What an Earl Wants (36 page)

“I’m sorry,” he whispered. “You shouldn’t—”

She shocked him into silence with a quick kiss on his mouth, and patted his leg. “Anything broken?”

He shook his head.

She turned both his palms over and eased his gloves off. “I don’t think you’ll need stitches. The bleeding’s already stopped. Sometimes you can be so clumsy.”

Several people in the crowd gasped, but her comment had the desired effect on Sinclair. He sat up straighter, one corner of his mouth curved in a faint smile.

Heedless of her gown, Quincy rearranged herself until she was sitting cross-legged beside Sinclair, her full skirts in a puddle around her, still holding both of his hands in hers. “Your mother is a great hostess. Her ball will be talked about for weeks to come.”

Palmer dropped to the floor on the other side of Sinclair. “Her guests will be dining out on this story for the rest of the season,” he added as Lady Palmer joined them on the floor.

“Just this Season?” Melinda said, sitting next to Quincy. Sparing a glance for his best breeches, Leland shrugged and sat down, too.

“Let’s not be greedy,” Lady Sinclair said, as she and Fitzy sat down. “Another nine-days’ wonder will come along soon.”

“Perhaps we’re starting a new trend,” said Lady Danforth as her husband helped her down to the floor.

Surrounded by family and friends, Sinclair looked around in astonishment, watching the guests drop down with varying degrees of grace to sit on the floor, including, after a lengthy pause, Lord and Lady Bigglesworth. Even the colonel sat down cross-legged. All of the guests sat on the floor.

All except Serena, who was left standing, alone.

“If you can’t join us, we’ll join you,” Quincy said.

Sinclair’s breathing was almost back to normal. He cleared his throat and pitched his voice just loud enough for Quincy to hear him over the chattering crowd. “I don’t think I’m going to be able to keep my promise and give you the last waltz.”

Quincy leaned in close, her lips nearly brushing his ear, a tantalizing whiff of bay rum and essential Sinclair teasing her senses. “It doesn’t matter,” she whispered. “I love
you
, not your dancing ability.”

She wiggled closer to Sinclair, her voice at a normal pitch. “I think we can safely assume that everyone now knows I worked for you as Mr. Quincy.”

His brows raised. “You think?”

She pressed on, ignoring his sarcasm. “They seem to enjoy being in on it, rather than scandalized by it.” She glanced at the Bigglesworths. “Most of them, anyway.” She made sure Sinclair was looking her in the eye before she spoke again. “Listen carefully, because I don’t say this often. I was a fool.”

He didn’t contradict her.

“I should have trusted that you and your mother could handle whatever repercussions there might be.” She twined their fingers together. “Sinclair, will you marry me?”

The crowd fell silent.

For one heart-stopping second, Sinclair did nothing. Then he kissed her. He cradled her face in his powerful hands, his kiss demanding and accepting, tender and tantalizing, leaving her trembling when he whispered “Yes” against her lips.

The crowd cheered.

“That’s my Jo,” Grandmère said with a sniff. Lady Fitzwater handed her a handkerchief. “Never does anything by half.”

“About bloody time the Matchmaking Earl made a match for himself,” Leland announced.

Sinclair wrapped his arms around Quincy as the onlookers laughed. He should be ecstatic. After all, Quincy had just agreed to be his wife, or rather, asked him to be her husband. But one thing still bothered him. He tilted back in their embrace to see her face. “My leg is weak,” he said.

She looked puzzled. “And? So?”

As far as she was concerned, it didn’t signify.

With blinding clarity, Sinclair realized it really didn’t matter. It didn’t matter if he never walked without a limp. For all that, it didn’t matter if he never walked again.

Not when he had the woman he loved at his side. His throat clogged with emotion, he raised her hand to his lips.

“Besides,” Quincy said, leaning in close again, her eyes sparkling with mischief, “If we can’t waltz, I know you’ll make up for it later. Right after our wedding.”

Sinclair threw back his head and laughed. Heedless of the crowd, he pulled Quincy into his embrace. He had everything he wanted, right here in his arms.

T
HE
B
EAUTY AND THE
S
PY
by Gayle Callen

C
HEROKEE
W
ARRIORS:
T
HE
C
APTIVE
by Genell Dellin

D
ARK
W
ARRIOR
by Donna Fletcher

H
ER
S
CANDALOUS
A
FFAIR
by Candice Hern

M
ASQUERADING THE
M
ARQUESS
by Anne Mallory

M
UST
H
AVE
B
EEN
T
HE
M
OONLIGHT
by Melody Thomas

S
EDUCING A
P
RINCESS
by Lois Greiman

Coming Soon

I
N
T
HE
N
IGHT
by Kathryn Smith

S
TEALING
S
OPHIE
by Sarah Gabriel

And Don’t Miss These

ROMANTIC TREASURES
from Avon Books

D
UKE OF
S
IN
by Adele Ashworth

M
Y
O
WN
P
RIVATE
H
ERO
by Julianne MacLean

S
IN AND
S
ENSIBILITY
by Suzanne Enoch

This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

WHAT AN EARL WANTS
. Copyright © 2005 by Shirley Bro-Karr. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

Mobipocket Reader April 2009 ISBN 978-0-06-193132-1

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1