Luck Is No Lady(60)

“Roddy? Roddy, I know you are out here. I saw you just a moment ago in the doorway. Where have you gone?”

Emma turned her head to see a familiar buxom blond standing on the terrace, tentatively searching the shadows of the garden. Humor bubbled in her chest as she realized history was repeating itself. Bentley had hidden from this same lady once before. She turned her face into his chest to muffle the giggle tickling her throat.

His arms tightened around her in a warning to remain still and quiet.

After a few moments, he shifted and she lifted her head to look around. They were alone on the terrace once again. “Still hiding to protect the lady’s honor?” she teased.

“Her honor. My virtue,” he quipped.

The sensations in her body were so distracting, it took her an extra moment to realize just what they were saying. She stiffened, but he held her too closely to allow for any retreat.

“Did you know it was me from the start?” he asked.

“I saw you later in the ballroom,” Emma confessed with a flutter of apprehension in her belly. “I recognized the style of your cravat. How long have you known I was the woman behind the curtain?”

“I recognized you the moment you stepped into my office.”

Emma looked up in surprise. His face was angled just above hers. So close his breath brushed her temple.

“But you did not watch me leave. I made sure of it.”

His smile sent a fall of lovely sensations through her body. Sensations that swirled in her center, bringing increased awareness to every nerve.

“I didn’t have to watch you leave. I saw your face when you first slid behind the curtain with me. But even if I hadn’t, I suspect I would have known it was you that day.”

Emma knew she shouldn’t ask. “Why?”

“There is something distinctive about you, Emma. Something…” His voice trailed off and his arms tightened around her. He took a weighted breath then curved his lips in a rueful grin. “You are unlike anyone I have known before.”

His words warmed her, but she was skeptical. “I am not so unusual.”

He chuckled then. “I beg to disagree.”

She shifted her weight to glance back to where the blond had been standing. “I suppose I shall now have to believe your claim that she pursued you, rather than the other way around.”

“It is the truth after all,” he said, smoothing his hand down the curve of her spine until he flattened his palm against her lower back, keeping her body flush against his. “I may not be an honorable man, but that does not mean I do not have discerning taste.” His smile was intimate. “I looked for you that night.”

Emma sighed. What could have happened if things had been different? If they had been free to dance with each other that night. Or tonight.

A hollow ache developed deep in her soul. She tried to withdraw from his embrace.

He responded by locking his arms more securely around her waist and leaning his shoulders back to look down into her face. He was in shadow, so she could not see his eyes, but she could feel the depth of his focus down to her toes.

“Are you going to let me go?”

“Not yet.”

“There is nothing wrong with your cravat this time,” she murmured.

“No. My problem goes deeper than that.”

Emma did not reply. She knew what he meant. She felt it herself.

They stood in silence. Their breathing slowed to a matching rhythm. Every sound from the house faded into the background. Time no longer mattered. Nothing mattered. Not Hale or her responsibilities or her reputation.

“Why does this moment—standing with you like this in the shadows—feel so right?” he asked.

She barely managed to whisper, “I do not know.”

After a moment, he asked, “Did you ever intend to share with me the fact of our first meeting?”

“No. There was no reason to bring it up.” Emma shifted her weight. Her thighs brushed intimately against his, and her low belly erupted in delicate flutters of anticipation. “It had no bearing on our professional relationship.”

His arms slid farther around her, bringing her body flush against his. Her fingers curled over the solid muscle of his biceps, and she resisted the gasp that threatened as she felt his desire firm against her belly.

“What about our personal relationship?” he asked in a raw murmur.

She licked her lips before she replied. “We have no personal relationship.”

“Maybe we should.”

A thousand delicate thrills chased over her skin and Emma felt herself melting into him. He brought his head down alongside hers, and his warm breath fanned across the surface of her bare shoulder, sending tingles down her spine. She slid her hands up to his shoulders and gently tipped her head, ready for his kiss.