Wildfire Kiss (Sir Edward 1)

“It is a squeeze on the floor …” Otto complained.

“I know well how to protect my lady,” answered Sir Edward

with a sneer.

He bent and whispered in her ear, “I see the good count is determined to watch over you.”

“With gentlemen such as yourself lurking about and ready to pounce, ’tis no wonder!” she answered roughly.

“Oooh, the lady’s tongue is sharp tonight.” He smiled at her, appearing not in the least disturbed by her bad humor.

“Do you find the truth … sharp?” she pursued irritably, her gaze shooting darts of fury at him.

“Babs,” he said gravely, “the truth is that you will be mine, so accept it. Learn to enjoy what can be.” With his white-gloved hand tightly on her waist, he spun her to the beat of the waltz and then towards the garden doors. He bent his head close to her ear and said, “In the end, you will find yourself in my bed … and enjoying your place as my wife.”

She blanched. The effrontery of the man. How dare he … how … but if she did not do something soon, that would be her fate. She wanted to slap his face and tell him to do his worst. A scene … it would create a scene, and then he would ruin her family for revenge. However, the fighter in her came to the fore. “Accept it? You mistake your power, sir. You would have to find yourself a mighty philter, for it will take nothing less for me to accept it. You may make me your wife … but do you think you can force me to your bed …?”

“You haven’t a choice in the matter,” he said grimly.

“Ah, but I do … will you ruin my reputation then, sir? Will you tell all the world your wife penned Passion’s Seed … will you?”

“No, I will have you in the end, my way—even if I have to muster up a love potion to do it.”

“A love potion? A ball and chain is not a love potion, and that is how I will always perceive my connection to you.”

***

Anyone intimate with Babs would have noticed if they happened to glance her way that she was undergoing some emotional strain. Therefore, Corry, who had been watching her cousin, broke off her conversation with Sir Frederick to exclaim, “Freddy, I wish you were able to dance.”

“Would love to accommodate you, my dear, broken arm n’all,” he offered devotedly with a gallant bow.

“No, no—I mean to save Babs,” she answered with some distress.

“Why?” asked a strong male voice at her back. “Is Lady Babs in need of saving?”

Corry looked around and saw the duke, tall and solemn, stepping purposely forward. He did not bother to smile a greeting.

Corry attempted a light rejoinder, uncertain just what she should say to him. “I was just remarking that my cousin looks a bit … fatigued.”

“Were you?” He looked thoughtfully at Lady Babs. “She looks spirited—flushed in fact—but certainly not fatigued.”

“Indeed,” Sir Frederick stuck in, looking from his friend to his beloved. “I think Lady Babs needs a bit of fresh air.” He smiled sweetly at his love. “Shall I take her off, my dear …? Will you join me?”

“No need,” the duke said. “You may continue to attend to Miss Bretton, Freddy. I’ll see to Lady Babs!”

***

The duke had suddenly made up his mind. Something was wrong, he knew that, but what it was he couldn’t tell. However, he was not about to allow Sir Edward to browbeat the woman of his heart. She wasn’t going to marry Ned—damnation, no, because she was going to marry him.

He told himself that he had the experience and the skill to handle all that life threw at him, but he would never be able to handle life itself without the Lady Babs in it at his side. Somehow she had found a way to get under his skin, into his blood, and was the reason his heart pounded.

He tapped Sir Edward’s shoulder. The waltz was nearly at an end, and as Sir Edward turned to see who wished to interrupt, a smile froze on his face.

“Nick,” he said on a hard note. “A bit late, aren’t you?”

‘No, I don’t think so. I rather think I am just in time.” Creating a scene would only embarrass Babs, so he made a show of laughing and said, “Here, give over gracefully. You will have her all to yourself soon enough, Ned.”

Sir Edward had no choice. He couldn’t very well create a scene. He would be laughed at as a fool, and Lord Wildfire knew it. He watched Sir Edward bow himself off, a slight sneer marring his smile.