They barely spoke as the dance progressed. It was as if there was nothing more for them to say then. Everything that needed to be communicated between them was clear from the looks in their eyes and the movement of their bodies.
As the dance began to draw to a close, Isabella leaned in and whispered to him. “I must tell you something important, Sebastian.”
He nodded. “There is something that I wish to say to you, too.”
“Do you think we can steal a moment on the terrace, alone?”
There was a look in her eye that he did not quite recognize. He thought it was a mixture of fear and anticipation. It was risky what she was proposing, but far less risky than things they had already done together in secret, in the middle of the night.
He nodded. “Of course. I will go first. You follow after me.”
She smiled, then turned and walked away from him as the music from the dance faded into nothing.
He resolved to go straight to the terrace. She would be more than capable of working out when it was safe for her to follow him, he was sure.
As he crossed the room, he felt eyes on him. Like Isabella, there had been a sense of being watched all evening, but this was more intense. He felt almost as if he was a prey animal, exposed in an open field, with a sense that there might be a predator about to pounce from any direction.
He shook his head. He was being ridiculous, he told himself. He strode purposefully towards the door that led outside, then out onto the balcony. He would have a few moments, he thought, before Isabella joined him.
Although he had thought of little else for hours, he was still not quite sure how he was going to explain to her the real reason behind his decision to visit the Evermere estate and how he was going to confess to her that, somewhere in the middle of his quest for vengeance, he had fallen in love with her.
Chapter 25
Victor felt as if he had spent his whole life watching other people. Watching and waiting for the moment when he could swoop in and take advantage of the situation to make the best of it for himself. He felt not a shred of shame about it; he had needed to fight for everything he had, and he would carry on fighting to keep it.
And tonight was no different. He had arrived in the ballroom early, when there were hardly any other guests present, and had made sure to circulate as people arrived, listening as much as possible to their conversations. The more he knew about what was going on and what people were talking about, the more chance of success he had in pulling off his plan.
And sure enough, Felicity’s early efforts seemed to have been successful. He heard numerous people speculating about Lady Isabella Langley’s marriage prospects, and he even heard one older lady saying something rather unkind about her virtue.
Everyone was talking about Lady Isabella, but not in the way that anyone would ever want to be talked about. There was gossip and speculation all around, and it was becoming out of control already.
And then, when she had finally entered, and Lord Ashcroft had charged forward through the crowd to see her coming down the stairs, the situation had escalated even further. It was obvious to anyone who knew anything about love, or even lust, for that matter, that the pair of them were enamoured with one another.
The viscount was not even trying to hide his admiration for Lady Isabella, and she perhaps was trying to conceal her own shame, but she was not doing a very good job of it.
And then they even had the audacity to dance together! Victor could scarcely believe his eyes as he watched them glide together around the dance floor. Of course, only a few people knew that Lady Isabella’s engagement to the Duke of Harbridge would be announced that very evening. And Victor only knew about it due to Felicity’s rather surprisingly proficient spying.
But Lady Isabella certainly was not acting as she ought to, considering she was supposedly on the brink of becoming a duchess. He wondered, though, what on earth the duke was thinking, not to have even secured her hand for the first dance. Perhaps he was rather a little too secure in his own position with his bride-to-be.
But their wedding would never happen now. Isabella would be ruined, and Felicity would come out on top. Victor could not help smiling slyly as he watched Sebastian and Isabella go their separate ways after the dance. He knew that Felicity was poised and ready to play out the final and most dramatic part of their plan.
Nothing could go wrong now. Once young Lord Ashcroft was entangled in a scandal with Felicity, he would have no more thoughts of past secrets or any of that dangerous nonsense. He and Felicity would be married, and Victor would regain control of his life. Everything would return to how it had been before, and Victor would never have to face the consequences of his actions.
Victor watched Sebastian heading outside onto the terrace. It was almost as if the young man was playing right into his hands. There was no better place for the next stage of the plan to be played out than on the terrace, where they could easily be discovered in plain sight. It was almost too good to be true.
But in the next instant, he saw Isabella glancing towards the door. She was preparing to follow Sebastian, he realized. He had to stop her.
He strode across the room as quickly as he could without drawing attention to himself and blocked her way to the door.
“Lady Isabella,” he said, with as charming a smile as he could manage. “You do look simply stunning tonight.”
She smiled absently, looking over his shoulder as she did so.
“Might you grant me the honour of the next dance?” Victor went on, offering his arm to her. He knew she could not refuse unless someone had already secured her hand for this dance. But the Duke of Harbridge was nowhere to be seen, and Victor had not seen any other gentleman approaching her as she left the dance floor, so he could only hope that she would be forced to accept.
“Oh, Lord Harrow!” she said, looking at him in alarm, almost as if she had only just noticed that he was there. “I – um …”
Victor could tell that she was searching for an excuse, any excuse, to avoid dancing with him and to free herself to go and see her lover on the terrace. But she could not get out of it now, could she?
