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Chapter 8
Annalise chatted away with her friend as they set out for the ball the next evening. In the dimly lit carriage, Blake could not take his eyes off his wife. Her inner glow spread through her entire being. She was beautiful. She had a lovely face, an exquisite figure, true. But her real beauty shone from within.
Her kindness, gentleness, and exuberant spirit could all be seen sparkling in her eyes.
Blake’s gaze drifted from her face down to her body. She wore a deep ruby gown with a golden frill at the bodice and the edge of the skirts. Clear gems decorate the bodice, which was so low it couldn’t help but draw the eye.
Blake swallowed loudly as he continued studying his wife’s form. She didn’t seem to notice his regard. She was discussing something animatedly with Lady Lavinia, who apparently had been her childhood friend. Blake had not remembered seeing the lady before this night, but evidently, they’d met on numerous occasions.
What else had he missed in the past?
No wonder Annalise was cold and distant with him now. He had been selfish in the past, too absorbed with his own issues, acting like a careless youth. Annalise had not been more than an accessory to him at the time. He was used to conquering, pursuing to win. But once he got her, he had no clue of what to do with her next.
After the disaster of the wedding night, Blake wondered how he expected her to ever forgive him.
But he vowed to change everything as it stood between them. He had learned to value his life and precious moments in that life. And no moment was precious to him without Annalise by his side.
When the carriage stopped, Blake jumped out and helped the ladies out of the vehicle. He lingered slightly as he held his wife. He’d missed her warmth and her scent, and he didn’t think he’d ever get tired of holding her close to him. She lifted her questioning gaze to him. Blake winked and slowly let her go. He’d have a lifetime of holding her now.
The wait to get to the ballroom was long, the crowd at the ball too dense, and Blake felt himself bristling with impatience.
Annalise was right. Everybody was staring at them. Every single person passing by or simply in his line of vision made it their duty to stare at them like they were curiosities at the local fair.
Blake turned to his wife just to find her still chatting to her friend, seemingly unaware of the attention they were drawing to themselves. He lowered his head to hers and whispered in her ear. “Didn’t you say we should pretend to be blissfully in love tonight at the ball?”
He saw with satisfaction that her skin was covered in goosebumps at the sound of his voice.
She turned a gentle smile to him. “I am to chaperone Lavinia tonight. I can’t be making adoring eyes at you with my charge at my side.”
“Too bad. I would have enjoyed it immensely. Am I allowed to make adoring eyes at you while you talk to your charge?”
Annalise’s cheeks turned red as she gave him a reproving glance. Not an adoring expression, but it would do for now.
They finally made their way to the host, exchanged pleasantries with him and his niece, and moved along.
Blake looked around the throng of people. He saw Jarvis in a circle of his gentlemen friends. The same friends they’d been with at the gambling hell the night of his disappearance. Blake scanned the men with his gaze. There was Mr. Greyson St. John, Jarvis’s cousin, and the new Earl of Bradshaw, formerly Lord Boyle. Perhaps they should be on his list of suspects, too. Only Blake barely crossed paths with them, aside from their drunken debaucheries, and he could think of no reason they would want him dead.
Not that there was a reason Jarvis would want him gone, either.
Blake called him one of his best friends, but come to think of it, he knew nothing about him. Other than he enjoyed high-risk stakes when he gambled, and he was there for Blake when he needed him. Blake didn’t know what Jarvis did during the day or what his financial situation was or anything, really, and he had never been curious. Until the night he’d been captured on the way to Jarvis’s carriage, that was. Now Jarvis had all of his attention.
When Blake had met Jarvis earlier this week in the park, the sun was behind his head, shadowing his features. That way, he looked exactly like the man from his nightmare. Perhaps the dream had been triggered by his suspicions. Blake shook his head. How was he to discover the truth if he couldn’t differentiate between dream and reality?
“Oh, look, there he is!” Annalise announced excitedly.
Both she and her friend turned to stare at some point in the room. Blake followed their gaze and watched the Duke of Kensington enter the ballroom. Blood boiled inside his veins. Didn’t Annalise think he’d heard her? Couldn’t she at least hide her interest in her former fiancé?
“I’ll go to him as soon as I can,” she said to Lady Lavinia, and Blake was ready to explode on the spot.
She’ll go to him as soon as she can?What did she plan, a tryst to soothe his bruised heart? Right under her husband’s nose! Blake tempered his anger and turned to his wife.
“Would you like to dance?” he asked.
She was still looking out into the crowd when she answered, “I can’t dance just now. Not when I am chaperoning Lavinia. Perhaps you’d like to dance with her instead?”
Now she wanted to get rid of him.Not a chance. “No, my dear,” he said silkily. “My arms are open only for you.”
She looked at him then, and he couldn’t hide the dark satisfaction on his face. Finally, she was able to drag her eyes away from her beloved Kensington.
