Taken by the Wicked Rake Read Free

sir.”
    He offered her his arm, and led her out onto the floor. It was amazing that something so simple could be so affecting. She had walked thus with him in the quadrille. But not as his partner. Now it was as if he had claimed her for his own. As they moved through the form of the dance, she was barely aware of the others in the room with her, only the man at her side. Perhaps it was because he did not speak. In a less skilled dancer, she would have suspected that he required full attention for counting the steps. But this man seemed to be focusing solely upon her, watching her as she moved, gazing into her eyes as they met and turned. And he sighed ever so slightly, each time they parted. Was he too shy to speak? She did not think so. There had been nothing in his gaze to indicate the fact, as she had watched him.
    But his reticence made her want to draw nearer.
    “It is a lovely evening, is it not?” She spoke to fill the silence between them, and felt incredibly gauche for it. Could she not have come up with something more interesting to say to a man that had been every where? Although what about her could possibly entertain a man so worldly, she had no–
    “Yes. Delightful.” He looked straight at her as he said it, so she was sure that the comment was intended as a compliment to her and had nothing at all to do with the dance.
    “Thank you.” And that had been a remarkably stupid response. If he’d meant anything other than what she assumed, it would have made no sense at all.
    His lips twitched a little. He knew exactly what she’d thought, and her answer amused him. “You’re most welcome.”
    Welcome to do what? His response had proved her perceptions were correct. And now, though he appeared to answer her in kind, he had included an invitation to something, she was sure. He wanted something from her. Or wanted her to want something from him. Or he meant something else entirely that she did not understand.
    Oh, how she wished Diana was here to explain. Although it was probably best that she was not. Diana would have glared from across the room, dismissed him with a snap of her fan, and packed Verity off to home before either of them could manage another cryptic exchange.
    He gave another smile and an exasperated sigh, as if to say, ‘You are not particularly skilled at flirtation, so I shall be forced to help you.’
    And then, he said aloud, “It is a lovely night. But it is most oppressive in the ballroom. Perhaps a turn around the garden would be pleasant.” He spoke the words with such deliberate slowness, that she was sure he meant…
    Where I mean to kiss you senseless, as soon as we are out of sight of the house.
    “No,” she said, suddenly and firmly. “I do not think that would be wise at all. I do not like gardens.” Which was not only untrue, but another exceptionally odd statement.
    “You do not like gardens?” He smiled again, as though her at tempted set down were but another joke. “Perhaps it is because you have not seen them in the moon light.”
    Or with the right company.
    That was what he meant. She was sure of it. For all his good looks and attractively chosen words, he was the sort of man who expected a tryst in the garden after a single dance, and he was vain enough to assume she would throw off the strictures of Society for an opportunity to be alone with him.
    “On the contrary. I am not so foolish as to think that what appeals to me in moon light will have the same charm when the sun rises. Now, if you will excuse me.” And she walked away and left him on the dance floor.
    She hurried to the ladies’ retiring room, one hand to her face, feeling the growing warmth of her cheeks. She’d made a cake of herself in front of everyone by walking away from the most desirable man in the room, in the middle of a set.
    Which was not to say she desired him, of course. Or that she secretly wished to go out in the garden and see if her suspicions about him were correct. Because,