He put his hand firmly on her hip, and held her other arm straight out, clasping her gloved fingers tightly as if they were waltzing. He looked down into her face and was struck by the urge to kiss her. Now. He cleared his throat instead. “We’ll start like this, but I’m sure to change our positions, so be prepared for anything.”
“All right.”
Nicolas pushed forward, driving Gillian ahead of him, weaving carefully around other skaters until he was sure they were a good match for this. He spun Gillian out and then tucked his body close behind hers. His hand returned to her waist, the other holding her hand. “You’re very good,” he murmured.
“So are you.” She glanced over her shoulder to see his face. “When was the last time you tried this with another woman.”
“Two years ago. Last year, I had to be content with skating all alone.”
She pulled a face. “Oh, how you must have suffered, your grace.”
He pulled her tighter against him, lifted her and pivoted, so they both were now skating backward together. Gillian gave a little shriek.
He glanced over his shoulder as he turned them in a wide arc and into clear ice before he lowered her slowly until she was skating again. “Shall we try that again?”
Gillian nodded, but the second attempt was a little more awkward than the first because she tensed in anticipation.
“You didn’t trust me,” he whispered as they stumbled, almost falling together. They got their skates under them and parted. “You have to trust that I know what I’m doing.”
“I do trust you.” Gillian brought her hand to her chest and stopped. “But I think it was better not to know what was coming,” she said then laughed. “That was wonderful, your grace.”
“It was.” He stopped inches away from a collision with her. “That is two wonderful things we do well together, Gillian.”
Gillian blushed and again laughed merrily. “I suppose it is.”
Nicolas caught her elbow and Gillian pressed her hand to his chest. “Can we keep doing them together?”
Gillian gasped, eyes warming on his. “I’d like that.”
“Wonderful, because I have to say I have never suffered an erection while skating before. Having you in my arms again is doing crazy things to my senses.”
“Mine too,” she confessed.
“I want to kiss you.” Nicolas glanced past her head and saw four skaters headed their way at a fast clip. “Unfortunately, the pleasure will have to wait until we are truly alone again.”
Gillian turned out of his arms to view the approaching group. “They’re not skating well.”
“No, they are not. Fledging chickens have more grace. I have no fears for Jessica or Whitfield, but I wonder if the other two are skilled at stopping.”
“They’re going a bit too fast if they are not.” Gillian skated backward as the group showed no sign of slowing down.
Nicolas glanced at her suddenly as the ice gave a great crack beneath her feet.
“Gillian!” he cried, just before she dropped into the icy water with a shriek of utter terror that made his blood run cold.
Chapter 8
“Oh!” Gillian cried out. She gasped at the vast cold burning the lower half of her body but she took stock of her situation quickly. She stood in hip-deep icy water of the lake, her skirts floating inelegantly atop the water, her legs already trembling and her feet still strapped to her skates. It could have been so much worse. She could have plunged straight down to her death rather than where she seemed to be—stuck and about to freeze.
“Don’t move,” Nicolas demanded from three feet away, his expression terrified.
Gillian held out a hand to warn him back as she tested her footing. Her position seemed solid enough for the moment.
“Do not take one step. You’re only on the outcrop.”
Looking about her again, she suddenly remembered there had been a very small finger of land jutting far out into the lake when she’d first arrived at the estate in the spring. Subsequent rains and the winter must have lifted the height of the water and then covered it completely in ice as winter progressed.
She glanced at the ice Nicolas stood on as he moved nearer. “Don’t you come any closer or you’ll fall through too,” she warned him, determined to keep him safe.