A Wicked Pursuit (45 page)

BOOK: A Wicked Pursuit

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“I must go,” she said, suddenly slipping free of his embrace with the same sinuous grace that she’d shown while dancing. “This is wrong. I can’t be alone with you any longer.”

He reached out, determined to capture her, but her blue silk gown was already disappearing into the shadows.

“A moment, Miss Carew,” he called, following swiftly after her. “Don’t go just yet. What of fate, of kismet?”

She paused, her head bent, before finally glancing back at him over one pale shoulder. “Each day I ride in Hyde Park at half-past two.”

Then she fled, nearly running, her slippered feet silent on the stone.

Geoffrey stopped, staring after her as he raked his fingers back through his hair. She could run as fast as she pleased, but she couldn’t escape, not from him, and not from herself, either. He’d played this game before. He knew how it would end. No matter how deuced mysterious she tried to be, he’d solve her puzzle in the end. He nodded, reassuring himself. Of course he’d win. He always did where ladies were concerned.

Yet even as he sauntered back into the brightly-lit ballroom, he could not put Serena Carew from his thoughts, or that single word she’d whispered to him.

Kismet
.