Dancing With A Devil (18 page)

“
Are you not glad to see me?” she asked.

The uncertainty in her voice tightened his chest further. He had never been afraid to do something difficult in his life, but he couldn’t seem to make himself say what needed to be said.

“
Trent, whatever is the matter? Is it the same thing that was wrong at the Marlows’ ball?”

Frustrated, he tugged a hand through his hair. When the devil had he become a coward? He needed a few more minutes with her. Stolen moments. “Nothing’s the matter. Your beauty astonishes me, as always, that’s all. Her eyes widened, and he couldn’t resist moving close enough to touch a dangling curl of her silky hair. “I’ve never seen hair with glistening waves like yours. My fingers twitch to plunge my hands into your hair.” This was foolish. He had to stop. In one moment.

“
I always thought I looked rather like a witch.” She spoke in a breathless whisper.

He felt winded himself but from the need pounding through him. The desire between them swirled in the air with the breeze. “Not a witch.” He brushed his fingers against a particularly enticing curl that lay against her bare skin. “The word conjures the wrong image.”

Her lashes swept down, veiling her eyes. “What word would you use to describe me?” The tremble in her voice betrayed her anxiety and made him want to soothe her.

No matter what, he never wanted her to be uncertain of her worth. He cupped her chin and raised her face until her shining green gaze met his. “I’d label you an enchantress. The word brings to mind a woman who is irresistibly charming, fascinating and beautiful.”

Her perfectly kissable mouth parted slightly. He had to have one last kiss and then he would tell her. His hand moved up her arm of its own volition. Underneath his touch, she trembled and gooseflesh covered where his fingers trailed. Her response caused a rush of possessiveness to grip him and he curled his hand around her shoulder and squeezed gently before moving to trace the long slope of her neck while his blood roared in his ears. “Of all the women I’ve known and encountered not one has had a complexion to match yours. I’ve never seen skin so smooth in my life.”

“
Never?” Amusement vibrated her tone. She darted out her pink tongue and licked her lips.

He groaned. Jesus, this was too hard. “One kiss,” he mumbled more for his benefit than hers. She nodded.

Walk away after this, bloody fool
. It was hard to concentrate on anything other than the fact that the soft shadows he wanted to explore filled the hollow of her neck.

Attraction was a fiendish thing. Why did he have to want her so much? Why couldn’t he have desired a courtesan, or a widow, or any other woman who he could have simply bedded? Audrey’s tongue darted out to lick her lips, and his pulse took off in a race against his good senses as he fisted his hands into her hair and tilted her head back. “I’ve something I must tell you.”

She took his hand and pressed it against her chest. Underneath his fingers, her heart pounded wildly. “And I’ve something I must ask you. But not yet.
After our kiss
.”

When he groaned, a knowing smile came to her lips.

“
Enchantress,” he taunted as he ran a thumb across her lips. She was so soft, so very kissable and so very likely to make him forget himself.

“
Sorcerer,” she whispered back as his lips descended over hers.

Now, this was a kiss a lady could rationally think meant the man loved her, or desired her in the very least. Trent’s lips were heaven on hers. She couldn’t fathom why he’d only kissed her twice. Blast the man. He needed to unleash the passion he kept under such tight control more often. Heavens, she was glad he was finally letting loose. His warm, sweet lips tantalized her, even as her brain registered surprise when he pulled away.

Please, God, don’t let the kiss be over
. A wicked grin tugged at his lips as he tilted her head back and kissed her forehead, the tip of her nose and then her eyelids. “Every time I see you, when I lie down to sleep at night I dream of kissing you.” His voice was a strained growl.

She delved her hands into his hair and pulled his lips close to hers so with each breath he exhaled the fire within him washed over her. An uncontrollable shiver took hold. “I hope that is not all you dream of.”

The hunger and tenderness in his eyes made her knees weak. A softer smile graced his lips. “No.”

The admission sent a jolt of satisfaction through her and took all her inhibitions away. Standing on tiptoes, she twined her arms around his neck and kissed him with all the longing, love and need in her heart. Her mouth burned with each stroke of his tongue against hers. She could not stop the moan that escaped her, nor could she prevent her smile when he tugged her closer. He stroked his fingers down her neck and followed the path he created with feather-light kisses that made her dizzy.

When he flicked his tongue across the hollow of her neck, an ache blossomed in the pit of her stomach and nearly stole her breath away. He circled his hands around her back, kneading her burning flesh as he went. She clung to him, digging her fingers into his arms while savoring the waves of pleasure his kisses sent through her body.

Her father was wrong about Trent. Satisfaction filled her chest. He wanted her just as much as she wanted him, and he’d never kiss her like this if he didn’t intend to marry her. Her future would not be miserable but filled with love. With her pulse leaping, she reached back and grasped Trent’s hand to place it over her thundering heart. She wanted him to understand exactly how he made her feel before she asked him how he felt about her.

At first, his hand stiffened and then he growled before curling his fingers around her breast. Blinding need pounded her and she arched farther toward him. When he traced his finger back and forth over the material covering her nipple, her body responded instantly. Her nipples grew taut beneath the fabric of her dress as his mouth became more demanding and his fingers rubbed harder and with frenzied urgency.

In her haze of pleasure, a melody filled her head followed by a strange sound. Almost like boots against the cobblestone of the terrace. The thought froze her for a second before her mind screamed a warning.

“
Good God.” Her father’s harsh voice echoed around her. Before she could react, Trent released her and swept her behind him with a firm hand. He stood erect before he spoke.

“
Lord Bridgeport, let me explain.”

Notes of music and the chatter of the crowd gushed in from the now open terrace door. Audrey trembled uncontrollably where she stood. What had she done? Staring at the broad expanse of Trent’s muscular back, she shook as she hurriedly tugged her dress to try to make herself presentable to her father. Things would be fine once Trent asked for her hand.

“
Explain?” a harsh voice she didn’t recognize demanded. “I hardly think Lord Bridgeport or myself are in need of an explanation. It’s plain enough by what we just happened upon what is going on,” the man snarled.

Audrey’s belly cramped so fierce she had to dig her fingers into her sides and breathe deeply. A sickening suspicion increased the pains coursing through her. She could not see around Trent, but she didn’t need to. Mr. Shelton was the only man other than her father who would be angered, rather than scandalized, by finding her on the balcony in Trent’s arms.

“
Look, Shelton, I don’t know what has your bristles up, or frankly why you’re even out here, but I’d suggest you take your leave. This is a private matter between Bridgeport and myself,” Trent snapped.

Shame swept over Audrey as she cowered, hidden from her father and Mr. Shelton, behind Trent’s back.

“
No, you look, Davenport.” Her father’s violent tone made her jerk. “Shelton has every right to be out here. It’s you who has no right. Shelton is going to marry Audrey.”

“
What?” Disbelief filled Trent’s voice.

“
Not anymore,” Mr. Shelton shouted. “I’ll not have a wife that has been soiled by another man.”

“
Wait a bloody minute, Shelton,” Audrey’s father said. “I’m sure we can work this out.”

Hurt flooded her at her father’s pleading words. He cared nothing about her or her feelings. It was the match that was important to him. He’d not stood up for her or her reputation. If he had any love for her, he would have. Tears burned the back of her throat.

In front of her, Trent shifted his stance, widening his legs and rounding his shoulders. He looked very much as if he was preparing to fight. Was he? Heavens, this was going too far. She had to do something. She opened her mouth to speak but Trent’s deep voice drowned her out. “I demand you take back your insult against Lady Audrey. No one has been defiled, as you so nastily suggested.”

Audrey pressed a shaking hand to her forehead. She most definitely had wanted to escape marrying Mr. Shelton, but not this way. She’d never intended to shame or anger the man. And Trent―
heavens
. She squeezed her eyes shut for a second. She prayed he wouldn’t think she had intended to trap him into marriage. She was going to be sick. No. She refused to allow herself to be ill. Swallowing hard, she squared her shoulders and stepped to Trent’s side.

She met her father’s contemptuous gaze first and instantly wished she hadn’t. Her mouth watered as her nerves jumbled into tighter knots inside her belly. Pressing her nails into the soft flesh of her palms, she forced herself to look at Mr. Shelton and speak. “I’m terribly sorry, Mr. Shelton. I―”

“
You should be,” he spat. “I would have given you wealth beyond anything you’ve ever known, you silly fool. I’ll not have you now.”

She struggled not to breathe a sigh of relief. “I understand. And since I never formally accepted your marriage proposal”―she added that for Trent’s benefit―“there are, of course, no ill feelings. Despite what you saw, I vow to be guilty of a kiss but innocent of anything else.”

Mr. Shelton glared. “You’ll understand, I’m sure, that I’m disinclined to believe you. But, ever the gentleman, I won’t repeat what I saw.”

Now, Audrey did breathe out a sigh of relief while thanking God for small reprieves. At least Father couldn’t hold a ruined reputation over her head. “You’re too kind for being so discreet.”

“
It’s not for you.” Mr. Shelton laughed, but the sound was abrasive and cutting. “I don’t give a fig about your reputation. I don’t want people knowing I was almost made a fool of by marrying a woman like you.”

Trent stiffened beside her. Discreetly, she shifted toward him to try to calm him. Mr. Shelton gave her one last contemptuous look before stomping off the terrace and back into the ballroom. She stood for a moment, caught between an overwhelming sense of relief and a foreboding of what was to come. Intent on heading off her father’s oncoming tirade, she spun toward him and stilled. His face was an unnatural shade of purple. “Father, I―”

“
Shut your mouth, you disgraceful, ungrateful lightskirt.”

Sadness squeezed her chest like an unrelenting fist. “Father, let me explain.”

His face twisted with rage as he advanced on them. Trent pushed Audrey back behind him and stood between her and her father. “It’s not what it seems.”

“
Were you or were you not taking liberties only a married man should take?” her father bellowed and shoved Trent in the chest. Trent’s body swayed, brushing against hers, but he did not lose his footing nor, thank God, did he try to retaliate. Audrey tried to move out from behind him, but he raised his arm and blocked her.

“
Stay put,” he commanded in such a lethal tone, she was afraid to move. She’d never heard Trent’s voice raised in anger in all the time she’d known him.

“
You’ve not answered my question,” her father roared while shoving Trent yet again. His body remained unmoving as stone. Good thing. Her father sounded mad enough to charge through the thickest of walls.

“
I did take liberties I should not have and for that I’m ashamed, regretful and incredibly sorry.” Trent spoke in a stiff, apologetic tone.

His words, though perfectly proper and likely exactly what her father wanted to hear, made her shudder with humiliation. Confusion swiftly followed and left her feeling as if she was drowning under the thoughts and doubts bombarding her mind. Did Trent regret kissing her or just regret they’d been caught? Did he love her or not? Would he marry her or was she the biggest fool to ever live?
Please, God, not the last
.