Page 28 of His Scandal
“Sir Edmund is very different to look at, is he not? Rather like an old-fashioned knight in my favorite stories. Where do you think he’s from?”
Emmeline could only shrug, and allow her gaze to linger on Alex and his friend, who conversed in low tones a little apart from everyone else, polite smiles on their faces.
Alex’s jaw hurt from gritting his teeth. “You know you were not invited here, Edmund.”
Edmund laughed softly. “Neither were the lovely Prescott sisters, but that didn’t stop you from bringing them. I’m sure Lady Morley thinks I’m just the next assault in your rudeness campaign.”
“Why did you come? I have not seen you muchthese last days, and when I have, you’ve seemed preoccupied.”
“Then I guess you have not noticed Elizabeth,” Edmund replied, and his voice lost some of its gaiety.
Alex glanced at the circle of young ladies and finally saw Lady Elizabeth Langston. She looked their way briefly, and pointedly turned her back.
“Are you in danger of losing this wager?” he asked, allowing only a hint of triumph in his voice.
“Not at all,” Edmund said.
Alex could tell he had to force a smile.
“Besides accompanying Elizabeth, I could not resist checking on your progress. I see you’ve not managed to shake the spinster sister.”
“Do not call her that,” Alex said without thinking.
“Call her what?” Edmund asked, looking far too amused and speculative. “A spinster? Is that not what she is?”
Alex’s hesitation was brief as he struggled for the right tone. “She might hear you and be offended. That will hardly do my quest good.”
“I think the pointisnot to do your quest any good at all, my dear fellow. Enjoy the afternoon.”
Edmund strolled away, but not toward Lady Elizabeth. Still curious, Alex watched him go.
Just when Emmeline thought she could not eat another bite of such delicious fare, Lady Morleyasked the musicians playing beneath the nearby trees to begin a galliard. With glad cries, the young people abandoned their elders and became swept up in the lively dance. Alex appeared before them and reached for Blythe’s hand, winking at Emmeline as he took her sister away.
Emmeline grudgingly admitted they were a handsome pair. It seemed almost decadent to be dancing so openly under the sun. Her toes tapped in the grass, and her head nodded to the lively music. Once again, she noticed what a fine dancer Alex was, how his lean, muscular body moved with grace. He partnered Blythe well, and it was easy to forget he only amused himself for the moment.
When the dance ended, people called for more, and suddenly Emmeline found her own hand grasped in a much larger, warmer one. She looked up to see Alex leaning over her, his face in shadow due to the blinding sun above him. He filled every part of her vision; her breath seemed to catch in her throat.
“Now, didn’t I promise you this would be a glorious day?” he asked, and tugged on her hand.
She tried to pull away. “Sir Alexander, please, I do not dance.”
“You mean you have not danced recently,” he said as he brought her to her feet. He didn’t release her hand, and her fingers tingled against the heat of his skin.
Blythe was beside them, laughing and pushingEmmeline farther out onto the lawn. “Go with him, Emmy! ’Tis such fun!”
Alex’s arm came about her waist as he drew her forward, and she saw the stares and the whispers travel in a circle about them. She knew he had imbibed far too much of the potent wine, and his behavior was surely proof. She must be scarlet with embarrassment, but that did not stop her from noticing how good a man’s arm felt about her, and how she could feel his long fingers splayed at her ribs. It had been so long.
“She calls you Emmy?” he said softly into her ear.
His lips grazed her skin, and gooseflesh shivered across her arms.
“A pet name only,” she said as Alex’s arm came across the front of her body so they could pivot about one another. She was almost afraid to breathe because her breasts might touch him.
“Enjoy the day, Emmeline. Put your arm about me like a good girl.”
“Do not scold me as if I were a child!”
But reluctantly, she settled her arm across his body and held onto his waist only a moment before the Italian Pazzemeno began. He suddenly whirled her about, and her feet remembered the steps. Soon they were advancing side by side in a solemn march toward the trees, then gliding effortlessly as if across a polished floor.
