Page 109 of Foolish Bride
He faced her.
She whispered, “Will you attend my wedding?”
He smiled and bowed again. “It would be my honor.”
Middleton strode away and disappeared into the crowd.
She had seen something sad in his eyes. The possibility that two men were really in love with her was too much to think about.
Michael stood near the doors to the gardens, watching her.
She took a step toward him, then turned back to Mother. “Mother, I am going to get some air.”
“Yes, dear. It’s terribly hot. Don’t stay away too long. It’s best to be visible tonight.”
She was already heading for the door. People stared at her as she passed. She smiled and nodded to each of them. Some were acquaintances and others gossips, but she treated them all the same.Let them think what they wanted.She wouldn’t be made to hide at home and cower. She picked her head up even higher.
Once she was at the back of the room, she quietly slipped out the open door. Even fall’s cool air couldn’t cut through the stuffiness of the ballroom.
The fine weather had coaxed a few people outside. Elinor moved into the shadows. No one turned to see her, and she continued quietly along the outside of the dim patio, descended several steps, and rounded a shrubbery into the darkness of the gardens.
A full moon provided the only light. The white pebble path shone, but the manicured bushes did not allow her to see much beyond it. She walked for a few minutes. Every bush looked the same, and the path gave no clues to how far she’d come. She wouldn’t find Michael and would never find her way back to the house.
An arm snaked around her waist and pulled her hard against a male body. The warm scent of soap and vanilla mixed with Michael’s distinctly male aroma sent a shiver down her back.
“Michael,” she whispered and leaned back against him.
His mouth was just at the curve of her ear. “How was your dance?”
“Are you jealous?” She pushed her bottom into him.
He moaned. “You’re damned right, I am jealous.”
Turning, she put her arms around his neck. She leaned forward and kissed his lips softly, allowing their breath to mingle. “There is no reason for you to be.”
“No?” He pushed her an arm’s length away. “Middleton is in love with you. You must know that.”
“He has not made any declarations of the kind.” She pressed against him from knees to neck. “I am in love with you. Preston is our good friend who is helping us out of a difficult situation.”
He mumbled something.
“I thought you went and saw him yesterday. Didn’t the two of you discuss what would happen this evening?”
“It is one thing to sit in a library and discuss the idea of another man showing desire for one’s fiancé. It is quite another to see her in that other man’s arms.”
“I am in your arms now, as you knew I would be. And next week, I will be your wife and in your bed every night for the rest of our lives.”
“Mmm. That is worth even the price of watching you dance with Middleton.” He kissed the skin between her shoulder and her neck.
She tilted her head to give him better access and sighed as her desire blossomed.
“We should return to the ball.” He kissed a line from her throat to her shoulder.
She yearned to rip off her clothes and press against him like the wanton she’d become. “You are probably right. We are supposed to be disrupting a scandal, not creating a new one.”
His laugh rumbled deep in his chest. Feeling the vibration, she pushed herself tighter to him. He warmed her through their clothes.
“Elinor, you are driving me mad.” He groaned.
