“You wish to dance again?” she whispered.
“I do.” He bowed to her, breaking their eye contact momentarily. When he looked at her again, he moved toward her, for the three-beat time of a waltz had begun, and he took her in his arms. She was acutely aware of every touch, his palm on her waist, her fingers on his arm, everything. “Let me make something completely clear,” he said in a deep tone as he led her around the floor. “Do not believe what you read in the scandal sheets.”
“You implied once before that what they say of you might be an elaboration of the truth,” she murmured, finding she couldn’t look away from him. For some reason, her heart fluttered in her chest. She had no idea as to whether it was his proximity to her, the fact he wished to dance with her a second time, or his words that had this effect.
“I’m not implying. I’m stating outright that what the scandal sheets say of me are complete and utter lies.” He pulled her closer toward himself, avoiding another couple on the floor. She came so near to him, her eyes flicked to the center of his chest, then back up to his eyes again. “Helena.” He broke off from using her usual title, and her lips parted in wonder. “Do not believe it. Any of it.”
“None of it?” she murmured. “The stories have been printed for years, Your Grace.”
“Why do you think I have no love for events such as this? Why do you suspect I have avoided them as I do?”
“The scandal sheets have suggested you have found a better way to employ your time.”
“They speak of scandal because they have nothing else to say.” He shook his head minutely. “I work hard, Helena. That is my business and preoccupation. I do not keep ladies company at night as it suggests I have done, and any lady in my life has been nothing that lasted on either side. I am not so cruel of heart as to take a lady to bed and then disregard her the next day. Think what you like of my family, if you must, hate the Moores, if you are so intent on doing so, but hate us for the right reasons, not the wrong ones. I am no rake.”
Helena’s hold tightened upon him. Rather than sweeping across the floor as he had done with the last number, they now moved slowly, merely stepping from side to side, so close to one another that she was in danger of falling into his chest. She managed to just keep herself off him, though the excitement of the moment had her hand shaking.
“You’re trembling,” he whispered, his hand softly encapsulating hers. “You’re safe with me. You do not need to be afraid.”
“I’m not afraid. I’m stunned…” She confessed in a whisper. “It’s all a lie? All of it? You never once…”
“Not once.” He shook his head again. “I am no rake, and I do not know why the scandal sheets say that I am, but if there’s even a part of you that has come to believe over the last few weeks that I am not the devil you once thought me to be, then give me the benefit of the doubt now. I’m telling the truth.”
She nodded, almost imperceptibly though it was enough to make him smile.
“Thank God for that.” He pulled her away from another couple, so they had a section of the floor entirely to themselves.
She did not know what to say nor what to feel. She was jittery being this close to him, and she was overawed with what he had told her. Was it possible that she had been mistaken in his character all along? In the time she had spent with him, she had certainly never seen him pursue a lady, not once. In fact, the lady she had seen him speak to the most was her.
Perhaps he is telling the truth.
His hand slid a little further across her waist, making her breath hitch as they danced. He seemed in no rush to disturb the peace either, so they simply smiled, almost ridiculously, as they kept on dancing, their eyes flitting across one another. When the music came to an end, Helena’s stomach knotted, disappointed it was over so soon.
The Duke had already danced with her twice. He could not dance with her again without people talking of who the two masked figures in gold were and if they were courting. He released her, bowed, and she curtsied, but neither one of them left the floor. They just kept staring at each other.
His piercing gaze bore into her so much that she felt lost and as light as air.
“What does that look mean, Lady Helena?” he asked, his words returning to the formality of using her title. “Is it more than just enjoyment of bickering with me?”
She couldn’t answer him. For so long she had clung onto her knowledge of who she thought he was. Now, she had to accept that the Duke of Bridstone she had come to know over the last few weeks was an entirely different man. One that she cared for.
When did that happen?
“I… I can’t say. I beg you would excuse me.” She dropped a hurried curtsy and walked away, not waiting for him to escort her from the floor but leaving as quickly as she could. So shaken was she by the realization that she darted for the door to the gardens.
I need to escape this place, to be anywhere but here.
She strode out of the ballroom, not noticing where her steps took her.
CHAPTERSEVENTEEN
“What in God’s name do you think you’re doing?” Robert hissed in Christopher’s ear as he left the floor.
“Good evening to you too, brother.” Christopher made his way to the drinks table he had left before the dancing. He reached for his champagne glass, but finding his heart was still fluttering in his chest after that dance, he discarded it and poured himself a brandy instead.
“That was Lady Helena, I know it as do you,” Robert pushed him in the arm, trying to get his attention.
“Don’t knock the brandy, Robert.”
