Page 54 of Heart of Iron
Not a man he’d like to cross.
“Come,” Lena whispered, tugging at his sleeve.
Why the devil had he agreed to this?Feeling hunted, he stalked down the stairs beside her.
The next hour was a whirl of teeth-grinding social niceties and false smiles as Lena introduced him to members of the Echelon.Hard looks slapped his back and he saw more than a few blue bloods exchange glances.The looks were easy enough to interpret.What the hell was he doing here?What game was the Council up to?
Lights.Music.Laughter.So bright and glittering, dozens of gaslit chandeliers casting heat across the room.Nostrils flaring, he intercepted a glass of champagne from a drone’s tray and handed it to Lena.She served as his only anchor in this world he didn’t understand and didn’t want to.
It suited her.She laughed and tapped her friends on the shoulders with her folded fan, constantly keeping him involved in the conversation when he’d prefer to have just stood at her shoulder and scowled.This entire evening was effortless for her.Even the blue bloods danced to her tune, kept in place with a coquettish smile and a drawled witticism.
He wanted to smash them in the face for each smile they earned.
“I need air,” he growled in her ear.
“Not yet.”She took one look at his face and nodded thoughtfully.“Come.Dance with me.”
Only for her would he endure such torture.
Taking her by the hand, he led her onto the dance floor and dragged her into his arms.Lena’s eyes widened as his hand slid over the small of her back, his thighs brushing against her skirts.But she didn’t dare chastise him out loud for holding her too closely.
The music swept them up and Will twirled her in his arms, concentrating hard on counting the steps.It should have looked ridiculous—he was enormous against her delicate stature—but Lena had a grace about her that made it somehow work.It was like holding a spinning top in his hands.She floated, each movement lithe and elegant, with a slight hint of the coquette.If he faltered, she encouraged him with a lowered-lash smile that made all of the steps rush out of his mind.
All of his thoughts, in fact.
“Stop counting,” she murmured, a small smile playing about her lips.
He glared at her, twirling her in a pirouette.From this angle, he could see straight down her dress at the soft swell of creamy flesh she displayed with far too much complacency.Pearls dripped into the deep vee of her gown, drawing his gaze lower.“I thought it were fashion for women searchin’ for a protector to leave their throats and neck bare?”
Lena glanced up, over her shoulder, as he guided her through a pirouette.“But I’m not.”
“Not what?”
There was a slight hesitation.“Searching for a protector.”
His fingers tightened in hers.It shouldn’t matter.She could never be his anyway.But the thought still flooded him with a fierce sense of satisfaction.Of possession.
His body curved around hers, drawing her back against his chest as he held her hands up.The movement thrust her chest forward and arched her neck.Each step of theassahhad been designed to tempt, to show a blue blood a woman’s best features.Will had no desire for her blood, but the smooth slope of her neck and shoulder drew his gaze.He wanted to run his lips over her skin, to feel her tremble, to taste her as her skin pebbled and she gasped softly.
His cock roused.Dangerous thoughts.Especially here, in the middle of a ballroom.The swish of her bustle against his groin was a devastating itch, inciting him to harder lengths.
“You’re holding me too close,” she whispered.
The smile on her face was careless, as if she were not aware of the fact.A charade for anyone watching.
Her breath, however, told another story.
What was he doing?Will dragged in a thick breath and looked away.He spun her in a light circle and she came back into his arms, facing him this time.The look in her eyes devastated him.
Perhaps it had been the other afternoon?Daring her to accept him in public.Challenging her at her own games.
There was no point to this.She wasn’t his and never could be.But…it was so tempting to hold her, to torture himself with her nearness when he knew he could never have her.
Justthisonce.
“Will,” she whispered.“Stop it.”
He couldn’t let her go.Couldn’t put the proper distance between them.The music swept through him, a string-and-flute quartet with a slight Middle Eastern hum as exotic counterpoint.Each step came easily now.He wasn’t thinking so much.Just following her body through the steps of the sinuous dance.Predator to prey.But this time the prey held all the power, luring him in, drawing him closer.
