Page 24 of One Night of Surrender
“If you would take half the energy you spend harassing me about a wife and direct it at Viola.At least I actually married.It’s her turn to wed.”
Viola gave him a self-satisfied smile.“Too bad I’m so far back on the shelf, no one can reach me.”
“I’d be happy to give you a push.”
“Stop behaving like infants,” Grandmama snapped.“Eastleigh, humor me and dance with one young lady tonight.One won’t kill you.”
He exhaled in resignation.“Fine, but don’t ask me to go to Almack’s next week.”
Grandmama glowered at him.“You already promised.”She looked toward Viola.“You heard him.”
“Actually, he didn’t.”She tossed a look tinged with apology that was certainly meant to atone for her earlier taunt.
Val inclined his head with appreciation.
After satisfying his grandmother’s request to dance with one young lady, Val left the ball.He’d planned to go to the Wicked Duke but found he didn’t particularly feel like company.There’d simply been too much talk of marriage, and that never failed to raise the specter of Louisa.Even in death, she plagued him.
As he strode along the gallery toward his chamber, he slowed when he reached Isabelle’s door.He lingered for a moment, knowing she was just on the other side of a rather thin panel of wood.She was so close and yet utterly untouchable.
He continued on and went into his chamber, where he stripped away his coat and cravat and deposited them in his dressing room for his valet to deal with later.Moving to the sideboard where he kept a bottle of brandy, he poured a glass and closed his eyes as he lifted it to take a sip.
A light rap on his door arrested his movement, the glass stalled in midair on the way to his lips.He turned his head, wondering who would knock on his door at this hour even as his pulse began to pick up speed.
He set the glass down and went to the door.He barely had it open before Isabelle ducked inside.His heart rate increased so that he was sure she would hear it pounding a frantic rhythm.For her.
Words failed him.He was too surprised that she’d come here after her concerns about their past association coming to light.Association?He nearly laughed at the absurdity of that inadequate term.
“I’m sorry to bother you,” she said, taking a position near the door.Her light brown hair hung in a thick, single plait over her right shoulder, and she wore a simple dressing gown with a high neck, the modesty of which did nothing to quell his rising desire.“I wanted to speak with you as soon as possible.I’ve found a job, and I’m leaving in the morning.”
His hopes for the reason for her visit crumbled to dust.She was leaving?“Where are you going?”
She fidgeted with the edge of her long sleeve.“I think it’s probably best if I don’t say.”
“And yet you came here to tell me.”He frowned as dissatisfaction swirled through him.This was not how things were supposed to be between them.How were they supposed to be, then?
“Perhaps I shouldn’t have.”She pivoted toward the door but didn’t move toward it.“I thought… I wanted to say goodbye before I left.I didn’t think I’d see you in the morning.”
He moved, not to block her, but to put himself in her line of sight.“I’m glad you did.I can’t help thinking there’s a reason we encountered each other again.”
Her gaze met his, and in the bright blue depths, he saw myriad emotions, none of which he could define.Her brow arched in that arousing fashion, and Val was suddenly aware of their location and the proximity of his bed.“You think Fate brought us together?”she asked with a sardonic edge.
He lifted a shoulder and edged toward her.“Unfinished business between us, maybe.”
“Perhaps we did need to see each other.Whatever the reason, I am glad to have had your support with what’s happened.”
Need—he wasn’t sure about that.But want?He wanted her more now than he had ten years ago.Which was silly.He barely knew the woman she was today, but he could see that she still cared for those around her, that she possessed a fierce independence, and that she did things on her terms, as much as a woman could.He suddenly envied her freedom.
“Are you certain there’s no other reason you came to see me tonight?”He wanted so badly to kiss her, to see if the spark between them still burned.
“I—” She pressed her lips together, and her eyes glinted with determination.“Yes.I’d like to kiss you goodbye.”
“Just kiss me?”This was how that one night had started, with a single kiss to say goodbye.Then passion had swept them away.Ten years on, surely he knew better.But given the way his cock was hardening, perhaps not.
A faint blush crept up her face.“I shouldn’t have presumed.”She stepped forward, her focus moving to the door.
Val put himself in front of her and lifted his hand to gently touch her temple, brushing a wayward curl behind her ear.“You could never be presumptuous.Not with me.Whatever you want, I would freely give.”
“Then kiss me.One last time.”
