grew sober and looked up at him with narrowing eyes, trying to jerk herself free when the string quartet stopped playing and all of the dancers paused between songs.
“Let me go,” she said, her voice a low hiss. She tried to jerk herself free again, but to no avail. Tanner continued to stand there, his hold on her wrist solid, his lips twisted into an ugly smile.
“I’d let her go if I were you,” a man said suddenly behind Mariah.
She turned her head with a start, finding herself looking at a young man with ruddy yet handsome features and hair the same color as hers—as red as autumn sunsets. He was taller than Tanner, and when he bowed civilly and cut in to rescue her, she smiled up into dark and dancing friendly eyes.
“Thank you, sir,” she said as Tanner released his hold on her and quickly lost himself in the crowd, moving away from her and the stranger.
Abigail came in a rustle of petticoats to Mariah’s side. “My son, William Joseph, is your hero for tonight,” she said, laughing softly as she placed a gentle hand to her son’s cheek, patting it. “And, son, this is the young lady I told you about. This is Mariah Temple.”
Mariah blushed and her hand went to her hair when she found William Joseph gazing bemusedly at it, then sighed with relief when his attention moved from her hair, to smile warmly down at her again.
“And she is everything that you said she would be,” William Joseph said, lifting Mariah’s hand to his lips, kissing it. “Lovely. Enchantingly lovely.”
Mariah lowered her eyes, blushing; then, before she could say a word to William Joseph, he had whisked her into the midst of the whirling dancers and begun guiding her masterfully around the floor.
“Mother told me about your father,” he said frowning. “I think it was very courageous of you to leave home on your own to seek a new way of life without Victor. You have come to the right people for assistance. My mother and father are most kindhearted. They will do right by you.”
“I am ever so grateful,” Mariah murmured, gasping with embarrassment when she half-stumbled over one of William Joseph’s feet as they made another wide turn on the dance floor.
“Pardon me,” she said, laughing softly as she looked up at him, so glad that she did not find mockery in his eyes. “I . . . I have never danced before tonight. It is such an awkward thing to do!”
“You dance like an angel,” William Joseph said, firming his grip on her waist. He leaned his face closer to hers. “And may I say, my dear Mariah, you look like an angel.”
