Page 42 of Single Desire
“No? I thought you had your fill of tea during dinner. You must have been feeling more poorly than I thought the day after the masquerade.”
“Pray do not make light of me, your grace.”
He chuckled, the sound low and oddly pleasing.
Maura’s heart skipped a beat. His laugh…the way he looked at her, his blue eyes so warm…
She swallowed. “Actually, I believe I should like to retire.”
His brows shot high. Maura held her breath. Dear Lord, she prayed he didn’t perceive it as an invitation. “So soon?” he asked. She had no chance to respond. “Ah, but I forget,” he murmured. “You didn’t sleep well last night. In that case, allow me to escort you upstairs.”
He offered an arm. Maura had no choice but to take it. Her fingers rested lightly on his sleeve. Even through the layers of cloth, she could feel the taut muscle beneath. He was silent as they climbed the stairs and turned down the corridor that led to her room…and his. She was too nervous to say a word. Would he follow her in? Claim his husbandly rights? He’d toyed with her last night. She wasn’t a fool. He’d wanted to discomfit her, and he had.
And now his air of self-confidence left her no less uneasy. He resented her. He resented this marriage. He’d made that very clear at the ceremony. But today his attitude had changed and it seemed he’d accepted the circumstance with no further consideration.
Maura knew better. She envied him his composure as they stopped at the door to her room. He opened it, but remained where he was, wearing the half smile that was becoming so familiar…a smile that both disarmed her yet left her wary.
She released his arm. She wasn’t quite sure what to do, what to say. Her poise had deserted her, as had her tongue.
His head lowered. She looked up sharply. It gave her a start to find him staring straight at her mouth, his eyes dark with some emotion she dare not ponder. For a heart-stopping moment she was convinced he meant to kiss her.
The bottom dropped out of her belly. Shadows from the wall lamps played across his features. Everything inside her twisted into a knot. Oh, Lord, she thought helplessly, he was so handsome she could barely breathe. She wanted…oh, but she wanted him to—
His knuckles grazed the slant of her cheek. “Thank you, Irish, for a most pleasant day.” Lifting her hand, he brushed his lips across her fingertips, then turned and walked away.
Inside her room, Maura closed the door, then slumped back against it. Unwittingly, she lifted the back of her hand to her mouth—the very place his lips had kissed, she realized—then snatched it away. Airy as his touch had been, she felt as if she’d been branded to the bone.
She was trembling, she realized. Her heart was thudding so loud it echoed in her ears like a drum. Heaven help her, but she was a fool. She hadn’t planned on this. She hadn’t expected to be so attracted to him. She hadn’t expected to be attracted to him at all! she thought wildly.
But she was, far more than she had realized. Far more than she should have been. And she had been from the start. The admission shouldn’t have come as a surprise, but it did.
She had wanted to feel the heat and pressure of his mouth against hers. She’d wanted him to kiss her the way he had the night of the masquerade, long and slow and heated.
All the more reason to guard against him.
For she had learned something that day. Alec was a man of many sides. Those pale blue eyes could be icy and cold, or heated and seductive. Filled with cool deliberation or fiery anger.
She didn’t quite trust him. Again she had the feeling she had been weighed and tested throughout the day. Which left no conclusion but one.
Alec McBride was perhaps even more dangerous when he was charming…than when he was not.
Chapter Eleven
Two days later Maura rode a dappled gray mare to the village just south of Gleneden, past the church to the graveyard. She tied the reins to a tree, then glanced around.
Murdoch stepped out from behind a stout oak tree.
Maura ran to him, throwing her arms around him. Murdoch had followed almost directly in her wake. It was part of the plan they had conceived, a way to stay in touch should she find the Circle.
When he was able, he stepped back, searching her features. “Lady Maura! What’s wrong, girl?” His welcoming smile vanished. “It’s the duke, isn’t it, child? I knew he was a blackguard! I swear, if he has mis—”
Maura shook her head, blinking back tears. “No, no, Murdoch! I’m fine. Truly I am. He’s not the sort of man to harm anyone.”
And as soon as she’d said it, she realized that he wasn’t. She knew it instinctively. He had remained polite and charming, butshe sensed his distance. She sensed his watchfulness. In turn, she tasked herself to be prudent and cautious, ever vigilant, lest she further arouse his suspicion.
Neither of them allowed it to show on the outside, but Maura knew that Alec was as wary of her as she was of him.
“Have ye learned anything, Lady Maura? Have ye found anything?”
