Or had he loved her so much he just couldn’t face talking about her to anyone?
She stepped back and gazed at her reflection in the mirror. She’d followed Hannah’s advice and paid a visit to the little shop on the quay, and she’d found the perfect dress. Or, at least, she hoped it was perfect.
Reaching for her coat and her bag, she left the bedroom and walked downstairs.
Mac was waiting for her in the hallway, flicking through the post.
He looked spectacular in a dinner jacket, she thought dreamily as she paused halfway down the stairs and said his name.
He glanced up and froze, his eyes fixed on her face for a long moment before travelling downwards, scrutinising every inch of her. He didn’t speak and she suddenly felt self-conscious.
What if he hated the dress?
It was a bit daring at the front but she’d loved the colour so much...
‘You look stunning. And you glitter like something off the Christmas tree.’ His voice was husky and he dropped the post on the side and stepped forward.
‘Are you ready?’
She smiled a womanly smile as she walked down the rest of the stairs and took his arm. ‘Completely ready.’
CHAPTER SEVEN
THEY danced without stopping.
Once or twice Louisa noticed other women casting covetous glances towards Mac but he seemed totally unaware of the attention he was attracting from all the females in the room. Instead, he swung her this way and that as they moved in time to the music, his dark gaze fastened on her with a flattering degree of attentiveness.
He’d discarded his jacket and opened the top buttons of his shirt, exposing a hint of dark chest hair, and he moved with an easy rhythm, lithe and athletic and sexie
r than any man had a right to be. He looked dark, masculine and more than a little dangerous. Nothing like the remote, dedicated doctor she was used to working with.
Noticing another woman gazing longingly over her partner’s shoulder towards Mac, Louisa resisted the temptation to drag him off the dance floor, take him home and lock him away.
He was staggeringly good-looking, she consoled herself, trying to ignore everyone around them. It was perfectly normal that women would stare. She was struggling not to stare herself. Mac was a man who would always stand out in a crowd. Everything about him was intensely masculine. The hard lines of his face, the darkness of his jaw and the power in his broad shoulders. He was a man who would always draw women. But for tonight, at least, he was with her.
They danced and danced until her feet ached and finally the music slowed and Mac slid an arm around her waist. He pulled her against him, his hold unmistakably possessive. ‘Do you know that every man in the room is looking at you?’
Were they?
And Louisa realised that although she’d noticed the women, she hadn’t noticed the men. For her there were no other men in the room. For her there was only Mac. And Mac would always make other men fade into the background.
She looked up at him, caught the lazy gleam in his dark eyes and felt her stomach turn over. ‘My dress is probably too low...’
He smiled and his gaze dropped to her mouth. ‘Your dress,’ he drawled huskily, ‘is perfect.’
The unexpected compliment made her pulse race and suddenly she found it hard to breathe properly. He was looking at her as if—as if...
A thrill of excitement rippled through her and for the first time in her life she discovered what it felt like to really, really want a man.
And be wanted in return.
Because he did want her. Of that she was sure.
His body felt hard and strong against hers and suddenly she never, ever wanted him to let her go. ‘Are you hungry?’
They hadn’t been near the buffet. From the moment they’d arrived they’d been on the dance floor, their attention focused only on each other.
‘No.’ His eyes glittered hard in the dim light. ‘Are you?’