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Jack played with my glove. His thumb slipped between the bottom button so that the pad rested against my racing pulse. Then, with a single brutal show of strength, he flicked his thumb up my wrist, causing the delicate buttons to burst free and fall to the ground.
“Our dance, I believe,” he growled and pulled me into the dance before I could protest.
The opening cords of a minute drew more dancers to the floor, making us one of so many couples that it felt as intimate as if it had just been us and no others.
We went through the motions of the dance but as if blind since my every thought focused on the strength of their hand as they led me through the dance. Jack’s thumb caressing my skin, making me long for more. The anticipation that knowing in a moment, I would turn towards him. That he would draw me closer but not to touch but to dip under his arm in an elegant movement that had me near tripping over my skirts. I’d so lost any sense of the world but my mates. For my whole life I’d bowed and curtsied to alphas and betas and omegas, yet none had had my immediate and instinctual capitulation as Jack.
Pax and I contested each point. We were, to quote Shakespearia, too wise to woo peaceably. An instinctual knowledge of each other rather than the product of long acquaintance. While Jack and I sank into each other, relishing the strength I’d always known and relied on. He’d been my guardian angel for longer than I could remember, for I was certain he’d begun his watch long before I’d recognised him as my protector and mate.
The dance ended, and my alphas bracketed me as we made our way through the gathering crowd. Not a crush, thank goodness, but the Mountviews could count this as a success.
Then the crowed parted, and an alpha I’d almost considered settling for stood before me. Eliza Brown had an air about her, a little out of the ordinary, with her deep-set eyes, milky complexion, and her thick chestnut hair. She’d squired me too many dances, and I knew her to be one of my dearest friends.
“Eliza!” I smiled, my hand reaching out to take both of hers in mine.
“Miss Hartwell—”
Pax stepped between us, causing me to drop her hand. “Not Miss. You are addressing our mate, Lady Paxton.”
Eliza’s eyes sharpened and went to my mate gland where the two Lovers Circles stood out on my bare shoulder.
“Well! Two mates. And it only a year since I last saw you. I’d no idea.”
“Oh, Eliza please! From what I’ve heard, the rumours of my mating are all over town. My Lord, Colonel. May I introduce my friend Eliza Brown? She and I have known each other for… How long? Since my debut. Eliza. My mates. Lord Paxton and Colonel Fordom.”
Where I expected joyful congratulations, Eliza’s face turned cold.
“I had not heard.”
