AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter Seventeen
Before he came to London, Thaddeus had never realized all the ways a man could court a woman without ever once seeing her. He’d expected to be able to claim Perdie for a dance at the next ball, but hours had passed, the night growing thick with darkness beyond the halo of candlelight in the sweltering ballroom, and somehow, although she hadn’t danced with a single gentleman, she’d managed to elude him.
Or perhaps it was more accurate to say that he had been swarmed by gentlemen and thereby prevented in seeking her out. Some of these had been men of his acquaintance, friends at Cambridge, and he liked them well enough to exchange a few words before continuing to press through the crush of the latest ball. Others were gentlemen he had never met, old lords with eligible daughters who appeared affronted over the fact that he had not put in an appearance in any of the clubs.
Of course he hadn’t made time for any of the bloody clubs. He had far better things to do with his time—such as considering all the ways to woo his wife. He had never in his life been serious about courting a woman, though he’d flirted with the idea in his youth. Perdie brought all of his battle instincts to the forefront, for it would take a war to win her hand.
From the corner of his eye, he noticed her.
It was impossible to steady the sudden erratic beat of his heart. Perdie wore a peach gown this evening that flattered her complexion, and all night he caught glimpses of it just out of his reach. He followed the snatch of color with his eyes in time to see her slip out of the ballroom and into a quiet corridor. He drew himself back along the wall and counted to ten before he followed, lest someone notice they were both absent from the ball at the same time.
This time, he managed to avoid being waylaid as he went. Under the guise of finding the card room, he slipped away from the matchmaking mamas and the debutantes trying desperately to draw his eye.
The corridor was cooler, and he waited a moment with his back leaned to the wall to get his bearings. Perdie had disappeared. Wherever she had gone, she would surely return by this route. He stayed right there and waited. He was nothing if not patient when it came to her.
To his relief, she didn’t linger overlong. As she returned, she didn’t notice him, lingering as he was in the shadows of the hallway candlelight. Her thoughts seemed miles away, and as she stepped past him in a quick clip, he reached out to catch her by the waist and draw her into the shadows with him.
She gasped. Her hand flew to a defensive position along his arm, and he was reminded too late of how well she could defend herself.
“Sheath all your fist and daggers,” he murmured.
“Thaddeus?”
“Who else would dare touch you like this?”
She didn’t move away from him. In order to fit them both in the deepest shadows of the doorway, his back was wedged tight to the doorframe. Her hips fitted along his and her soft body pressed against him, held secure by his hand on her lower back. Her lips were parted. It took every ounce of his willpower not to kiss her.
He whispered, “Aren’t you going to chide me for impertinence?”
Her hand, which had been positioned to twist his arm away and send him off balance, instead slid up to caress his bicep. His breathing became shorter, and he tried to rein in his reaction to her. He had so little time with her; after spending days together on the road, the time without her seemed to pass as slow as trickling molasses.
She tipped her face up to his and whispered back. “I will if you don’t take advantage of the moment and kiss me.”
An invitation if he ever heard one. Still…
“Lass, you’ve been avoiding your husband.”
A muffled sound came from her. “I think it is time we discussed that divorce again.”
“Denied.”
He felt her smile more than saw it.
“I missed you,” he softly said.
“You saw me a few days ago.”
“Is that your wee way of saying you did not miss me in return?”
She sniffed. “I did spend an inordinate amount of time thinking about you. However, that was a source of irritation more than delight.”
“You tickled my heart with delight just now. Let me educate you. You thought of me because it is clear you are falling in love with me,” he said teasingly.
She gasped. “I most certainly am not.”
“Is that so?” This was said with a touch of arrogance and perhaps too much confidence. “I can feel your heartbeat against my chest. It is not beating faster than mine, but it is moving in tandem with mine. What do you make of that?”
There was a pause, then she said, “I never quite realized how odd you are.”
