Page 76 of Beneath the Devil's Mask
“Those other jewels meant nothing to me. You have returned to me everything that I ever held precious.”
“Did you love Sir Gerald?” Mandell demanded. “Whatever induced you to marry a self-righteous prig like that?”
With Mandell standing so close, his fingers rippling through her hair in that slow, seductive fashion, Anne had difficulty remembering. “Gerald was handsome and he could be charming when he wished. That first night at Almack’s when I looked up and saw him bending over me, he seemed like some prince out of a fairy story. I thought I fell madly in love with him, butsometimes I have wondered if I was merely afraid there would never be anyone else interested in me.”
”I wish I could turn back time to that night,” he said. “I wish I had been there.”
Anne smiled sadly. “You would have never noticed a poor little mouse like me. There were many more dashing belles present.”
“We would have to turn the clock back for me as well, to a time before I had too many Cecily Constables in my life.” His dark eyes were wistful. “Back to when I was a more tender fellow. Is such a thing possible, Anne? Are you any good at pretending?”
“It would not be too difficult. I can remember exactly what I did that first evening.” Pulling away from Mandell, she sat down in one of Lily’s chairs, primly folded her hands, and stared at the tiles. “I spent the entire time studying a crack in the floor that resembled the outline of Ireland.”
“Would you have looked up if I had approached you?” Mandell stepped in front of her.
Anne regarded the tips of his Hessians. “I would have contented myself to admire your shoes.”
“What if I summoned one of the hostesses, Lady Jersey perhaps, to introduce me? `Miss Wendham, may I present to you the marquis of Mandell as a very desirable dancing partner.’”
Anne laughed. It was all nonsense, but her pulse fluttered and she felt absurdly shy. “Then I suppose I would have been obliged to look up.” Anne raised her head slowly.
She had no difficulty imagining how Mandell would have appeared in a candlelit ballroom, the soft light bringing out the sheen in his waves of ebony hair, the white folds of his cravat only serving to accent the lean masculine line of his jaw.
The look on his face was so solemn, his smile one of rare sweetness. His eyes glinted like the facets of some mysterious dark jewel and held no trace of his usual mockery. Her breath caught in her throat.
“And after I finally induced you to look at me?” he prompted. “And then?”
“Then there is a chance I might have seen no one but you.”
He took her hand and drew her to her feet.
“I believe Lady Jersey has given permission for us to perform the waltz.”
“Did she? I am hearing a minuet.”
“I hate to correct you, Miss Wendham, but it is most definitely a waltz.”
He rested one hand at her waist, gathering her other hand in his own. Maintaining a decorous distance, he led her into the first steps of the dance.
She followed his lead, marveling that she did not feel foolish. It was as though she could hear the strain of violins and the chatter and laughter of other couples but from a great distance. As Mandell whirled her in a slow circle, the room became a blur and she felt as though she were losing herself in his eyes.
“Are we not moving too slow, my lord?” she asked. “We are out of tempo with the music,”
“Maybe it is the rest of the world that is out of step.”
He drew her closer until the front of her bodice brushed against his chest. His movements became slower, waltzing her about the floor in a sensual sway which caused her pulse to race.
“You should be warned, young Miss Wendham,” he murmured close to her ear. She could feel the warmth of his breath tickling her hair. “I am already acquiring a reputation for being a little wild.”
“Young Miss Wendham is not so quick to judge as the prim and proper Lady Fairhaven. She has a notion you are not as wicked as you would like everyone to believe.”
“Does she? And where would she get a notion like that?”
“Perhaps it was from watching you be so kind and patient with a certain little girl. A little girl who was quite enchanted by you today. Even while the doctor examined her, she could talk of nothing else but Lord Man who liked to read myths and told her how pretty she was.”
“I suspect that was only because the little girl fancied me to be like one of the characters in her stories.”
“Hades. I’ve noticed the resemblance myself,” Anne said. “The dark lord who was so lonely he felt forced to steal a bride.”
