Page 31 of One Dangerous Desire
Rex cut to the right to stop himself and wrapped both arms around her, catching her midfall.
“You’ve saved me,” she breathed against his cheek.
They finally slowed, and Rex led her to the side of the rink and up onto the platform, away from the rush of oncoming skaters. Caroline clasped her arms around his neck and leaned on him a bit too eagerly for such a public space.
“Are you all right?” Rex attempted to loosen her hold gently, but she immediately tightened her grip. Finally, he managed to lower their laced hands to her lap.
“My head feels as if it’s still spinning around that rink.”
He felt the echo of movement in his own body too. The insistent rolling noise of wheels on wood made him want to step back into the rink. Among the skaters, May and Lady Emily had clasped arms to skate together as Sullivan hovered behind them.
“Thank you, Mr. Leighton.” Caroline squeezed his hand to snag his attention.
“Not at all, my lady.” After pulling away from her, he seated himself at a respectable distance on the bench where they’d settled. He reached up to pat her back, attempting to soothe the tremors he’d felt rippling up his arms through their clasped hands.
She leaned into him again, just as Lady Emily and Sullivan stepped up out of the rink.
“You took a bit of a tumble, my dear.” Lady Emily seemed determined to take over tending Caroline, and Rex was content to relinquish the task.
“Lady Caroline is uninjured?” Sullivan inquired as he stood watching the skaters as if he too wished to reenter the fray.
“Quite. A bit shaken up but unharmed.” Rex moved next to him and spoke quietly. “Where’s Miss Sedgwick?” He could see Devenham, who was skating alongside a couple he’d never met, but May’s peach-colored gown looked similar to many worn by dark-haired women whirling past.
“I only see the earl. Has he left her all alone in this crush?” The disgust in Sullivan’s voice matched Rex’s feelings about the man.
“There she is.” Rex spotted her between two groups of ladies, none of whom she seemed to know. Though she skated with masterful grace, she turned her head from side to side as she rolled along, looking a bit lost.
“I’m going to get her.” Just as she approached, Rex stepped down into the rink and gathered momentum to draw up behind her.
He reached for her, his fingers brushing just above her elbow. “Your partner seems to have abandoned you.”
“I thought you said I wasn’t the sort of woman who required rescuing.” Despite her sarcastic tone, she adjusted her pace to allow him to skate beside her.
“So it seems. You’re very good at this.” He meant the compliment. May made skating look effortless. She moved with enough speed to cause loose waves of hair to ripple along her shoulder.
“That fact shocks you?” She glanced at him before focusing ahead again and lifting her shoulders in a shrug. “My mother used to take me ice skating in the park every winter. Until she fell ill.”
An exuberant couple moving far too swiftly and wobbling back and forth came up from behind. Rex and May made space for them to pass. As they rolled by, the lady wobbled a bit too far and shot an arm out to grasp May’s sleeve.
“Pardon me, miss,” she called as her partner caught her and the two picked up speed.
May laid a hand on Rex’s forearm to steady herself. A simple action. A practical touch.
It kicked Rex’s pulse into a gallop. He took advantage, wrapping a hand around her waist so that they moved in unison, the lush flare of her hip pressed against his upper thigh.
“One misstep and you’ll bring us both down.” She was close enough to whisper the words, and he wondered if she intended the double meaning. There was no doubt the lady could maintain her balance in the skating rink, but he hadn’t mistaken her eagerness when he’d kissed her on Ashworth’s back terrace. Or her anger when she’d stormed away and vowed to marry an aristocrat.
“I won’t let you fall, May.” He wouldn’t allow any injury to come to her in the rink, and he wouldn’t toy with her heart. He loosened his hold on her waist and immediately felt less. Less satisfied. Less whole. As if being near her filled an emptiness he didn’t know existed until she moved away.
She turned her head, and he felt the press of her gaze. Apparently, the lady could skate without even watching where she was going. He didn’t yet possess such skill and kept his eyes fixed ahead.
“I have no intention of falling, Mr. Leighton.” She dipped forward to burst ahead of him, and one long black ribbon at the back of her gown slipped through his fingers, inch by inch. Cutting to the right of several skaters, she slowed and gripped the rail along the rink, stepping up onto the platform ringing the arena.
He circled twice more, focusing on the skaters and the whirring drone of movement and chatter. It wasn’t unlike the hum of the enormous dynamo that would generate electricity at the Pinnacle. The sound and the cooling ripple of air against his face as he skated eased a bit of the tension in his body, but it did nothing to erase the scent of her. One touch and he could smell her perfume wafting off his clothing and skin. He clenched the hand he’d placed at her waist into a fist, less out of frustration than a desire to hold onto the memory of touching her.
“Caroline.” The name felt odd on his tongue, but he forced himself to focus on the lady who watched him intently from the edge of the rink. She’d been the only noblewoman to show interest beyond a meaningless tumble or short-lived affair. He had every reason to propose, and soon. Though he had money on hand to pay Thorndike for the property itself, he’d need Ashworth’s funds to start the renovations he envisioned.
He stepped up to join Caroline and the rest of their party.
