Page 82 of A Tempest of Desire
Shaking her head, she released a low groan. “Our night is going to end as it did at the Dragons.”
“I promise you it will not.”
She studied him for several ticks of a clock. “Also promise me that you will not challenge anyone to a duel. No matter what insult they may direct at me.”
“I am a good shot.”
Her eyes widened with intensity. “No duel.”
He nodded. “No duel.” A fist, however, would not be out of place.
“All right, then, I’ll go, and hope this isn’t another lesson for you.”
“I’ll pick you up near the end of dusk.”
She looked as if she might come over and kiss him. Instead, she gave a curt nod and walked out.
Chapter 32
Marlowe was accustomed to feeling eyes on her. Normally she wasn’t bothered by it. It was only that tonight there were so damned many all at once.
Standing at the top of the stairs with Langdon, waiting to be announced, she felt as though she had a thousand balloons flying around, caught in a storm in her stomach. It was madness to have come and yet—
The grandeur of the ballroom fairly took her breath. Large gilded and crystal chandeliers. A mirrored wall that reflected the room and made it seem like it went on forever. The gowns, the jewelry.
While she had selected a mauve gown with a fairly modest neckline, she had opted to forgo the pearl necklace Hollie had once given her in favor of the medallion Langdon had gifted to her. She never took it off and tonight she thought she might need it traveling through the ballroom.
When she glanced over at her escort, her breath left her completely. In evening attire, Langdon was simply too deuced gorgeous. Looking at himheated her to the point of combustion, made her want him so desperately, that she yearned to sneak off somewhere with him, take off his clothes, and lift her skirts—
Yes, madness, absolute madness.
The couple in front of them were announced. She and Langdon were next. She swallowed hard. His hand came to rest on hers where it clung to his arm.
“Remember, we’ll leave whenever you’re ready.”
“There are so many people here, I don’t think the duke and duchess would have noticed if I didn’t come.”
“They’d have noticed. No one would have been on my arm.”
“I imagine at least half the unmarried ladies in this room are not going to be happy to see someone on your arm.”
“Only half?”
She laughed. “Your ego doesn’t need stroking.”
“Something else does.”
She gave him a pointed look. “Behave.”
He touched her chin, his eyes serious. “I care about the happiness of only one. Yours.”
Don’t don’t don’t make me want you more than I already do.
Before she could come up with a witty comeback, a deep voice was filling the ballroom.
“Marlowe and Lord Langdon!”
She didn’t know why she hadn’t considered how it might sound to have their names linked together. She’d never gone anywhere with Hollie where they’d been announced. The gossips hadalways referred to him as Lord H. Certainly there were those who saw them together, knew to whom she owed her allegiance but for the vast majority he was offered some protection, the focus on her, not him.
