Page 36 of Trapped with the Earl of Sin

He only wished that he could be theonlyman to hold her tonight.

“How are you?” Martin asked her the moment they were close together on the dance floor and the music was playing in the background. He hoped now that they could actually chat without worrying that anyone else could overhear them.

“Yes, I am quite fine,” Susanna replied blandly, not really picking up on his hidden meaning.

“No, I mean how are you after everything that happenedbefore?”

Susanna’s eyes widened. “Oh, I see. I understand what you are getting at now.” An intense redness burned in her cheeks. It made Martin smile to see her embarrassed. “Yes, I am fine. It was… interesting in Edwin’s room. I am surprised at everything that happened.”

“Me too.” Martin nodded emphatically. “I am shocked at what we found as well.”

The gun seemed to float in the air between them. An invisible weight that was crushing them because neither of them knew what to do with it. It was unnerving to know that there was someone among them who could potentially be dangerous, and they had no idea how or when he would react.

“It is still in Edwin’s room,” Martin confessed. “I did not take it with me.”

“That is probably for the best,” Susanna reassured him. “We do not want Edwin to know that we are on to him.”

“I do not like the idea that he still has access to it,” Martin continued, his voice low and tense. “But you are right. We have to be cautious.”

Susanna nodded, her eyes scanning the room briefly as if she expected Edwin to be watching them. “We need to figure out our next steps carefully. We cannot let him suspect anything. Not until we have more evidence or a plan to confront him.”

Martin’s grip tightened slightly on her waist as they danced. “I agree. But we must be vigilant. If Edwin is as dangerous as we suspect, we cannot afford to make a wrong move.”

Even as they looked his way now, Edwin was smiling and outwardly happy, but Martin could not shake off the worries that there was something going on behind that man’s eyes.

“We need to keep an eye on him,” Martin hissed at Susanna. “Even more so now. The closer that we get to the day of the wedding, the more vigilant we need to be. If Edwin is going to act and do something crazy, then we need to be aware.”

Susanna’s grip tightened on him. “Do you think he will try and hurt someone?”

Martin would have loved to be able to reassure Susanna, but there was no telling what Edwin was going to do. A man with a gun was always a worry. A man writing letters to his friends about still being in love with Mary, despite her engagement to another man, was troubling too. Especially if he considered what could have happened to Duncan…

“I do not know what he is capable of,” Martin confessed. “But I do know that I am not going to take my eyes off him the whole time.”

Susanna nodded in agreement. “Then I will do the same thing.”

The seriousness of her face made Martin want to chuckle a little. He could not resist shooting a little teasing comment her way, just to try and lighten the mood a little. He did not want their whole dance to be ruined because of Edwin’s little plans.

“And if we should happen to end up in the closet again…”

He laughed as Susanna’s face flushed beetroot-red. “I cannot believe you just said that. I cannot see any way that we will end up in the closet again…”

But as she made that retort, Martin could not help but notice that her face fell a little, almost as if she were disappointed by the idea of not being able to get him alone again. Since he felt exactly the same way about her, this caused a stirring in the pit of his stomach. It was so tempting to try and pull her somewhere now, maybe outside in the gardens so they could sneak off for a walk alone, to see what might happen between them…

But as quickly as that idea flooded his mind, he pushed it to the side. The closer they got to one another, the more at risk their hearts were when all of this was over. He had to remember that this was only going to be a temporary thing, so he needed to be careful. For both of their sakes.

It was a shame though, because he was pretty sure that he could see the same hunger in her eyes that he was feeling. He was quite sure if they found themselves alone, she would respond very happily if he leaned in to kiss her.

But as the music came to a stark end, he knew that there were far too many eyes around this room, and that members of the ton very much enjoyed their gossip. If he did not want to be talked into something that he was not ready for, then he needed to separate from Susanna before either of them ended up in trouble.

“Thank you for the dance,” Susanna replied smilingly as they stepped away from one another. “That was very fun.”

“It is a shame that you will have to spend the rest of the night dancing with gentlemen who do not excite you in the same way that I do.”

Susanna smirked, looking like she was enjoying the teasing. “I could say the same about you. If you do end up dancing with any other women.”

He did not want to be in the arms of anyone else. He did not want to look into the eyes of another woman tonight, and he wassure that Susanna could feel that. But they had no choice but to pull apart from one another and go their separate ways.

It was only when his mother reached out to him that he was shaken from his thoughts.

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