Read Online Slightly Tempted by Mary Balogh - Free Book Online Page A

toward the leader of the orchestra.
    The music began immediately, and Gervase set a hand behind Lady Morgan's waist, took her right hand in his, and moved her into the steps of the waltz.
    And so they danced virtually alone for the first minute or two, until other couples had gathered around them and joined in. For that minute or two they were exposed to public view again as they danced that most intimate of all dances. He smiled down at her and-instead of looking either shocked or embarrassed, as well she might-she looked boldly back, her perfect eyebrows arched high over her perfect eyes.
    He concentrated his attention on the waltz and despite himself got caught up in the exhilaration of it while he smiled into her eyes and wove her in and out of the other dancing couples. The outdoors was a perfect setting for the waltz, he thought. They seemed part of the forest, he and his youthful partner, part of the night, part of the very dance of life itself. She tipped back her head to look up at the stars wheeling above the swirling branches, and laughed.
    "Ah,chérie, " he said, his voice low, "we move together in perfect harmony, you and I . . . on the dance floor."
    "You are a master of the speaking pause, are you not?" she said haughtily, her smile vanishing.
    He laughed softly.
    The pursuit, he thought, was going to take longer than he had expected. But he was not sorry. He was going to enjoy it every step of the way.
    He had no chance to return her in person to her chaperon's table when the dance ended. A gentleman took her hand and tucked it firmly beneath his arm almost before her feet had stopped moving.
    "Thankyou, Rosthorn," he said with stiff courtesy. "I will take Lady Morgan back to Lady Caddick's side."
    Lord Alleyne Bedwyn looked much like his eldest brother, especially now, when he was clearly annoyed. Gervase had no previous acquaintance with him, but he had seen him a couple of times about Brussels and had greeted him on his arrival this evening.
    Gervase bowed to Lady Morgan and smiled before she was whisked away.
    Ah, this was promising, he thought as he looked after them with narrowed eyes. If Bedwyn had noticed and been offended by what he saw, then others would have noticed too.
    How fortunate for him that she had such a sorry creature for a chaperon.
     
    WELL,MORG," ALLEYNE SAID AFTER HE HADwalked her firmly into one of the avenues and they were no longer being jostled by the crowds, "you have been having a grand time of it tonight."
    "I imagine," she said, "that everyone is green with envy at not having been the first to think of a moonlit picnic in the Forest of Soignés."
    "I daresay," he agreed. "But you know very well what I am talking about. You have not gone falling in love with Rosthorn by any chance, have you? I thought you had more sense."
    "Fallen in love with . . . Are youmad ?" she asked him. "I do not fall in love with every gentleman who deigns to pay me some attention."
    "I am glad to hear it," he said dryly. "But I certainly don't know where Lady Caddick's sense can be, allowing you to walk about with him after supper as if you were an old married couple and then disappear into one of these avenues for so long that I was about to come after you, andthen letting you jump up onto that floor and waltz with him when you were the only two there. You will be fortunate if you are not the subject of some pretty nasty gossip tomorrow. You will be even more fortunate if it does not reach Wulf's ears. I thought she was a responsible chaperon. So, apparently, did Wulf if he allowed you to come here under her care."
    "She has done nothing irresponsible," Morgan said crossly. "Neither have I. It is quite unexceptionable to stroll with a gentleman with whom one has an acquaintance. Even Aunt Rochester would not argue with that. And I have been granted permission to waltz. Lady Caddick did not know Lord Rosthorn intended to begin dancing before other couples joined us. Neither did I."
    "Cut line, Morg,"