Blair managed to get herself under control somewhat, but, still, her senses were reeling, so that she wasn’t aware that Lee had driven them across the river and into the deep recesses of Fenton Park. Midnight Lane spread before them as Lee halted the horse next to the park bandstand and moved to help her out of the carriage.
“Why are we stopping?”
“I have the smell of carbolic in my nose and I thought the fresh air would help get rid of it.”
He smiled at her as he lifted her from the carriage, and she had to turn away from him or she knew she’d be in his arms again. “You really were very good with the girl tonight.”
“You said that,” he answered, releasing her as he took a cigar from his pocket and lit it. “Why did you go with me tonight? You never have before.”
Blair caught her breath. She had to think fast. “I guess I was worried
about this afternoon. You seemed awfully angry,” she said, hoping it sounded plausible.
He cocked his head to one side and looked at her through a cloud of smoke and moonlight. “You’ve never seemed to worry about that, either.”
What in the world had she stepped into? Blair wondered. And why hadn’t Houston warned her about whatever Lee was talking about?
“Of course I worry, Lee,” she said, turning away, her hand on the bandstand. “I always worry when you’re upset with me. I won’t let it happen again.”
He was silent for so long that she turned to look at him. He was watching her with the same hungry eyes she’d seen before.
“Lee, you’re making me blush. Shouldn’t we go to the reception?” Blast Houston! she thought. Once again she’d allowed her sister to talk her into doing something that was going to get her, Blair, into trouble. She hoped seeing that oversized house was worth this.
Slowly, Lee’s hand reached out to touch her arm. She backed away and came up against the wooden bandstand.
He threw his cigar down and advanced a step toward her.
Blair gave him a little smile, grabbed her skirts and ran up the stairs to the center of the bandstand. “We used to have the loveliest concerts here,” she said, backing up, as she watched him moving toward her. “I remember wearing pink and white and…”
Her voice trailed off as he stood before her and she could back no further. As she looked up at him, feeling the warmth of his body near hers, he held out his arms to her and she went to him.
There was no music except the sounds of the night, but Blair was sure she heard violins as Lee waltzed her about the bandstand. Closing her eyes, her skirts over her arm, she followed him as if in a trance, giving no thought to any moment but this one. And when he pulled her close and kept waltzing, his legs pressed against her own, she gave herself over to feelings such as she’d never experienced before.
She wasn’t aware of time passing as he held her, nor did she remember that she was supposed to be her sister or that this man who held her so ultimately was a stranger. She was only aware of the present, there was no past, no future.
When he began to kiss her neck, her cheek, her temple, she leaned into him, slipped her arms around his neck and kept dancing slowly, seductively.
“You said you could be different,” he whispered, but Blair didn’t hear any words. “Come, kiss me once more before we have to leave.”
Only some of the words reached her brain. She didn’t want to leave, wanted this moment never to end, and when he kissed her again, it weakened her more than before, and Lee had to hold her against him or her knees would have given way.
He pulled back and for a moment she couldn’t move, her eyes closed, her head back.
When she did look at him, he was grinning—an expression of delight on his face such as she’d never seen before. She smiled, too.
“Come on, sweetheart,” he laughed, sweeping her into his arms. “I want to show you to the world.”
Once Lee’d put her in the carriage, Blair’s mind began to work again. This evening was not going as she’d planned. She’d wanted to find out if her sister was marrying the right man and, instead of making a scientific study, every time Leander touched her, her knees turned to jelly.
“This is utterly ridiculous.”
“What is?” Lee asked from beside her in the carriage.
“That…that I should have acquired this raging headache all of a sudden. I think I ought to go home.”
“Here, let me look.”
“No,” Blair said, leaning away from him.