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I felt heat burn in the tips of my ears. Suddenly, my choice of gown didn’t seem like such a good idea anymore.
‘Adaira picked it,’ I hurriedly asserted. Well, it was mostly true.
‘Indeed?’ He leaned forward, his gaze becoming somehow even more intense. My knees felt as if they would buckle any second. ‘And did she decide on that colour, too?’
‘No,’ I muttered, glancing down at the ball gown that was a fascinatingly deep, dark sea-coloured shade somewhere between blue, green and grey - the exact same colour as his eyes. ‘That was my decision.’
‘I see.’ So quickly I had no time to protest, he pulled my hand to his lips and kissed it. When it was over, the only evidence it had ever happened was the burning brand on the back of my hand. Tingles travelled up my arm, and somehow, it felt as if I’d been permanently marked. ‘It’s…adequate.’
‘Why, thank you so much for the compliment, Sir.’
‘You’re welcome, Miss Linton.’
The musicians struck the first notes of the dance. Breathless, I felt Mr Ambrose’s arms tighten around me. He was really going to do it. He was going to dance with me.
‘Why?’ I demanded in a whisper.
Why did you do this? Why the last dance, not the first? Is that all I am to you? An afterthought?
He seemed to read all those silent questions in my eyes. Twirling me into the first move of the dance, his cold gaze speared me with the force of a crashing glacier.
‘The first dance for the first woman I knew, the last one for the last. You may not have been the first woman in my life, Miss Linton - but I promise you, you will be the last. There won’t be anyone else as long as I live.’
For a moment, I forgot to breathe. Good God that was…
That was so Mr Ambrose. Ignoring me the whole evening, and then trying to pass it off as romantic.
And do you know what the worst thing was?
It worked. It bloody worked, curse him! And oh, how very well! All I wanted to do right then and there was to throw my arms around his neck and kiss him until I passed out. And he knew it, too, dammit! There was victory in his eyes, victory and power.
Instantly, I felt the fire of rebellion rise in my belly. ‘The last woman in your life, eh? So does that mean you intend to remain celibate for the rest of your life, Sir?’
He met my eyes head-on, not a hint of shame on his granite face as he said, ‘Not at all, Miss Linton. Quite the opposite, in fact.’
I felt heat rise to my face. Blast! That had backfired! Quickly, I glanced around.
‘Mr Ambrose! Remember where you are!’
‘I know exactly where I am. I’m in a ballroom at Battlewood Hall dancing the waltz, and you are in my arms.’
Before I could reply, he whirled me around to a trill in the music, and suddenly, I was bent backward again, and he was leaning over me, his hot breath caressing my skin.
Breathe, Lilly! Breathe!
‘Well, you may feel like I’m the one,’ I whispered. ‘But what if I don’t? I could decide to take another lover any time. Ten, in fact. Ten dozen, if I wanted.’
If I ever stopped loving you.
In a flash, he pulled me up again and whirled me the other way, his hands pulling me along like magic.
‘Over my dead body, Miss Linton!’
‘That could be arranged!’
His eyes narrowed infinitesimally. ‘Interpreting emotions is not my forte, Miss Linton-’
‘You don’t say.’
