Lady
Adrianna Beechcroft’s breath wedged in her throat. Heavens above, she had
caught the deliciously handsome rake’s attention. His lustful gaze held a
blatant offer of intimacy. Her face grew uncomfortably hot and she raised her
fan. Unable to look away from his intense emerald eyes, she hovered at the
entrance to the card room amid a bevy of chits. The stranger’s mouth twitched
into a smile around the gold tipped cheroot holder and he winked at her. The
group of young ladies surrounding her giggled. To her dismay, the gentleman folded
his cards on the table and pushed to his feet. Adrianna examined the powerful
stranger. He was the most fashionable of gentlemen. She admired tall men and
his magnificently broad shoulders fit snug inside a dark blue jacket nipped at
the waist and worn over breeches tight enough to enhance his long muscular
legs. He wore no wig and his queued ebony hair held not one trace of powder.
Entranced by his devilish countenance, she followed his progress across the
room. The stranger moved toward her with unnerving arrogance as if he believed she
would swoon at his feet. She fought against the desire to wait for him and turned away pushing through the crush to enter the ballroom. Her
card was full and the music had started up again. To her relief, her
next partner and one of her father’s elderly colleagues, Lord Winton, strode toward
her.
“I
believe this is my set?” Lord Winton bowed over her hand dispersing a shower
of dust from his overly powdered wig. “May I escort you to supper this evening,
Lady Adrianna?”
Smiling
she met his gaze. “Yes, I would like that of all things.”
She gave him her curtsy and laid her hand on
his arm. Chancing a glance over one shoulder to the edge of the dance floor,
she noticed the handsome stranger leaning with one shoulder resting
nonchalantly against the wall. He smiled outrageously and raised a glass of
wine to her then turned and vanished into the crowd. Her stomach fluttered in
an unnerving fashion, he had woken something unfamiliar inside her. She made an
effort to push his dashingly handsome image from her mind and concentrate on
the complicated steps of the dance but to no avail. His handsome countenance
and outrageous offer lingered in her consciousness like a forbidden confection.
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