Page 32 of The Duke of Distraction
She bounded from her chair with a giggle and moved to stand behind the viscount, who was considerably taller.
“Fetch him a chair,” someone called.
The footman produced a chair, and Blakesley sat.Miss Saunders was visible over his head, but that only made it more humorous.“The two-headed Dumb Orator,” Fielding cracked, much to everyone’s continued amusement.
Blakesley began an incredibly dull, monotone oration on the color of grass, of all things, while Miss Saunders gestured wildly with her arms.By the time they were finished, everyone was laughing so hard, they were crying.
Except Felix.
Sarah glanced toward the corner, and he was staring at her, his mouth in a tight, unforgiving line.Was he angry with her?Why should he be?Because she’d gone to the wrong room?It was an honest mistake.
“Time for the next penalty,” Lytton said, drawing another paper from the bowl.“Oh, this is delightful.Le Baiser à la Capucine.Kiss the Monkey.”He looked down at the list in front of Lavinia and then circled the room to survey the guests.“I must choose just the right pair.”He stopped in front of Felix, and Sarah’s pulse sped.
“Lord Ware,” Lytton said.Then he spun on his heel and looked straight at Sarah.“And Miss Colton.Clearly, their meeting in room five was unexpected.”
Clearly.Because they’d both reacted with utter shock.Oh, this was bad, bad, bad.She didn’t dare look at Anthony.Would he try to stop it?
She also ignored Lavinia.Sarah didn’t want encouragement or laughter or horror or anything but for this to be over as quickly as possible.Yes, she’d wanted to kiss the man in room five again.But to learn it was Felix and to have to kiss him again in front of so many people was absolutely horrifying.
Sarah stood, her legs quivering.She prayed no one would notice.Felix moved toward the center of the room.Their eyes connected, and she tried to read something—anything—in the depths of his green eyes.But he was utterly inscrutable.
Forcing herself to take a deep breath, she tried to wipe all emotion from her face.She knelt on the floor.
“Do you need a cushion?”Felix asked softly.
“No.”She was glad her voice sounded calm.
He knelt with his back to hers, and they both turned their heads toward each other.He was so close… The movement pushed her off-balance, and he twined his arm around hers to grasp her hand, keeping her upright.It was an awkward but also intimate position—their hands clasped, their arms entwined, their backs pressed together, their faces so close, she could see every detail of his dark lashes and the way his green eyes darkened toward the pupil.
Then he closed his eyes, and she did the same.His lips connected with hers, moving softly, gently, so unlike what had happened between them in the dark closet.But for the briefest moment, she was right back there, her body heating with desire.
It was over as quickly as it had begun, and as quickly as it needed to be.Felix pulled his mouth from hers, and she opened her eyes to see him staring intently at her.She caught a flash of something, but it was gone so quickly, she doubted what she’d seen.He went back to being unreadable.She was vaguely aware of people applauding.
He released her hand and unwound his arm from hers, then stood and helped her up.She touched him as fleetingly as possible, too aware of how different it suddenly felt.She’d touched him countless times before, but now it carried a sensual heat that was impossible to ignore.
How were they going to carry on after this?
Sarah again avoided looking at her brother or Lavinia as she made her way back to the settee.She sat stiff-straight as she waited for Lytton to assign the remaining punishments and prayed he wouldn’t give her another kissing penalty.Thankfully, she had only one more.
As it happened, Lytton chose her to be one of the Living Statues.Miss Saunders positioned Sarah in a crouching position with her arms wrapped around herself.It was difficult to keep her balance, but fortunately, she was one of the last to be placed and didn’t have to hold her statue for long.
During the last set of punishments—a quadrille with eight guests wearing blindfolds and four guests playing the instruments in a quartet—Felix left.Sarah chided herself to stop paying attention to him as Lavinia joined her on the settee.
“I’m so glad to be done with the record keeping,” she said.“I never would have agreed had I known what would happen.I’ve been positivelyburningto come talk to you.”She lowered her voice to a soft whisper.“I can’t believe you ended up kissing Felix.You had no idea?”
Sarah was torn between wanting to tell Lavinia about the kiss and how she’d felt about it and hoping the floor would open up and swallow her whole.“No.”
“I had that impression.It didn’t seem Felix knew either.”
No, he would have been just as surprised—he’d expected her to be in a room with Blakesley.And even if hehadknown, he presumably wouldn’t have kissed or touched her like that.When she thought of the way his tongue had explored her mouth or his hands had caressed her back and neck… She’d bestnotthink of it.
“Where did he go?”Lavinia asked, then shrugged.“Anthony looked a bit displeased, didn’t he?”
Sarah shot a glance toward her brother.He was still frowning.“Yes,” she murmured.“And poor Beck looks bored.”
“He is,” Lavinia said with a laugh.“He’d rather be writing a poem or creating new music.”
“I’m sure he finds the quartet’s ‘music’ rather ghastly.”Sarah began to relax in the company of her friend.Maybe it wasn’t so bad.Hopefully, they could all behave as if it had never happened.
