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Her father nodded. ‘It’s been a busy week for you.’ He looked into her eyes and frowned. ‘Would you like to sit down?’
He’ll come to you if you do. You know he will…
A tremor went through her. ‘No,’ she said quickly. ‘I… I want to dance with you, Father. Really. I…’ She swallowed and then ran her tongue across her dry lips. ‘That man,’ she said, her voice a breathy whisper, ‘I wondered—do you know who he is?’
‘Which man?’
‘That one, over there,’ she said urgently, taking a few steps so that her father had to turn around and look in the direction she’d been facing. ‘The tall one, beside the dance floor.’
‘Which man?’ her father repeated. ‘What kind of costume is he wearing?’
‘He’s not in costume,’ Paige said, looking over her shoulder. ‘He…’
He was gone. Her eyes scanned the crowd, searching for him, but he had disappeared. Her heart was racing as if she’d been running instead of dancing, and it seemed suddenly hard to breathe.
Andrew Gardiner grasped his daughter by the shoulders and held her steady.
‘What is it? Do you feel ill?’
I don’t know how I feel. Excited. Exhilarated. Terrified…
Paige drew a deep breath. ‘I… I think it’s time I went to the ladies’ room and checked my make-up,’ she said. She smiled, and the wary expression on her father’s face told her the smile looked as artificial as it felt. ‘After all, I want to look my best for all Alan’s relatives.’
‘Let me get your mother. She’ll go with you.’
‘No,’ she said again, more sharply this time. ‘There’s no reason to bother Mother.’ Paige patted her father’s arm. ‘I’ll just be a few minutes, Father. Really. If Alan comes looking for me, tell him I’ll be right back.’
‘Paige…’
Her father’s voice drifted after her as she hurried across the dance floor. This was the price you paid for too little sleep and too much to do, she thought as she wound her way through the crowded ballroom. She was lightheaded, and who wouldn’t be after the day she’d had? Up at dawn, so that her mother could make some last-minute adjustments to her dress and veil. And then there’d been lunch with the girls she’d worked with, and tea with her bridesmaids…
‘Excuse me,’ Paige said as she moved between a laughing Marie Antoinette and a smiling Satan. Alan would understand if she begged off and asked him to take her home. She’d meet his relatives first, his Aunt Dorothy and all the rest, and then go home and get out of her costume and into a warm bath. The ballroom was just too crowded, the music too loud, the air too thick and warm. She’d comb her hair, touch up her make-up, go off and say all the right things to Alan’s family and that would be that. In three days, she could relax. In three days, all this would be over. Three days. Oh, God, three days…
There was a long queue in the ladies’ room. ‘I only want to get to the sink,’ Paige said, but it was impossible to move past anyone in the narrow space. She took a deep breath and settled in to wait her turn behind a harem girl and a lady pirate.
‘… just popped the question,’ the harem girl bubbled, holding out her left hand. ‘Look, isn’t it lovely?’
The lady pirate and everyone else looked at the girl’s ring finger and smiled. A diamond gleamed on it, a diamond considerably smaller than the one on Paige’s hand. But Paige knew, without question, that her eyes had never gleamed with the radiance she saw reflected in the harem girl’s eyes. Suddenly, she wondered if the girl’s heart raced when her fiancе looked at her, whether she ever found it difficult to breathe after his eyes had met hers and discovered secrets she’d never acknowledged. Paige had never felt that way under Alan’s gaze. She’d never felt that way in her life, not even during that one, long-ago love affair, never felt that way until moments ago when a man whose name she didn’t know had looked at her from behind a black mask.
The harem girl fell silent as a strangled gasp came from Paige’s throat.
‘Excuse me,’ she said, and she tried to smile. But she couldn’t; she could feel her lips draw back from her teeth in a terrible parody of a smile as she turned and shouldered her way past the waiting women. ‘Excuse me,’ she said again, ignoring the raised eyebrows and curious faces that turned in her direction.
Finally, back in the ballroom, Paige leaned back against the door to the ladies’ room and looked around her. Alan, she thought, willing him to appear before her. But, if Alan Fowler was one of the Romeos nearby, it was impossible for her to pick him out.
The music seemed louder than ever, the crowd denser. A heavyset man in a pirate costume was smoking a cigar. The smell of it seemed to engulf her. Paige thought of pushing her way out of the ballroom to the street. She could flag a taxi and go home…
But there was no street outside the Hunt Club, there was only a car park high on a Connecticut bluff overlooking the Atlantic. And she couldn’t just disappear into the night. Alan and her parents would worry, they’d come looking for her. And what would she tell them when they found her? Could she say, I saw a girl in the ladies’ room, and she was so happy about her engagement that it made me want to cry? Could she say, I saw a man I’ve never seen before, a man whose name I don’t know, and he made me feel something Alan never made me feel, and it frightened me so much that I ran away?
The room seemed to quiver around her. ‘Dear God,’ she whispered aloud, and suddenly an arm slid around her waist. She smelled a faint tang of leathery cologne, felt the brush of fabric against her cheek, felt the hard length of a male body against hers.
‘You’ll be all right,’ a deep voice said. ‘Just lean on me.’
‘I… I’m fine,’ she said. ‘Really…’
But she allowed herself to lean into the man’s embrace. His arm tightened around her, his hand pressing against the curve of her hip.
‘You’re going to pass out if you don’t get some fresh air,’ he said. ‘Take a deep breath. That’s it.’
Paige did as she was told. She’d never fainted in her life, but she thought he was probably right. The room was a spinning vortex of bright colours, the music a drumming shriek. She fitted her body to his, almost burrowing against him as he led her through the crowd. The doors that led to the gardens loomed ahead, and she knew that was where he was taking her.
He reached for the door and pushed it open. A gust of cold air blew into her face, clearing the cobwebs from her mind. It was time for her to stop him. She could thank him for his help and asked him to locate her fiancе for her.
But she would do none of that. Paige knew it, even before he led her into the chill October garden, just as she knew that the man beside her was the stranger who’d been watching her all evening, and the race of her heart only confirmed what she could no longer deny.
She had wanted this moment to come. She had been hoping it would. And now that it was here, she knew her life would never be the same again.
CHAPTER TWO (#u23138a60-e686-5fcf-af82-74e1ee7bb3e5)
PAIGE shivered as the glass doors swung shut behind her. The last time she’d been here was with Alan. Roses and honeysuckle had perfumed the air then. Now it smelled of the sea that beat relentlessly at the sand below the bluff. Music spilled faintly from the closed ballroom, a soft accompaniment to the distant pound of the surf. A full moon lit the terrace, but as Paige lifted her eyes to the stranger’s face a bank of clouds scudded across the sky, plunging everything into darkness.
Every instinct told her to pull free of the arm encircling her waist and hurry back into the lighted warmth of the clubhouse, but her feet seemed rooted to the ground. This is insanity, she thought, and she turned to say she was leaving. But the man beside her spoke first.
‘Take a deep breath.’
Paige shook her head. ‘I’m all right now. I…’
She felt the pressure of his hand. ‘Do it,’ he said curtly. ‘Go on. Inhale.’
It was a command, not a suggestion. She nodded and did as he’d said, drawing the cool air deep into her lungs.
‘Better?’
She nodded again. ‘Yes. Much better. Thank you for your…’
‘Don’t talk,’ he said. ‘Just take another breath.’
She inhaled again and told herself there was nothing to be concerned about. She was sure she’d turned as pale as a sheet in that stuffy ballroom. He’d noticed, and he’d come to her assistance. He was just being a Good Samaritan. Anything else was the result of an over-active imagination.
‘I… I’m fine now,’ she said. ‘And I’m terribly sorry for all the trouble I’ve caused you.’
‘It was no trouble at all.’ The pressure of his hand urged her to turn towards him. ‘In fact, you might say you did me a favour.’
‘I did?’ Was there a smile in his voice? If only she could see his face…
He laughed softly. ‘I’ve always wanted to rescue a damsel in distress, Juliet.’ His hand touched her cheek. ‘That is your name tonight, isn’t it?’
‘I… yes, yes, that’s right,’ Paige said quickly. ‘And I really have to go inside now. My fiancе…’
His fingers closed on her hand. ‘I thought I saw something sparkling on your finger. Tell me, Juliet—where is he? Your fiancе, I mean.’
‘He… he’s in the ballroom, waiting for me. He… What are you doing?’ she asked, even though the answer was obvious. He had shrugged free of his dinner jacket and was draping it over her shoulders.
‘You’re cold,’ he said, lifting the curtain of pale hair from her shoulders and settling it over the jacket. ‘Your hand’s like ice.’
‘I’m not,’ she said quickly. ‘I’m fine. I…’
‘Don’t argue with me,’ he said as he drew the lapels together.
No one argued with this man, Paige thought suddenly. No one would dare. His fingers brushed against her skin, his thumbs skimming her throat, lingering against the hollows above her collarbone. She wondered if he could feel the quick leap of blood that pulsed beneath his touch, and a tremor went through her.
‘Maybe I am a little chilly,’ she said, and she gave a forced laugh. ‘It’s cold out here, isn’t it? It’s the ocean, I guess. Although, of course, it’s autumn…’
Damn! She was babbling like a fool. She sounded, she thought, like a nervous schoolgirl. And that was exactly how she felt—like a teenager at her first dance, alone with a boy she had a crush on. But it was a man beside her in the darkness, not a boy, a man whose name she didn’t know. What are you doing here, Paige?
‘Walk with me,’ he said, clasping her hand in his.
‘I can’t,’ she said, but he was already leading her along the path that bordered the garden. ‘Please…’
‘Just for a few minutes.’
She felt as if she were caught in a dream, her only link to reality the faint music drifting from the lighted ballroom. The man beside her was tall, taller than she’d thought. Even in high-heeled sandals, Paige reached only to his shoulder. His jacket hung about her like a cloak, the shoulders and sleeves trailing as if she were a child playing at dressing up. He’d raised the collar when he slipped it around her, and the soft wool brushed against her cheek. It felt warm to the touch, as if it still carried the heat of his body. And she could smell his scent on the fabric, that same cologne she’d noticed earlier, mixed with something much more basic and sensual. It was a clean, masculine odour that was his alone.
For one swift beat of her heart, Paige closed her eyes and breathed it in, letting the smell and the heat of him surround her. Then, with a rush, her lashes flew open. What was she doing? Here she was, traipsing along in the dark beside a man she didn’t know, heart racing, throat dry, never once thinking of Alan or the engagement ring on her finger or the wedding vows she’d take in three days’ time…
His hand clasped hers more tightly. ‘Don’t be afraid,’ he said softly.
She managed another forced laugh. ‘I’m not,’ she said. ‘I…’
‘You are. I can feel your pulse racing.’ He stopped and turned towards her, his fingers skimming the tender skin on the inside of her wrist. ‘Your heart’s beating like a frightened rabbit’s.’
Paige took a hurried step back. ‘I… I have to go back now,’ she said in a whisper. ‘Thanks for your jacket. Let me…’
His hand tightened on her wrist. ‘Don’t go,’ he said. His voice was low and husky.
Her tongue felt thick in her mouth. ‘I must,’ she said quickly. ‘My fiancе…’
The man shook his head in a gesture of impatience. ‘The hell with your fiancе,’ he said roughly. ‘Stay here, with me.’
His hands cupped her face, tilting it up to him. There was a ring on his finger, an old one, set with a ruby. The blood-red stone captured the pale moonlight and warmed it with a sparkling fire.
She felt the warmth of his breath against her skin. His features were in shadow but Paige knew them, just as she knew that she had known this man since the beginning of for ever, that she had belonged to him in another time, in another eternity. His head bent to hers, and she closed her eyes, waiting, waiting…
There was a sound in the silent darkness. The wind sighing through the trees or a wave building against the shore below—she wasn’t sure—but it was enough to bring her to her senses.
‘I must go back,’ she said, and she pulled away from him. ‘I’m grateful for your help. I… I don’t know what happened to me in there…’
The brave words died as he moved towards her. ‘You know what happened,’ he said.
There was something in his voice, a sense of certainty, that both thrilled and terrified her. She knew that he wasn’t referring to her sudden dizziness. He meant that hushed moment of eternity they had shared—and she wasn’t going to talk about that. Not now, not ever—and certainly not with him.
‘You’re right,’ she said quickly, ‘I do know. I felt sick, that’s all. It was warm in the ballroom. And crowded. And…’
She gasped as his hands slid to her shoulders and bit into her flesh. ‘Don’t lie to me, Juliet.’
‘I’m not lying. I…’
‘I’ve been watching you all evening.’
Her skin tingled beneath the heat of his fingers. ‘What are you talking about?’
He laughed softly. ‘Are we going to play games? You know I’ve been watching you.’
She felt a sudden rush of heat flood her cheeks. Thank God for the darkness, she thought.
‘You’re wrong,’ she said. ‘I…’
His hands clasped her more tightly. ‘You were watching me, too,’ he said, slowly drawing her towards him.
Paige’s denial was swift. ‘I wasn’t. I never noticed you at all until you offered to help me.’
‘Who were you looking for when you came into the ballroom, Juliet?’ She saw the white flash of his teeth. ‘Your fiancе?’
‘Yes, my fiancе,’ she said quickly, grasping the word as if it would save her from whatever might come next, ‘that’s right. And he’s probably looking for me right now. He…’
‘Hell, he should have been with you all evening.’ His hands moved over her shoulders. ‘I’d have been, if you belonged to me.’
‘I don’t belong to anyone. And he was waiting. I mean, I just didn’t see him right away. I…’
He laughed softly. ‘But you saw me.’ His hands slid from her shoulders, down her arms, and encircled her wrists. ‘And then the crowd closed in and I lost sight of you. Is that when your Romeo found you?’
Paige’s lips felt parched. Carefully, she ran the tip of her tongue over them.
‘Yes. And now I really have to go back to him. I…’
‘The next time I saw you, you were dancing with an older man.’ He lifted her hands between them and held them against his chest. ‘It wasn’t Romeo.’
It was a statement, not a question. Despite herself, Paige smiled. ‘No.’
He nodded. ‘Your father, I thought. Or a favourite uncle.’
‘My father,’ she said. ‘I saw you watching us. I…’
The admission was out before she had time to stop it. Any hope Paige had that it might slip by vanished when she heard the stranger’s softly triumphant laugh.
‘But you said you hadn’t noticed me at all, Juliet.’
‘That’s not my name,’ she said desperately. ‘That’s fantasy…’
