Read Online Vexed by a Viscount by Erin Knightley - Free Book Online Page A

accomplished waltz dancer and an excellent teacher.”
    It was so very tempting. She’d seen it done only once, but she’d read much about it in the society pages of the Times , to which her father maintained a faithful, if sadly delayed, subscription. Lord B and Miss H shared not one, but two waltzes at Lord and Lady Granville’s magnificent ball. Might there be an announcement in the near future? One imagines the books at White’s are already filling with wagers relating to the possible match . . .
    “Pru?” he asked, pulling her from her thoughts.
    She bit her lip. As much as she wanted to, she couldn’t accept his scandalous offer. “You really ought not to have come. If we were to be caught, then—”
    “Then someone else would have to have a reason for being out of doors at this time of night, and chances are it would be just as scandalous.” He swung around, indicating the empty landscape around them, before turning back to face her with a grin. “Stop worrying, my friend. ’Tis merely you, me, and the nightingales.”
    “But—”
    “And if someone did miraculously stumble upon us, at least we would be fully clothed, which is much more than I could have said two days ago.”
    “ Ashby ,” she said sternly, scowling at him in the darkness. “You really must forget that you ever witnessed that particular incident. I can’t have you continue to be part of my list if you insist on speaking of the items on it.”
    He stepped closer, reached around to the fence latch, and pulled it open. “You are absolutely right. Now, let us get on with the dancing while the moonlight is cooperating.”
    He was irrepressible. And irresistible. With him standing so near, she couldn’t seem to remember the reasons why she shouldn’t waltz with him. “But there’s no music. How are we to keep time?” It was a feeble protest, and she knew it.
    He slipped one hand behind her back and gently led her beyond the path and onto the manicured grass of the lawn. “I know all the best waltz music by heart. I’ll hum for us.”
    Turning to face her fully, he offered a very formal bow. “Miss Landon, would you do me the honor?” He held his hand, palm up, and waited for her to accept, one eyebrow lifted in challenge all the while.
    Gracious. Between his beckoning hand and his winning little half-smile, he was hard to resist. And the way he was looking at her, as though he knew she had it in her to break even the most ingrained rules and do as she pleased, if only in the moment . . .
    It made her want to prove him right.
    Taking a breath, she reached out and slipped her fingers into his. His hands were bare like hers, and the feel of his skin against hers was momentarily shocking. She was immediately rewarded with a quick squeeze of her hand and the flash of his white-toothed smile. He wrapped his other hand around her back and pulled her in close. “Are you ready?” he asked, his voice ripe with promise and daring.
    The heat of his fingers at her back was nothing short of intoxicating. She leaned toward him like a willow branch in the breeze as she nodded. This was to be her first waltz, and she couldn’t think of a more perfect partner to share it with.
    He drew a breath, lifted his arms, then abruptly paused. “Your shoes,” he said, looking down into her eyes.
    “My shoes?” she murmured dumbly, still reveling in the feel of his bare fingers clasping hers.
    His lips quirked up with amusement. “If you wish to dance barefoot, you’d best remove them.”
    “Oh. Oh yes, of course,” she said, quickly kicking them off. The barefoot part had temporarily been eclipsed by the waltzing part, but she still wanted to fulfill her original challenge.
    The cool, damp grass tickled the bottoms of her feet. It was the oddest sensation—soft and prickly all at once. She smiled up at him, feeling both slightly ridiculous and utterly happy. “Shall we?”
    Without another word, he swung them into motion, humming low and deep