Page 54 of The Grand Mistletoe Assembly
This party was nothing like she’d ever experienced before. Men and women conversed freely, touching each other in open flirtation. The rules of society didn’t apply here among the married or widowed, the bachelors or spinsters who’d reached an age where propriety mattered less than it did as a young miss of eighteen.
“Wise decision, I suppose. It almost inspires me to order the staff at the country estate to begin holiday preparations. Returning to a cozy home of fresh greenery and bowed ribbons sounds delightful.”
“You’ll start a new tradition,” he teased, guiding her around a group of raucous revelers laughing at a companion covered in flour.
“Why, that’s bullet pudding! I haven’t played in years.” Bryony turned to watch another game begin with a bullet placed on top of a mound of flour, which was cut away in slices by each player until the bullet fell.
“Captain Davies! I thought I recognized you! Come join us in a game of Snapdragon.” A lithe man in chartreuse waved them over, but Nathaniel raised a brow in Bryony’s direction, silently waiting for her decision.
“Let’s go … I haven’t played Snapdragon in ages either.” Not since before her marriage to Oscar.
Their marriage had drained her of all fun and spontaneity. Her husband began gallivanting about Town without her, slipping into the house in the early hours of the morning with women’s perfume emanating from his clothes. Breaking Bryony’s heart each time he ignored her in favor of his mistress. A woman she’d naively been unaware of during their courtship.
“I can’t remember the last time I played either. We try not to play with fire on board ships,” Nathaniel teased as he guided her through the crowd to a second room.
She wondered if he kept a mistress, too. Wondered if he brought her to galas such as this.
Don’t.
Nathaniel wasn’t Oscar, she reminded herself for the thousandth time. Truth be told, she trusted Nathaniel far more than she had ever trusted her husband, yet niggling doubt, a consequence of her dreadful marriage, refused to release its clutches on her heart.
“Why, of course. One wayward flame could bring down an entire fleet. Shall we choose our places?” Several bowls of raisins and brandy were set up around the room, and players jostled for a spot around the games. Suddenly, the candles were snuffed, casting everything in darkness.
Mrs. Hanover’s clear voice rang above the gasps of delight. “As a reminder, Snapdragon is a game of risk.” On cue, each bowl of brandy was lit by a servant, effervescent fires casting dancing shadows on the walls. “Snatch a flaming raisin but don’t get burned. I wish you all good fortune.”
Nathaniel stood beside Bryony in front of a glowing bowl, while another couple joined them on the other side. She’d never played the game in complete darkness. It added an element of intrigue. Of wickedness.
Heat rose from the flames, but it was the man at her side who warmed her so fully. His level breathing brushed her ear as he crowded nearer. His cologne mingled with the burning brandy to create an intoxicating aroma of man and spice—a heady combination Bryony dearly wished to bottle for herself, for those lonely days when she longed for companionship.
Longed for Nathaniel.
“Your turn,” the woman across from her prompted, and a flush of guilt spread over Bryony’s cheeks and chest.
Thank goodness for the lack of light. She’d spent too long daydreaming about the handsome captain warming her side rather than focusing on the game at hand. Anxious to shift attention to someone else, Bryony recklessly thrust her hand into the liquid for a raisin and jerked back with a squeal. Pain radiated over her fingertips.
Their compatriots chuckled good-naturedly before continuing to fish for raisins, but Nathaniel immediately pulled her aside, his rough palm cupping her abused hand.
“Foolish woman. Has it been so long you’ve forgotten how to properly play the game? Are you all right?” He inspected her fingertips under the minimal light cast by the flames of neighboring bowls.
“I’m fine. It only burns a little.”
Then it burned a lot—for an entirely different reason. Nathaniel’s lips tenderly sucked at the tips of her fingers, licking away the sting of remaining brandy, and she gasped at the blaze of desire brightening his eyes.
“You taste sweeter than I imagined, love,” he rasped as his tongue lapped at her skin. “Like sin. Like absolution. Your brother would gut me like a fish if he knew the filthy dreams I’ve had of you.”
“Then I’d deserve the same retribution,” she admitted. Her lashes fluttered closed when his mouth traveled to her palm, her wrist, suckling the delicate patch of skin. Breathless with desire, Bryony finally voiced the secret she’d kept locked away in her heart. “Nathaniel … it’s always been you. In my dreams. In my heart. Even when I believed myself to be in love with Oscar, a hidden well of adoration for you remained deep in my soul. Is that shameful? Am I as immoral as Oscar?”
“Never.” His fierce denial soothed some of the shame she’d harbored all these years. While she’d been a devoted wife—never once considering breaking her vows with Nathaniel or any other man—Bryony sometimes wondered if she’d been the cause of her husband’s unfaithfulness. Wondered if Oscar somehow knew he didn’t possess every ounce of her devotion and punished her by giving her none of his.
“Your husband treated you abominably, and if you found a measure of comfort in thinking of me, then no one could fault you. Certainly not me.”
Tears threatened to fall, and Bryony glanced upward, blinking rapidly to dispel them. This was a happy moment. A momentous occasion. She didn’t want to ruin it by turning into a watering pot.
Uncertainty flashed in Nathaniel’s eyes before disappearing behind tender hope. “I may be damned for suggesting this, but … shall we find somewhere more private to chat?”
Mouth trembling in an encouraging smile, she dipped her chin in acquiescence, eager to explore the mutual attraction they’d finally admitted to.
Their Snapdragon opponents continued playing between flirtation, and it was clear they couldn’t care less if Nathaniel and Bryony abandoned them.
