Читать книгу Candlelit Christmas Kisses: Captain Moorcroft's Christmas Bride / Governess Under the Mistletoe - Anne Herries, Anne Herries - Страница 7

Summer 1810, Bath

SELINA Searles, aged sixteen, innocent and on the verge of womanhood, looked around the crowded Assembly Rooms and felt a tingle of excitement. She was a pretty girl, full of life, happy and thrilled to be at her first ball. Her mama had told her that she was too young to be brought out in London society until the following year. However, since they were in Bath, because dear Mama had been laid low with a chill and Selina had volunteered to care for her, she was being allowed a special treat.

‘I shall expect you to behave properly, dearest,’ her mama had told her. ‘This is your first dance, and you must remember the rules of polite society. If a gentleman asks you to dance, you may do so, but before you waltz I must approve your choice. On no account are you to flirt, nor will you leave the ballroom in the company of a gentleman, and you must never, never allow a man to kiss you unless you have accepted a proposal of marriage. You will do no such thing, for you are too young and it is unlikely to happen, but remember the rules, my love, and you will not go far wrong.’

‘Yes, Mama,’ Selina had said and smiled. ‘You’ve told me all this before, and I should not dream of disobeying you.’

Her feet tapping to the music, Selina waited patiently to be asked to dance. She was an exceptionally lovely girl, some might say beautiful, with melting brown eyes and dark hair that curled about her face before being swept up into ringlets that fell on one shoulder, but it was her vivacity, her joy in life that shone out of her, lighting up the room. A girl like that could not go unnoticed for long, and indeed it was not much more than five minutes before she was asked to dance by a gentleman who presented himself as Lord March.

He was a very correct gentleman and held her at precisely the right distance, so that when he asked for a second dance, which was a waltz, her mama immediately granted her permission. Selina hardly had time to catch her breath at the end of the dance before she was besieged with gentlemen asking for dances and every space on her card was filled. Her mama looked on indulgently, as if she had expected this to happen, nodding her permission each time Selina looked at her. Every waltz had been taken, and Selina was soon lost in the excitement and delight of being a raging success.

It was not until about halfway through the evening that she noticed a gentleman dressed in a magnificent scarlet-and-black uniform. Suddenly it was as if a hundred candles had been lit, for his presence seemed to light up the room. Selina noticed that he was immediately the centre of a large group of young men and women, and she could hear their laughter from across the room. The newcomer was the most handsome man in the room—and popular, for it seemed everyone wanted to be near him. After a moment he seemed to become aware of her interest, and their eyes met briefly. She felt a tingle of excitement run through her and could not turn her eyes away, though she knew she ought.

It was as though an invisible bond stretched between them, and her pulses raced as he excused himself to his friends and began to walk towards her. Selina’s mouth was suddenly dry, her heart beating like a drum in her breast. He was coming. He would ask her to dance, but her card was full. What should she do? Her breath caught in her throat as she gazed up into his eyes and felt as though she were drowning.

‘Captain Moorcroft at your service, Princess,’ he said, his dark eyes bold and filled with confidence as he swept her a bow and seized her card, striking out Lord March’s name, which appeared next on her list. ‘March will not deny me, or I’ll challenge him to a duel.’

‘I am not a princess—and you ought not to have done that,’ Selina reproved, but she was laughing because her heart had leaped at the sight of him, and the touch of his hand made her breathless with a strange excitement she had never known. All at once she felt reckless and wildly happy. ‘My name is Selina Searles.’

‘Robert Moorcroft, sweet Miss Selina,’ he said, and the seductive note in his voice wiped all caution from her mind. ‘You are mine, and if any here dispute it, they may call me out for it. My angel …’

With that he took her hand and swept her out on to the dance floor, whirling her round and round until she was breathless and laughing, her mama’s warnings all but forgotten. For the whole of the dance, her feet scarcely seemed to touch the floor, and she wished it could go on for ever, but then the music was ending, and as he led her to the side of the floor, her next partner was there to claim her.

Selina felt a sharp stab of disappointment. Robert Moorcroft stood watching her for a moment and then turned away. She wished with all her heart that she had an empty card and might dance with him all night, but convention would have allowed him no more than three dances at most.

As her dance ended and her partner thanked her, Selina realised that she’d hardly noticed him, lost in a dream. Her eyes had been searching the room for the young captain. Turning away, with the intent of seeking her mama while she waited for her next partner, she felt a touch on her arm and found herself gazing up at Robert Moorcroft once more.

‘I have settled it with Hendricks that this dance is mine,’ he said, and drew her into his arms as the next waltz began.

Selina was too shaken by her storm of feelings to deny him. Waltzing in his arms was a dream, like floating in a blue sky on a summer’s day. She felt herself drifting away on a cloud of pleasure as he whirled her round and round, and she wanted the dance to last for the rest of her life. To feel like this was something that even in her most romantic dreams she had not imagined. She longed for the moment to go on and on endlessly.

When their dance ended, he kept hold of her hand and strode towards the open doors that led onto the terraces, taking her with him.

‘I have made you hot,’ he told her, with a smile that sent her heart fluttering. ‘We shall take a little stroll in the garden until you feel able to dance again.’

Selina knew that she ought to refuse, but she could not find the words. Besides, it was what she wanted above anything. She had never felt like this in her life, and something told her that she must seize the moment or it might not come again.

Outside, he led her away from the lights of the ballroom to a secluded spot by some rose bushes, the deep, intoxicating smell of which she knew would remain with her for the rest of her life.

‘You are so beautiful that you make me want to weep,’ he whispered softly against her ear. ‘I have never seen a woman as lovely as you, my angel—my Selina. I adore you. You have captured my heart.’

‘Oh …’ Selina was lost. This was flirting, and her mama had told her she must not flirt with gentlemen—but he was the one flirting. She had done nothing but give herself up to the delight of dancing with him. ‘You … you should not …’

Before she could say more, he lowered his head, one hand about her waist as he pulled her in close. She could feel the pressure of his hand in the small of her back and the hardness of his strong body. His mouth was cool and soft on hers, the pressure light at first but increasing as her own lips opened in response. His tongue entered, touching hers lightly in a way that sent little spirals of pleasure skittering down her spine.

‘What should I not?’ he whispered as his kiss ended, and he pressed his lips against her throat.

Selina trembled. Such sensation coursed through her entire being. The response of her body to his was sweeping away all thought, all sense of what was right or wrong. How could this feeling be wrong when it was so glorious?

It was the best thing that had ever happened to her—and the worst. For she sensed that if she were not careful. her reputation might be lost, and yet she was caught by the moonlight and the moment, incapable of repulsing him.

‘Should I not kiss you, or …?’ His hand was at her breast, fondling her through the thin silk, and then he had pushed down the neck of her gown. His lips closed over her breast, sucking delicately at her nipple.

It was so shocking that she was stunned, and yet a ripple of desire shot through her and she moaned. For a moment she was delirious with pleasure, but then she remembered her mother’s warning and broke away, tugging her gown into place. What had she done? To allow such a liberty was to forget that she was a lady—but in his arms she could happily forget the world.

‘You forget yourself, sir. I am but sixteen and … and we should not be here.’ As she turned away, he caught her wrist, turning her back to face him. ‘Please, let me go,’ she begged. ‘You will ruin me, sir.’ All of a sudden she was shivering and afraid of what she’d done.

‘I shall return for you,’ he vowed, and for a moment his eyes burned with a silver light in the darkness. ‘Never forget me, Selina Searles. I have put my brand on you. I adore you and one day I shall claim you. You will be mine. Wait for me …’

‘You must not say such things, for you do not mean them!’ she cried and, tearing herself from his grasp, fled back to the lights of the ballroom, not stopping until she was in the ladies’ restroom, where she splashed her cheeks with cold water and tidied her gown.

He had not meant the things he’d said to her. Of course he had not—because she’d tasted the brandy on his tongue. He was undoubtedly drunk, and in the morning he would have forgotten the things he’d said and done—but she would not forget.

Selina knew that in one respect he had spoken the truth. Captain Robert Moorcroft had put his mark on her, and she would never, ever be the same again.