A Night of No Return

Did it make it better or worse that she wasn’t even looking at him?

Better, he decided and then thought that no, actually, it probably made it worse.

He told himself that she was just dancing, as were about a hundred other people around her, but then the music slowed and she slid into Carlo’s arms, the change in the tempo of the music immediately altering the atmosphere. The dancing shifted from impersonal to personal. Lucas watched through narrowed eyes as Carlo’s hand curved into the centre of Emma’s back. That smooth, bare back that had been distracting him all evening.

Lucas had a sudden image of firelight on soft skin and suddenly he was striding across the dance floor, through entwined couples, until he reached his target. If he’d been asked to explain his behaviour he couldn’t have done so. Never before had he cared enough to extract a woman from the arms of another man but he did it now without pause or hesitation.

‘My dance.’ It was a command, not a question and Carlo acknowledged that with the lift of an eyebrow, but he clearly saw something in Lucas’s face because he reluctantly released Emma.

‘Perhaps I’ll see you later,’ he murmured and Lucas felt his mood grow darker by the minute.

‘She’ll be busy later. But thank you for looking after her while I was busy with clients.’

Emma’s eyes widened and she opened her mouth to speak, but Lucas slid his arms around her and moulded her against him before she could object. For a moment she stood stiff and he thought she might push him away. Then she sank against him and he held her the way Carlo had held her, except that this was an entirely different intimacy because their bodies already knew each other. That recognition was there and with it the memories and he felt the shiver pass through her and into him. It was no longer just a dance.

They were surrounded by people and yet they might as well have been alone for all the difference it made to the attraction.

As Carlo strolled away from them, Emma looked up at him. ‘You were rude.’

‘You asked me to dance.’

‘That was earlier. And you said no.’

‘So? I changed my mind.’

‘In the middle of a dance? You couldn’t have waited?’

No, he couldn’t have waited and the knowledge unsettled him because impulse and urgency had no place in his life and he didn’t want to feel this way. Never had felt this way before. ‘He was behaving in an inappropriate manner.’

‘We were just dancing. What’s inappropriate about that?’

The image of Carlo’s hand on her bare back was burned into his brain. ‘For someone who supposedly loathes parties you appear to be having an incredible time.’

‘I am having an incredible time. And I never said I loathed parties. Just that I never have the chance to go to any. I’m making the most of it and enjoying myself. I would have thought you’d be pleased.’

‘Why would I be pleased?’

She sighed. ‘Not pleased perhaps, but I didn’t think—’ She hesitated, staring at his shirt and not his face. ‘I thought this was what you wanted. I didn’t really think you’d care what I did in my own time.’

It was a reasonable, logical comment but nothing about the way he felt was reasonable or logical.

Aware that people were watching them curiously, Lucas closed his hand around her wrist. ‘Let’s get out of here.’

She didn’t argue and he felt her pulse flutter against his fingers as he strode off the dance floor virtually towing her behind him.

‘Could you slow down? I’m still an amateur at walking in heels.’ She tugged at her wrist but he didn’t let her go until they were out of the crowd and back outside under the starry sky.

Then he released her and she stared at him, confused by what was going on and he had no answer for her unspoken question because he was confused too. And he wasn’t used to feeling confused. He was never confused.

‘Do you think it’s unprofessional of me to dance? Is that what’s wrong?’ She spoke slowly, clearly ticking off possible explanations in her head. ‘I did ask you and I thought as we’d done the meeting and greeting it would be—’

‘It wasn’t unprofessional.’

‘Then—’

‘Just drop it, Emma.’

‘How can I drop it? You’ve dragged me off the dance floor so I’ve obviously upset you in some way. You have been glaring at me since you gave me that necklace. And in the meeting this afternoon you were glowering.’ Her fingers fiddled with the jewel at her throat. ‘I understand that you regret what happened the other night, but as far as I’m concerned it’s in the past. Honestly, you don’t have to worry. It’s true that I wasn’t sure I’d be able to get back to how we were, but I’ve discovered that I can. I know I can.’