Page 26 of Never a Bride
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 pushing Emmeline 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.
Emmeline’s breath came in gasps, and she felt like laughing at the sheer joy of moving so freely. She knew what was coming next, but she could not prepare herself for the feel of Alex’s hands sliding up her ribs, nor the sudden sensation of weightlessness as he effortlessly lifted her into the air. This time she did laugh aloud, and he grinned up at her for a suspended moment, until the dance required him to set her down.
What was she thinking? How could she so freely have given into the pleasure of the dance? She couldn’t meet Alex’s gaze, knowing he was only amusing himself.
“Look at me,” he whispered.
She heard the laughter in his voice. It made her stiffen and lift her face to his, even as they whirled about each other. His black eyes were as warm as twilight at the end of a summer day, full of pleasure—but it did not seem at her expense. As the trees whirled behind his head, and the sun flickered in his dark hair, she stared back at him, biting her lip to keep from smiling. But devil that he was, he knew and was pleased with himself.
It was over too quickly, and he was soon leading her back to the bench.
“Blythe was right,” he said softly. “You are a wonderful dancer.”
“Thank you,” she murmured, feeling overheated and overwrought by the sensations his touch invoked inside her.
Blythe flung herself onto the seat and hugged her. “You were incredible! Did you not see that, Alex?”
“Yes, I did,” he replied almost gravely.
Emmeline wanted to cover her face in mortification. What was wrong with her? She was here to protect her sister, not fall victim to every kindness from a man who couldn’t possibly mean it.
While Alex partnered Blythe again, Emmeline desperately tried to regain her composure. Just when she thought she could watch the dancing without feeling all hot and unsettled, she realized she could no longer see Blythe.
Or Alex.
A nerve-rattling feeling clenched her stomach and she stood up quickly. Walking the perimeter of the dancers, she searched for them, but they had vanished. She spun in a slow circle, gazing at the orchard and the arbor tunnel of newly sprouting vines.
“Can I help you?”
She turned to find Sir Edmund staring down at her with kind, even sympathetic eyes.
“Have you seen my sister?”
He nodded toward the horses. “She and Alex went for a ride. They made no secret of their leave-taking.”
They wouldn’t have needed to, because Alex had flustered her so successfully. Had that been his plan?
“I must find them.” She strode toward her horse. “Was my groom accompanying them?”
“No. Isn’t that the fellow over there with the other servants? Would you like me to accompany you?” Edmund asked, walking beside her.
