Lynette Vinet - Emerald Trilogy 02 Read Free Page A

her more firmly into his embrace and swept her across the veranda, practically lifting her from her feet. “Dancing is very easy, Miss Fairfax, if you have the proper partner.”
    His head dipped low, his breath fanning her face. Allison trembled as a delicious shiver coursed up her spine. No one dances like this, so close together, she thought. She knew that if Aunt Cecelia should see them, she’d never be allowed to leave the house again, and she hated to think what fate might befall Paul. But she’d never felt this way before, never had her breath come in tiny gasps, didn’t know what to make of the tingling sensations along her spinal column. Oh, to go on and on like this forever!
    Abruptly he stopped, his face shadowed by the flickering torches lighting the veranda. When she looked up, puzzlement and delight in her eyes, he said, “I have a request of you, Miss Fairfax.”
    “What is that?”
    “I should like permission to kiss you.”
    Without waiting for her reply, his blonde head descended and his lips met hers, gently at first, but then he pulled her harder against him and their pressure increased. The suddenness of it stunned her and drew the breath from her. For an instant she moved away and felt his lips moving to the corners of her mouth and downward to the hollow of her throat. She moaned involuntarily and her arms twined around him. Allison longed to be even nearer to him, and this longing forced her to stand on tiptoe and arch her body against his. Her eyes flickered open when she felt the muscles of his arms stiffen beneath her fingers.
    A look of wariness crossed his face, and for a brief moment, he appeared as stunned as she originally had felt. Then she realized how bold she must seem to him, clasped wantonly in his arms, her pink-tinged mouth swollen and waiting for his next kiss. She backed away as her good sense returned, and she reddened like a radish.
    “I … I’m sorry,” she stuttered and covered her face with her hands. “I don’t know what possessed me!”
    Paul clasped her wrists, gently drawing her hands away to rest against the brocade jacket which covered his broad chest. “I took advantage of you, Allison. I owe you the apology. I’ve wanted to kiss you from the first moment I saw you. I’ve never felt this way before, never expected to feel this way, so please don’t brand me a bounder or a cad.”
    Tears filled her eyes and threatened to spill over because she felt no shame, and she realized it was only her fear of what he would think that had caused her embarrassment. She admitted that she knew nothing about Paul Flanders, but she was certain he was the man Maggie had foretold and that her life was linked to his. She had to trust him . But why would such a handsome, worldly man, apparently of good breeding, be attracted to her? Why had he wanted to kiss her when so many more beautiful women were all around? For a moment, her doubts threatened to destroy the rosy glow through which she saw him.
    He whispered into her hair, “Don’t doubt your feelings, Allison. Trust me.”
    This was the man of her dreams, a man who knew her thoughts. She nestled closer, wishing to stay in his arms until the end of time, never mind that she’d met him barely an hour earlier. Their destinies were entwined like ivy on a trellis; this was the man foretold for her. “I do believe you. I know you’ll never hurt me,” she whispered.
    Paul’s dark gaze skimmed the fields, hovering in a possessive manner over the endless acres of the estate. His warm breath ruffled her hair when he spoke. “You’re all I’ve ever wanted, Allison Fairfax, and I mean to have you.”
     

 
     

2
     
    Allison saved all her dances for Paul. She was convinced that old Maggie’s prophecy had come true. Nothing dampened her spirits, not even Cecelia’s worried expression or the fact that Howard appeared terribly hurt and Constance left early in a huff. Her heart sang with love for the handsome stranger, and