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  He gave in to his compulsion and reached across the space separating them and pulled her to his side. Not on his lap as he would have preferred since he felt that was a bit improper.

  “If dance steps confuse you, then we shall not dance anything but a waltz.”

  “That would be scandalous if we danced a waltz more than once.”

  “Then we shall dance only one waltz and spend the rest of the time socializing.”

  Addie shook her head, the misery on her face continuing. “No. You will be required to dance with the other young ladies because it’s expected. Plus, you are a prime candidate for the marriage-minded mamas.”

  He blanched at the thought of all the young ladies and their mothers who will be making a final attempt at an engagement before the next Season began. “Then I shall do my duty and dance with a young lady or two. But . . .” he took her chin in his fingers, tilting her head “you will dance a country dance or two with me. I will keep you going in the right direction.”

  Before she could answer, the carriage drew to a rolling stop in front of the Stevenson home. There was a short queue, and they had barely gathered their things—Addie quickly moving to the other side of the carriage—before the door was opened by a footman. “Good evening.”

  He extended his hand, but before Addie could reach for it, Grayson jumped out, forcing the footman to move aside. Then he reached out for Addie’s hand.

  She accepted and he placed her hand on his arm, and they made their way up to the Stevenson home. Grayson noticed the tightening of Addie’s hand on his arm.

  He was quite annoyed at the dimwitted gentleman of the ton when Addie told him about her failure on the marriage mart. Despite her lack of grace, how could such a pretty woman, with charm and wit not have dozens of offers for her hand? The men in London were dolts to be sure. On the other hand, them passing Addie by left him in a position to consider her for a wife. Yes. He had finally realized that having a wife and mother to champion Michael was the best thing he could do. Aunt Mary was correct, it had just taken him a little while to admit it. And if he were to consider taking the one step, he swore he would never take again, Miss Adeline Mallory was the one.

  Of course, he had no idea how she would take to his proposal, but he hoped she would see the rightness of it. Despite her independence, she needed a man. All women did. She could even sell the bookstore and spend her time managing his estates and helping with Michael.

  As a smart woman, she would be more than open to having a marriage of two like-minded people who would develop a warm, friendly relationship with no messy entanglements such as love. Perhaps he had underestimated her when he thought a loveless marriage would make her miserable. She was far too intelligent, he assured himself.

  After handing their coats to the footman at the door, he and Addie arrived at the reception line. “Lord Berkshire! I cannot tell you how very happy we are that you accepted our invitation.” Lady Stevenson practically fell over trying to reach across her husband to grasp Grayson’s hand.

  “My lady, it is indeed a pleasure to see you again.” Grayson turned to Addie. “I assume you are acquainted with Miss Mallory?”

  Lady Stevenson’s face fell. “Oh, yes, indeed. How are you, Miss Mallory? I thought I heard you had moved to Bath?”

  Before she could answer, Lady Stevenson turned back to Grayson. “My lord, my charming niece, Lady Diana is visiting with us.” She moved out of the reception line and took him by the arm. “I just know she would love to meet you.”

  He opened his mouth to speak, but was quickly whisked away while Lady Stevenson recited all her niece’s qualities. He turned as he entered the ballroom to see Addie staring after him.

  Chapter Ten

  Addie watched Lady Stevenson drag Grayson away before Lord Stevenson had even addressed her. The soft smile he offered her helped a bit. “It appears we are just about finished with the receiving line, Miss Mallory. May I escort you into the ballroom?”

  What was she to do? She’d been through this so many times before. Left on her own at social events. But she was not the same Miss Mallory who skulked away like a frightened bird or hid in corners behind ugly plants. She was a business owner. She lived on her own. She made important decisions every day.

  She raised her chin and accepted Lord Stevenson’s arm. “Thank you, my lord.”

  She could have sworn he mumbled, “well done” as he took her hand and placed it on his arm. Addie glided into the room, ordering herself to stop shaking. Taking a deep breath would help, but given her stays, that was unlikely. At this point, she would consider the evening a success if she didn’t faint.

  Lady Stevenson had dragged Grayson over to a lovely woman, the one who must have been her niece.

  Addie’s new-found confidence slipped a bit when she regarded Lady Diana. She was tall, willowy, and dressed in a gown much too low cut for an unmarried lady. She clung to Grayson’s arm and gazed up at him as if he knew the secrets of the universe and was about to share them with her. She resembled every woman who had disdained and dismissed her over the years.

  It looked as though Lady Diana was not going to have Grayson to herself, though. Two other ladies drifted over in their direction. While Addie spoke with Lord Stevenson and two of his cohorts about the price of grain feed, and the problem of losing tenants to the factories, Grayson was soon surrounded by ladies. Not that she noticed, of course.

  Some of them were ‘leftovers’ from the other Seasons, a few she remembered from her torturous time in London. Naturally, the ever-present bored matrons and widows looking for a man to warm their bed flocked to his side as well.

  Even though she had been escorted to this ball by a very handsome gentleman, she was right where she’d been all the years of her Seasons. Off in a corner. The only difference was she was speaking with gentlemen old enough to be her grandfather, instead of women old enough to be her grandmother.

  Hopefully, she could avoid stumbling into something or dropping a drink on herself—with help—which would make this evening a mild success. The last thing she wanted to do was embarrass Grayson.

  The orchestra started up a waltz and all the ladies hanging onto Grayson stared up at him with adoring eyes. So many lashes fluttered it was amazing his hair stayed in place.

  Addie shook her head at the nonsense, then her eyes grew wide when he murmured something to the ladies surrounding him and broke away from the group. He walked squarely in her direction, causing her to turn to see who he was headed toward. Nothing behind her except the large, very ugly plant she wasn’t hiding behind.

  He crossed the room, his demeanor very much like a young, powerful lion stalking its mate. Her heart began to pound and for some peculiar reason, she felt the need to flee. Then she reminded herself this was Grayson. He was harmless.

  Wasn’t he?

  “I believe this is my dance, Miss Mallory?” He bowed before her and took her hand. She felt the heat from his hand right through his glove and hers. “Close your mouth my dear, or I will be forced to kiss you. ‘Tis very tempting, don’t you know?”

  He grinned when she snapped her mouth shut.

  “Why . . . why are you dancing with me?” Addie looked around him at the gaggle of women glaring at her. It was hard for her not to smirk. She was with one the handsomest man in the room chose. She was the one who took him away from the beautiful, popular, and much-sought-after women.

  “I told you we would waltz.” He took her in his arms and moved her onto the dance floor. “I don’t see why you are surprised.”

  He was as graceful and accomplished waltzing as he was in everything else. The women who had been glaring at her were now putting their heads together, glancing in her direction with amazement.

  The wallflower had won.

  “But there were so many beautiful and graceful women hanging on your arm.”

  He raised his brows. “And?”

  “Well, I just thought . . . Oops, sorry.” She had stepped on his foot when
she turned the wrong direction.

  “Addie. Look me in the eyes. Do not look at your feet.” He pulled her a bit tighter. “Yes. Like that. Don’t worry about what your feet are doing, just relax and let me guide you,”

  Amazingly enough, it did make it easier for her to follow while staring at him. But it also made her insides tingle, especially the tips of her breasts and the area between her legs.

  He increased the pressure on her back to tell her how to move. She sighed. If only Grayson had been her dance master, she might have been a bit more successful on the dance floor.

  However, continuing to look in his eyes was not a good idea. The burning she saw there both frightened and excited her. Her face grew flushed and the heat from his body radiated out to warm her like a raging fireplace.

  He pulled her even closer as they turned. She felt graceful, charming, and happy. She was dancing! And not tripping all over her own feet or her partner’s. She laughed with absolute joy.

  “I love seeing you laugh. You don’t do it enough, you know.” Grayson’s lips moved in a crooked smile that made him look like a little boy. Except this was no little boy holding her in his arms.

  She really needed to get control of herself. She was growing warmer by the minute, and her stays were pinching her something dreadful. If only she could take a deep breath, she might stop the lightheadedness that this dance was bringing on.

  Oh, heavens. Supposed she fainted right here in Grayson’s arms, on the dance floor for everyone to witness? She glanced up at him.

  “Addie, are you unwell?” He studied her with concern.

  “Why do,” she panted,

  “you,” she panted again,

  “think I am,” more panting,

  “unwell?”

  He continued to stare at her, his eyes narrowing. “Maybe because you are growing paler by the moment, and you seem to be having a hard time breathing.”

  Damn. He noticed.

  “Addie?”

  Luckily, he slowed them down. She leaned in. “I cannot . . . breathe.”

  Rather than ask any more questions, he swung them around and right out the patio door, which blessedly was open since the room had grown quite warm despite the cold air outside. He moved them off into a corner. “Why can’t you breathe? Are you ill?”

  There was no way she could get out of this. It was either tell him of her dilemma or collapse at his feet, which would raise all sorts of alarms. Despite the embarrassment, she whispered, “My stays.”

  He leaned in. She couldn’t be sure because it was dark, but she had the awful feeling he was grinning. “Your stays?”

  Rather than use up the bit of air she was able to drag into her lungs, she merely nodded.

  “Come.” He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and half walked, half carried her several yards along the patio to another door that he opened and walked her through. It was a dark room, and from what she could see among the shadows it must have been Lord Stevenson’s library.

  The lightheadedness was growing as her vision dimmed. Before she succumbed to the encroaching swoon, he whipped her around. “Too tight?”

  She nodded, misery and embarrassment flooding her until she thought perhaps fainting might not be such a bad thing.

  Grayson quickly undid the back of her gown and loosened the strings to her stays in a flash. Trying not to dwell on how adept he was at the task. Addie took in the first real breath of air since she’d gotten dressed.

  She covered her face with her hands and wished the ground to open up and swallow her. “I am so sorry.” Even she could hear the tears in her voice. She wouldn’t blame Grayson if he left her here in the library and returned to the charming women whose company he’d left to dance with the wallflower.

  “There is nothing to be sorry for.” He took her wrists and removed her hands from her face. “Addie, why in heaven’s name did you allow yourself to be abused in such a way?”

  She still refused to look up at him but stared at his ascot. “It was the only way I could fit into the gown.”

  That is what happens when you are plump and your mother refuses to acknowledge it, and orders a gown made in the size she wishes you were.

  Grayson placed his knuckle under her chin and lifted her head. She was forced to look into his eyes. She didn’t see the expected pity or distaste, but amusement. “Sweetheart, don’t ever do that again. You are lovely just the way you are.” He ran his hands down her sides and then with his hands wrapped around her waist, pulled her close until their bodies were touching.

  The tingling she felt on the dance floor returned. It was the same warm, exciting, frightening feeling as before. She licked her lips as Grayson lowered his head and gently covered her mouth with his.

  A kiss that started out soft and tender soon turned into so much more. Grayson plundered her mouth, moving one arm up around her shoulders and the other at her waist, pulling her flush against his hard body,

  His warm, muscular, hard body.

  Someone moaned and she wasn’t sure if it was her or him. He ran his tongue along the seam of her mouth, nudging her to open. His tongue swept in, and he shifted so he could cup her cheeks, tilting her head in such a way that he took the kiss even deeper.

  The sound of voices coming from the corridor outside the library door was like a bucket of cold water. They pulled apart, but the top of her gown which was still loosened slipped off her shoulders. Addie grabbed the bodice and held it up.

  “What will we do? We can’t stay here much longer. Surely we will be missed.” There was no doubt in her mind that all the ladies surrounding Grayson were waiting with a great deal of impatience for his return. With growing panic, Addie continued to clutch the bodice of her gown, but it kept slipping down. They could be in serious trouble if caught. This did not look good.

  Grayson assessed the situation. Here they were in a dark library with Addie’s gown undone and her stays unlaced. Well, he had already decided that marriage might not be such a bad thing, and Addie was certainly his choice. If discovered, everything pointed to a quick betrothal and wedding.

  “Yes, we are in a pickle. I have no idea how many guests saw us leave the room. We have to return to the patio and go back into the ballroom that way.”

  Addie pulled back. “What!” She looked at him panic-stricken. “We cannot walk through the ballroom like this. I am only half-dressed.”

  “I shall give you my jacket,” He shrugged out of the garment and placed it over her shoulders. “And simply say you grew chilled while on the patio.”

  “And I am to spend the rest of the evening like this? Eventually, I would no longer need your jacket. It’s quite warm in that room.” She shook her head. “No, I must return home.”

  She looked toward the heavens as if invoking a greater power to help them. “This is a disaster, which is normally how my attempts at social events turn out. There must be a way for me to leave without being seen at all. That shouldn’t be hard since I am quite unnoticeable anyway.”

  Grayson smiled softly. “I will not argue that point right now, but despite your thoughts about your anonymity, we were seen on the dance floor together. Who knows how many people watched us leave through the patio doors? If we don’t return soon, I am afraid the amount and type of gossip that follows will not be pleasant.”

  Addie gave a quick nod of her head, her lips tightened with determination. “We shall leave through the garden. If anyone questions either of us after tonight, we merely say I took ill and you escorted me home.”

  Grayson pinched the bridge of his nose. “Addie, the only way out of the garden is to climb over the fence.” He raised his brows. “Are you prepared to do that?” Meanwhile, his mind was in a whirl trying to think of a way out of this, but every idea led him right back to a quick betrothal and wedding.

  What amused him more than anything was his almost delight at that result.

  “I would happily crawl over the fence than walk through that room with my gown undone and we
aring your jacket.” Addie’s voice cracked and she had begun to shiver. He drew her into his arms, his heart twisting at her distress, but she was correct, things would not go well if they entered the ballroom together with Addie in such disarray.

  The couple who had passed by the library door had moved on and the strains of a country dance floated from the ballroom. Addie looked up at him. “There is only one way. You must re-fasten my gown.”

  Grayson’s jaw tightened. Women were indeed the strangest of creatures. Why she would allow herself to be dressed in something that did not fit unless she wore a contraption that left her unable to breathe was a mystery. “Absolutely not. You could not breathe,” Grayson growled.

  “Breathing is overrated, my lord. I would rather be in a full swoon and carried out of the house like a sack of potatoes than be seen like this.”

  He thought about it for a minute as he studied her worried countenance. To have Addie’s virtue called into question if she returned in a loosened gown after being gone for a noticeable amount of time with him, was not the best thing to do.

  “All right. This is what we will do. I will re-fasten your stays and gown, but not as tight as your maid had it.”

  “The gown won’t close otherwise,” Addie moaned.

  Grayson was torn between howling in frustration and laughing uproariously at his predicament. All the years he’d played the rogue before he married Margaret had not taught him how to deal with this mess. He’d undone and done up numerous gowns very quickly in every sort of situation one could think of. Except this.

  But it was up to him to get them out of the house without ruining Addie’s reputation. “Yes, the blasted gown will close. I assure you. Certainly well enough to get us out of the ballroom and back into my carriage. It is quite crowded and despite the hundreds of candles, the lighting is not bright. I will merely walk very close behind you so no one can see the back of your gown that well.”

  Addie sighed. “That will appear quite strange, but I don’t see as we have any other choice. She slid his jacket off her shoulders and handed it to him. He shrugged into the garment and twirled his finger in the air to indicate she should turn around.