Читать книгу Always - Krystle Triplett - Страница 9

3

Tristan

Finally. She was all his. Her eyes were still following her brother, a slight frown on her face. She must have felt Tristan’s eyes on her though because she slowly turned her face toward him. Her eyes really were remarkable. “Alone at last,” he murmured, a smile on his face. He could see her swallow. Ah, she was nervous. Poor thing, she had no idea that what he had told her brother was the absolute truth. He would never hurt her. The spark he felt earlier could only mean one thing, and he doubted she knew what it meant.

“We’re in a crowded ballroom, we are hardly alone,” she said while nervously looking around the room. “If you will excuse me, I see some friends that I would like to talk to.” As she started to turn away, he stopped her by putting a light touch on her arm. She turned her head slightly, a question in her eyes.

“I will see you again soon,” he said. “For our dance. I believe I chose the first waltz. I would have chosen all of them, but like your brother said, I wouldn’t want to start the tongues a wagging.” With this, he gave her a slight bow and let her walk away from him. Watching her walk across the ballroom was almost as erotic as watching another woman dance naked for him. The sway of her hips was hypnotic. He didn’t realize he was still staring after her until Douglas clapped him on the shoulder, making him practically jump out of his skin. This, of course, made the other man laugh. Unbelievably, Tristan could feel his skin flushing a touch.

“I thought the two of you were going to come to blows there for a second,” said David, as he too joined Tristan.

“I was more interested in watching how Tristan and the chit were acting,” said Harold with a laugh. “I could practically feel the heat from across the room.

“All right, that’s enough,” Tristan said as he shook off Douglas’s arm. “I don’t know what heat you thought you saw Harold, but you were mistaken. I was merely telling her that I would see her at our dance. Nothing more.” The words sounded false, even to him. Clearly the three men didn’t believe him either, judging by the expressions on their faces.

“Come on, Tristan,” said Douglas. He was probably his closest friend after William. He knew Tristan pretty well; he just didn’t know that his friend was an immortal. “I’ve never seen you so fixated on a woman before. It was like the two of you were lost in your own little world. She couldn’t take her eyes off of you either. Though at the beginning I thought she looked as if she wanted to rip your head off.” At this they all laughed.

“Well, apparently,” said Tristan once they all quieted down, “William had warned her about me.” This got them all to laugh again. “I think she realized quite quickly that I didn’t intend to ravish her on the ballroom floor.”

“I don’t know,” joked David. “It looked like you were about to jump at each other.”

The group of men was on the side of the ballroom still. Tristan made sure that he could still see Lily. He tried to focus on the conversation that the other men were having, but the only thing he could think of was how much he wanted to talk to her again. He could hardly wait to have her in his arms. As he watched her, he noticed several men coming up to her, signing their names on her dance card. He could feel his jaw clench. He didn’t like the thought of other men touching her.

Her dance card filled up fast, because soon he could see that she was having to deny others the chance of dancing with her. It was a good thing Tristan had got to her early, if not he would have had to mark someone’s name out. No one would stop him from holding her in his arms tonight. He wanted to feel more of those sparks. He knew they would never be quite as jarring as that first touch of their gloved hands, but he was looking forward to it. Tristan couldn’t wait to touch her skin, wondering if that would cause more heat to flare between them. He would probably have to settle for a small kiss if he could get her alone. Her brother would make that more difficult than it need be. If Tristan told the other man what he had just discovered, then William might not be quite as opposed to the two of them. After only seventy years he had found his promised.

*****

Lily

She knew what those sparks meant. Lily had asked every promised couple she’d ever came across to describe what it was like when they first met. They all described heat, sparks, and an overwhelming desire to be close to the other person. This had always made her blush. Now she was blushing for a different reason. Lily could hardly wait for their dance, to be in his arms. It was all she could think about. Several gentlemen came up and tried talking to her and her friends, but she had a hard time keeping up with what they were all saying.

Once her dance card was full, she allowed the first man on it to lead her out onto the dance floor. As she swirled around the ballroom, she lost herself in the music, daydreaming about what it would mean to have found her promised one. She would never be alone again. That was the foremost thought running through her head. All her life, she dreamt of having someone who would never leave her, and now she had found him.

Her mother and father were never married, and they weren’t promised ones either. They were both very old immortals who had decided that they wanted children. However, because they were not meant to be together, they each lived separate lives. Her father, Maximus Contas, lived in Spain. He had only visited Lily three times. She could barely remember what he looked like.

Lucia St. James was a very standoffish mother. Lily knew that her mother loved her, she just didn’t express it very well. She raised Lily to be very independent, trying to prepare her daughter for the life of being a powerful immortal. Both of her parents had great powers, even by normal immortal standards.

Her most recent partner was looking at her expectantly. Lily realized he had asked her a question as he led her off the dance floor. Apparently, their dance was over. “I’m so sorry, can you repeat that?” As he repeated the question, she could barely focus enough to give him some vague answer. Her dance with Tristan was next. “Thank you for the dance, sir,” she said as he left her with her friends on the side of the room. He was an attractive man, if the giggles of her friends were to be believed. She couldn’t tell. All she could focus on was the man making his way across the ballroom, his eyes glued to hers.

Lily drank in the sight of him. He had hair so black that at certain times, when the candlelight would reflect off of it, it would appear blue. His tall, muscular frame was packed tightly into an equally dark suit. The shirt underneath was blindingly white. When he suddenly gave her a dazzling smile, she noticed how white and even his teeth were. She had been too busy focusing on his eyes before to notice each of his individual features, only that they added up to an extremely attractive man. Now she took the time to study his face. A square defined jaw and a straight nose made him the picture of the perfect male.

Finally, he reached her side, giving her a low bow. “I believe this is my dance,” he said once he rose up. He glanced behind her at her group of friends. “If you will excuse us, ladies.” They all just stared, surprised that a man like him had come up to them, or just in shock by his handsomeness, she wasn’t sure. Either way, she didn’t stick around to find out. Lily put her hand in his and let him lead her onto the dance floor. He put one hand on her waist, while she placed her trembling hand on his shoulder, then he grasped her other hand with his.

Once the music started, she got lost in the feeling of his arms. Staring into his eyes, having his scent surround her, she felt like she was home. Lily didn’t know how long they danced in silence, but eventually she realized that someone had to talk. They couldn’t just stare at each other all night. The gossips would go crazy.

“I’m sorry for the way I treated you earlier,” she finally said. Judging by the look in his eyes, she had surprised him with her words.

“You have absolutely nothing to apologize for, my dear. Your brother had every right to try to scare you away from me, and I think for a second it was working, until—” he trailed off. Lily wondered what he was going to say but didn’t find out because he changed the subject. “So how long are you staying in London?”

Lily felt like he was holding back from saying what he really wanted to say, but she answered his question anyway. She was nothing if not an excellent conversationalist. “I’m going to be staying with William for the rest of the season, and maybe through to next. It just depends on what is happening back home.” Thinking of the turmoil back in Paris upset her, so she asked a question of her own to take her mind off of it. “What about you? William said you had been here a few years now. When do you have to leave?”

“Not for quite a few more years. I came here when I was…um, twenty-five supposedly,” he said quietly. They were close enough to other couples that talking about his actual age was dangerous. “I know I didn’t really pass as a twenty-five-year-old, but I can definitely pull off being in my early thirties.” He thought for a few seconds. “Knowing how old your brother is, that means you are young, aren’t you? Have you reached your maturity?”

That meant something completely different to immortals. Humans were considered to have reached theirs by eighteen, but most immortals considered being frozen at their peak age the beginning of their adult lives. Lily knew it could happen any year between early twenties all the way up into early forties, whenever her body was at its peak physical form, but she still considered herself an adult now. Someone of his age might not.

Lily hoped it didn’t make him think less of her when she shook her head slightly. “I’m only twenty-two. An old maid by human standards but an infant by ours,” she said this with a forced laugh.

Tristan smiled at her comment. He had actually been smiling faintly at her since the moment they started dancing. “Well, you certainly aren’t an old maid, and I think you appear mature to me,” he said as his eyes shifted lower for a split second. “Definitely all grown up.” Lily felt herself blush. She had a fairly good idea what he was referring to; she did have an older brother who liked the ladies after all.

“So tell me something about you,” said Lily in attempt to fill the awkward silence his glance had caused. She knew he didn’t mean to look down because as soon as she started blushing, he looked rather guilty, like a naughty child being caught doing something they weren’t supposed to do. “Do you have any older siblings?” Lily knew he wasn’t old enough to have any younger ones.

“One older brother, Anthony. Still treats me like a baby.” Even though this clearly annoyed him, Lily could see how much he cared about his brother. Then his expression changed to one of worry. “He’s on the continent fighting Napoleon.”

This surprised Lily. “Really?” Their kind typically stayed out of mortal confrontations. They had to be careful not to show their immortality, and if they were injured on the battlefield then someone was bound to notice how fast they healed. “Isn’t that a little risky?”

With a rueful grin on his face he said, “That’s why I tried to stop him. I told him that they could handle it, but Tony is very stubborn…must run in the family, I guess. He was determined to help. I get letters from him pretty regularly, and so far, everything is going all right.” Lily could see the worry on Tristan’s face.

“I’m sure this will all be over soon, and he’ll be back home in no time,” she said with a reassuring smile. Lily knew what it was like to care about an older sibling.

He tilted his head a little to the side, a slight smile on his face again. “I can see now how you are related to William. You are both eternal optimists.”

She answered his smile with one of her own. Then the two of them just seemed to get lost in each other again. She could have stayed like that all night, wrapped in his embrace, but the orchestra had other ideas. The music stopped, but he didn’t let go of her. She couldn’t seem to pull herself away either.

As the other dancers made their way off the dance floor, they got caught up in the movement. He took her arm again and started walking her toward her friends. Lily noticed that Jane and William had made it over toward that side of the room. She gave her brother a smile, one he answered with a frown.

“Don’t you think you were dancing a little close?” he said to her once they reached the group. Apparently, a couple of her friends overheard this because they started giggling. She narrowed her eyes at him, a retort on her lips, but Tristan beat her to it.

“It was a crowded dance floor, William. If I didn’t hold her close, then she would have gotten swept up in the masses.” He gave her brother a chastising look before he said, “Besides, we were well in the lines of propriety.”

“I suppose so,” said her brother grudgingly.

Tristan turned to her. “It has been a pleasure, my lady.” He bent and kissed the back of her hand. “Till our next dance.” And with that he walked back over to his friends. Lily hated to see him leave. They had barely had a chance to talk.

“He’s so attractive,” whispered Anne to Lily. A sweet brunette who Lily had come to know pretty well over the last few weeks. She was rather shy around men, so she had pulled Lily over to the side, farther away from William. “He just seems very unapproachable. Whatever did you two talk about that had you looking so intense?”

Lily laughed to hide her discomfort. “What do you mean intense?”

“I don’t know,” said her friend. “You both just looked so absorbed in the conversation you were having. Neither of you would look away from the other for very long.” She shrugged it off like it was no big deal. “It’s hard to describe, but I got the feeling that the two of you were in your own little world.”

That’s exactly how Lily had felt. She didn’t want to tell that to Anne, so she just laughed lightly again. “Oh, I’m sure many of the other couples conversed the same way. After all, it is a waltz. The whole dance is meant to be rather intimate.” She blushed a bit at that last statement. Anne didn’t have time to respond because Lily’s next dance partner showed up just then.

Lily let him lead her onto the dance floor. They chatted about the weather or something equally unimportant until the music started. It was a lively country dance which made Lily happy. She was too busy dancing to have to talk to her partner after that. She couldn’t remember this man’s name either. Lily realized she really needed to start paying better attention, but it was hard with so much going on tonight.

After several more dances and a ton of awkward conversations with men who couldn’t seem to tear their eyes off of her breasts, it was finally time for her and Tristan’s second dance. Lily watched him make his way across the dance floor again; this time it was her who gave him a smile.