AllFreeNovel
Share Us
‘Richard? Richard Turner?’ Her lost love from the past here, in front of her, in the middle of this appalling masquerade?
‘Yes! By all that’s wonderful, Madelyn—I never thought I would see you again. Dance with me.’
As if in a dream she let him draw her on to the dance floor, take her in his arms. ‘What—?’
‘It is a waltz. You waltz, don’t you, Madelyn?’
He did not wait for her denial or seem to notice her gasp of shock at being taken in his arms, although at least that stopped her tripping over her feet as she was swept around. ‘Richard, what are you doing here?’
‘I am here with new friends, finding my feet in England again—and then there you were. I would know your voice anywhere. But how is it that you are in London?’
‘You know that my father is dead?’
‘Yes—’ He broke off to navigate a path around a group of revellers. ‘I heard eventually, but I was in India. I have only just got back and the Company—I am with the East India Company, you see.’ He pulled off his mask to reveal his familiar features, but transformed by a tan, still dark despite the sea voyage.
In India? Had he taken his wife with him?
‘Is your wife here?’
‘No. I’m not married,’ he said, twirling her around so she almost fell against him.
‘Richard, I really do not know how to do this dance!’ He laughed and slowed down. ‘I thought you were going to marry the daughter of that rich grazier.’
‘Tabitha Arnold? We found we could not suit and her father died before the contract was signed, so we were able to agree not to go through with it. I found it very hard to think of another woman after you and I think she realised it.’ The expression in his dark eyes made her catch her breath at the sudden unhappiness there. ‘I joined the Company to defy my father, but I soon realised that it suited me and that I couldn’t go on living in the past.’
‘You are happy with the life?’ He had an air of confidence and competence she had not seen in him before.
‘I love it. And I have an aptitude for trade and money that I had never suspected before. I specialise in taking failing concerns and turning them around, rooting out the discrepancies in the books, dealing with incompetence and corruption. Fascinating—or at least I find it so.’
It was so good to see him happy.
I should tell him I am betrothed.
Madelyn lost the train of thought as her hood slipped off. She grabbed at it, but failed to catch the slippery silk as Richard jolted to a halt. ‘What the devil?’ Most of the dancers had stopped abruptly as a fight spilt out on to the dance floor.
A tall man slid across the boards on his back, then stood up, wrenched off his domino, lunged back into the fray, grabbed another man by the shirt front and felled him with a blow that left his nose streaming blood.
Women shrieked, applause broke out among some of the male onlookers and Richard said, ‘What a right hook!’
The bleeding man scrabbled backwards across the floor, ending up virtually at Madelyn’s feet, and the tall man strode after him, fists clenched, then stopped abruptly, his gaze locked with hers.
She was suddenly aware that not only had her hood had slipped back, but that her hair was coming down. Which would not have been so dreadful if it was not for the fact that the masked man facing her was unmistakably Jack Ransome.
Chapter Twelve
Jack stepped over his prone opponent as though the man had been a fallen branch on the ground. ‘What the devil are you doing here?’
‘The lady is dancing with me.’ Richard pushed her behind him, his arm out to shield her. ‘If it is any of your business, sir.’
‘It is my business all right. She is mine.’
‘She was mine first. And she dances with whoever she likes, not some brawling lout.’ Richard went for Jack, fists flying.
Madelyn knew nothing about fighting, let alone boxing, but she could tell, in the few crowded seconds, that Richard was absolutely no match for Jack. It took two punches and he had joined the groaning, bloody-faced man on the floor.
Before she could tell either of them what she thought—if she had been able to collect together any coherent words—Jack picked her up, slung her unceremoniously over his shoulder and marched off the dance floor.
‘Put me down!’ It came out as a muffled squawk. She could struggle, but what if her mask came off? Madelyn seethed and clenched her hands into his coat-tails to keep her balance.
