“Come to the town house tonight, but pleasebe discreet.”
She tried to sweep past, but he captured her elbow and guided her toward the dance floor.
“What are you doing?” she whispered harshly.
“Dancing with you.”
***
The lady bristled as Sebastian led her into the waltz. It was the middle of the dance and he wouldn’t have long to hold her, but he would savor every moment.
Her eyes narrowed at him. “Why are we dancing? I already invited you back to my home.”
“And if we leave now, tongues will begin wagging. You have a reputation to protect, do you not, Lady Prestwick?”
A crimson blush spread across her face, and her lashes fluttered as she looked everywhere but at him. Tonight she wore a sheer robe trimmed in embroidered black ribbon over an ivory silk gown. Her attire was uncharacteristically demure for a widow, as if she shied away from drawing attention to herself.
Sebastian couldn’t take his eyes off her.
“I believe you can see the logic in remaining at the ball, madam. Enjoy the festivities. Dance with other gentlemen.” His voice thinned. He cleared his throat and pretended it meant nothing. “Later, you will depart for home and soon after I will leave as well, but only when I’m certain no one will link our names.”
Her gaze snapped up. “It sounds as if you have had your fair share of secret liaisons, my lord.”
He couldn’t hold back a grin. “What exactly did your invitation entail? I thought we were just going to talk.”
She turned a deeper shade of red and pressed her lips tightly together.
He didn’t push her to answer but drew her closer on the spin. Her sweet scent filled his head with memories of her soft breasts crushed against him when they had collided outside St. Saviour’s Church. She had smiled at him that day, dimples winking up at him. Her plump mouth ripe for tasting.
If she offered more than conversation tonight, he might forget about wanting answers, but only temporarily. The mystery of what she had been doing in Whitechapel was eating at him. If it were nothing more than a charity mission, there would be no reason for her servant to leave her alone.
The music faded; the waltz finished too soon. They still held each other, neither of them moving even as the other couples began filing from the dance floor. She glanced up with wide eyes. Her pink tongue darted across her lips. God, he wanted this woman. But a vulnerability about her held him in check.
He released her and led her into the promenade. At the end of the line, he lifted her hand to his lips. Eyes that reminded him of the blue-green waters off the Spanish coast regarded him warily. The same optimism that had overtaken him as he’d stood on the sands as a younger man and viewed the vast sea filled him again in that moment. It was irrational. Unexpected. Marvelous.
“Thank you for the pleasure of your company, my lady, but I must bid you farewell. For now.”
A slight frown turned down the corners of her mouth.
As he sauntered away, he could feel her eyes on him and he smiled.
Seven
Sebastian headed toward the card room to put distance between him and Lady Prestwick. If he stayed in the ballroom, he feared he would be unable to ignore her, and he didn’t want anyone speculating about his association with her. From the snippets of conversation he had overheard while waiting for Ellis and Gabrielle to take their leave, Lady Prestwick was well thought of by the ton at large, and he didn’t wish her any harm.
Her connection with Lady Eldridge afforded her some advantage, but her participation in the Mayfair Ladies Charitable Society had secured her place among the ranks. Apparently, the ladies found her quite demure and amenable. The footpad she’d unmanned would probably disagree. He chuckled, finding he liked that she was more than she seemed to be.
Sebastian’s jovial mood carried over to the card room and improved even more when an old schoolmate waved him over to join a game of loo. With his mind preoccupied by his coming meeting with the intriguing Lady Prestwick, he lost several rounds, but even parting with his money didn’t put a damper on his mood.
The Earl of Ellis’s arrival, however, did the trick.
The last time Sebastian had laid eyes on Ellis, they both had been bloody messes from fighting over Gabrielle. His temper flared as the entire affair came back in vivid detail. Sebastian’s fiancée staying with his longtime rival and onetime friend. Gabrielle as bare as the day she was born underneath her cloak. Her hand linked with Ellis’s as she declared her intentions to stay with him. It was too much to forgive and forget.