A Ballroom Temptation

by Kimberly Bell

  “No,” Adam said. “But having you relax and trust me is part of the plan.”

  Jane squinted at him as she sipped more lemonade. “Trust is easier when I have all the information.”

  “That’s not trust. That’s certainty.”

  They reached the blanket where Sebastian was sitting with Lord Quincy, Miss Davenport, and an older couple Adam didn’t know.

  Sebastian jumped up. “Miss Bailey. Adam. Lord and Lady Davenport, may I introduce you to my brother the Earl of Wesley, and his friend Miss Bailey?”

  “Delighted,” Jane said, dropping a curtsy.

  Adam bowed to Lord Davenport. “My lord. My lady.”

  “They’re my parents,” Eugenia announced.

  Lady Davenport scowled. “They know that, Eugenia.”

  “How? I didn’t tell them.”

  Quincy chucked a handful of grass near her. “It’s assumed, you ninny.”

  “Well, assumptions are some of the most dangerous things on earth. Did you know . . .”

  Adam pulled Sebastian aside. “Regina wrote me. She said you visited?”

  His younger brother glared at him. “The two of you need to stop spying on me.”

  “She loves you. It can’t be helped.”

  “And you?”

  “I am very fond of her. If she wants me to spy on you, who am I to refuse?”

  “My brother?” Sebastian suggested.

  Adam laughed. “How did it go?”

  He sighed. “She’s still . . . I’m trying. But she thinks I’m still ten years old, and it’s infuriating.”

  Adam wouldn’t know. His mother died when he was five, and his relationship with Regina had never been entirely typical. He would like to think, though, that his mother would have cared about the details of his life the way Regina cared about Sebastian’s. “Just give her a chance.”

  “I am. I swear though, Adam, the next time she tries to wipe a smudge off my cheek . . .”

  “You still have smudges?”

  “No! Which is what makes it even worse. She’s so embarrassing.”

  “She loves you.”

  “And I love her,” Sebastian admitted. “I just wish she had something else to focus on sometimes.”

  “We’ll see about getting her a hobby.”

  “God. Can you imagine?”

  They rejoined the Davenports and apparently hadn’t missed much at all.

  “. . . an entire war that could have been averted, but wasn’t because someone assumed,” Eugenia finished.

  Lord Davenport beamed at his daughter. “Fascinating history lesson, Eugenia.”

  “She’s going to die a spinster, and it’s all your fault,” his wife accused.

  Jane smiled at her friend. “I thought it was lovely.”

  “Shall we?” Adam asked her.

  “Are you walking?” Eugenia asked. “May I come?”

  “I have something private to discuss with Miss Bailey.”

  Eugenia’s face fell.

  “But I would love to have you sit with us at the musicale. I suspect your insights will make the recital almost bearable.”

  Eugenia perked back up, and Jane beamed at her. “Oh yes, please do. We have a great deal to catch up on.”

  He led Jane away toward the pond.

  “See that one,” Lady Davenport was saying as they left. “Riddled with scandal. Threw that Pembroke fellow over. She’s still caught an earl. I bet she doesn’t know a lick of history.”

  Jane and Adam did their best to hide their laughter as they kept walking.

  “Is it true? Have you eschewed the great husband-deterrent that is history?”

  “The early medieval period began in the fifth century . . .”

  He nudged her with his hip, and they both started laughing again. The plan seemed to be well under way. Jane was smiling. She was relaxed. If the rosy glow to her skin was any indication, the whiskey was doing its work. He steered them toward the copse of trees that skirted the edge of the pond.

  “So this plan of yours,” she asked, nearly skipping along the path. “Does it involve luring me away from the party, out of sight in those trees?”

  “It does. Is that all right?”

  She nodded, still smiling. “And then what?”

  “And then you’re going to close your eyes and tell me your happiest memory.”

  “Happiest memory?” Her eyebrows rose. “Today is getting pretty far up there.”

  “Other than today. Something in the past.”

  Her brow furrowed while she thought, then cleared when her face lit up. “I’ve got it. One time—”

  “Wait!” Adam led her to a flat spot of ground next to the boathouse. The chill made it unlikely anyone would come seeking boats to take onto the water. The sun filtered through the tree branches, creating a moving cascade of light. Adam took Jane by the shoulders, positioning her so it moved back and forth across her face. The sound of lapping water and the crisp whispers of breeze created a peace that was close to the garden with the fountain.

  “All right,” he told her.

  “One time—”

  “Close your eyes.”

  She glared at him before she closed them. She didn’t say anything.

  “Are you going to tell me your memory?”

  “That depends. Are you going to interrupt me again?”

  “My apologies. Carry on.”

  • • •

  Jane’s eyes were closed, but the sun turned her eyelids gold and pink and red in a swaying pattern that shifted with the leaves. She would have smiled just from that.

  “One time, there was a fair near our house in Sussex, and they were hosting a jumping competition.”

  His hands moved down her shoulders. The progress was slow, and his palms were open. It was barely a touch. If she didn’t know better, she might have mistaken it for the wind.

  “My horse and I were fairly accomplished before—” Before she’d beaten Geoffrey during one of his visits. Before he’d told her it was too dangerous for his future wife. She’d thought he was being protective.

  “Whatever it is you’re thinking about, don’t.” Adam’s voice brought her back to the present. “Focus on the part that makes you happy.”

  She took a few deep breaths in time with the lapping water. It was clear what Adam was trying to do, and she wanted it to work. It would work. “I was the only girl to enter. Charlie said I was going to make a fool of myself because some of the other riders were grown men.”

  His open palms slid farther down her arms. They reached her wrists, but he didn’t close his hands and he didn’t stop. He curled his fingertips under, brushing them across her palms, matching their hands together in a flat sort of pressure. It felt so strange—but so nice.

  The wind tickled her hair, and a bird called in the distance. Jane smiled. “I won. I beat them all. Grown men, boys from the village. Even our obnoxious neighbor’s son. I beat everyone. I was the best.”

  The memory of it took over the sensations of the present. She remembered sitting on top of her horse, holding her ribbon high, beaming with joy. Her parents were in the stands, beaming with her. Even Charlie was on his feet, hooting and clapping when they’d declared her the winner.

  Right then, Adam’s lips touched hers. He lifted her hands to his shoulders and wrapped his arms around her waist. Body to body. Lips to lips. She could feel every inch of him. Anticipation started pricking all over her skin. His tongue slid past her teeth, caressing her own. His fingers tangled in her hair and—damn it all. The minute his fingers gripped, that urge to bolt went through her.

  Adam stopped. He pulled back, releasing her.

  “Wait!”

  “Are you afraid, Jane?”

  It wasn’t fair. It was so wonderful. How could it be wo
nderful and frightening at the same time? “I don’t want to be.”

  “But you are.”

  The tears started turning her vision hazy. She’d promised to be honest with him. “Yes.”

  “No, no,” Adam said. “Don’t cry. Just because this didn’t work doesn’t mean nothing will. This was just the first of many plans.”

  “It was?” She sniffled.

  “Of course. We’re not giving up.”

  We. Jane wiped her eyes.

  “In fact, I’ve got a new plan already.”

  “You do?”

  “I do. Follow me, Miss Bailey.” He ducked into the boathouse, disappearing from view.

  • • •

  He’d really thought that was going to work. For a minute it had seemed to, but then she’d flinched like she’d been struck, and Adam wasn’t about to pretend he hadn’t felt it. This new idea of his might be better, though. At the very least it would be interesting.

  Adam dug around in the boathouse until he found what he was looking for—a length of rope. Jane’s eyes went wide, and she took two steps back toward the door.

  He held up his hands. “I’m not going to use it on you. I promise.”

  “What’s it for?” Jane did not look happy at all. She also clearly didn’t believe him.

  “It’s for me.” Adam looped the ends, making two slipknots. He put one around his wrist and backed his shoulders up against one of the beams supporting the boathouse’s roof. “Can you run this behind me and slip the second loop over my other wrist?”

  “Adam.”

  “It’s all right.”

  “Why are you doing this?” She did as he asked. It was a stretch—the rope was only just long enough.

  “We’re just testing a theory.”

  “Does it hurt?”

  Adam flexed his shoulders. “Only if I pull.”

  “But you can get out.” She was eyeing his position with a curious distrust.

  “Not without your help.” Adam pulled, twisting his hands in an attempt to break free. All it did was tighten the rope around his wrists, making his hands go slightly purple.

  “Stop!” Jane rushed forward, loosening the ropes to bring the color back to normal. “You’ll hurt yourself.”

  “Do you believe I can’t get out?”

  “Yes.” She was also obviously convinced he was mad.

  Adam wasn’t entirely certain he wasn’t. This gambit required a great deal of trust on his part—trust that Jane wasn’t going to get scared and leave him trapped in the boathouse.

  “All right. That’s step one.”

  “I thought step one was lemonade.”

  “New plan. Different steps.”

  “Fine. Step one is that you tie yourself up like an insane person. What’s step two?”

  He needed to choose his words carefully, else being trapped in the boathouse was going to go from being a possibility to a certainty very quickly.

  “Would you like to kiss me?”

  Her lips parted. Her breathing grew deeper. “Yes.”

  “Then do it. You have my permission.”

  Jane took a step forward. “That’s it? No soothing stories? No extra steps?”

  “None of those. You can touch me instead if you like. I am at your disposal.”

  She took another step, putting her right in front of him. Her breasts brushed his chest when she took a deep breath. “And you can’t move.”

  “Not a bit.”

  The change in her was fascinating. Adam watched the implications of his position—of their situation—run through her mind by watching her facial expressions.

  “Is there anything I can’t do?” Jane asked.

  Ask questions like that. Bloody hell. “No. You’re in control.”

  She unbuttoned his waistcoat, sliding her hands up the fabric of his shirt once the buttons fell free. Her palms ran under his coat, up over the muscles of his chest. Adam inhaled a deep, steadying breath.

  Jane froze. She looked around him to where his wrists were still tied to the beam. “You’re all right?”

  “When you do that, it feels very nice.”

  “Oh.” They were too close for her to hide her small smile.

  She resumed her exploration, untying his cravat. Her fingernails stroked against the skin of his throat. She pressed the tips to the lump of his throat. “Can you—will you swallow?”

  Adam did as she asked. It was strange, feeling pressure against the movement, but the widening of Jane’s eyes marked it a success. The path of her fingers continued up over the edge of his jaw to his lips. A problem became immediately evident.

  “Can you bend . . .”

  He craned his neck down, but it still wasn’t enough. “If I shift the rope—”

  “Stop. You’ll hurt yourself.” Jane left him, going to a box of supplies that looked to belong to one of the groundskeepers. She upended it into a pile and came back with the crate. Turning it upside down, she stepped on top of it. “There.”

  The triumph on her face was as good as any kiss could be. She was now slightly taller than him and free to do as she wished.

  • • •

  What Jane wished to do was touch and taste him everywhere. Despite what he’d said, though, she was certain there were limits to this game. She decided it would be best to start small and see if he had any objections.

  She ran her fingers through his hair, pulling it lose from the queue. He leaned into her hands as she brushed it away from his forehead and dragged her fingernails back from his temples.

  “If you had told me you wanted to do that, I would have tied myself up the day we met.” He couldn’t see her smile because he’d closed his eyes.

  “And if I wanted to do this?” she asked, leaning forward. She trapped his lower lip between her teeth, sucking with her mouth and letting it go.

  The rope creaked as the muscles in his shoulders contracted, and he made a low, rumbling noise. “Do it again.”

  She did.

  The ropes creaked again as he leaned forward, trying to capture her mouth.

  Jane backed away. “Don’t move. You’ll hurt yourself.”

  “Kiss me.”

  She could have teased him, maybe she even should have, but what he was doing for her was a wonderful gift. He’d put himself entirely under her control. Jane had never felt so powerful in her life. Also, she desperately wanted to kiss him.

  Framing his face with her hands, she slanted her mouth over his. His lips parted, inviting her in. It was so strange to be the one making the decisions. She slipped her tongue between his teeth, marveling at the newness of the feeling. Stroking against the inside of his mouth. His tongue danced with hers, and she leaned in fully, captivated by the game.

  A restlessness started building. She pushed her breasts against the hard muscles his chest, using the pressure to ease some of their ache. Shifting her hips against him, she tried to do the same with the sensation growing low in her torso. The low rumbling growl came from him again, this time louder.

  “You like that?” Jane asked as she nipped at his mouth.

  “You don’t know what your body is telling my body when you do that, but it likes it very much.”

  “And you?” She wanted to know if Adam, her friend, liked it when she did that.

  “I’m feeling sensations in places you aren’t touching.”

  Jane grinned. “It’s a good thing you’re tied up then, otherwise one thing might lead to another.”

  “It truly might.”

  Adam wanted her. Not just Adam, the man. Adam her friend that she took walks with. She kissed him again, letting the knowledge make her movements bold. She undid the buttons of his shirt, sliding her hands against his bare skin. He was so warm.

  “Un-bloody-believable.”

 
Jane spun, toppling from the box just in time to see Drusilla Lyndon rushing out of the boathouse. All she could think as Jane righted herself was that she had to stop her.

  Chapter 13

  “Jane! Jane, wait.” Adam could just see Jane having one of her fits from something Miss Lyndon said and him being abandoned in the boathouse for God knew how long. “Untie me first.”

  “But I—”

  “Jane. Untie me. Please.”

  She was halfway in a state already. Panic warred with loyalty as she stepped toward the door then turned back, then stepped toward the door. In the end, his plea won out. She came back and helped him free his wrists from the rope.

  Adam took his first easy breath. “Thank you.”

  “You really couldn’t get out on your own?”

  “No. I told you I couldn’t. You didn’t believe me?”

  “I didn’t believe you could do it easily or quickly, but . . . at all?”

  “At all.”

  Horror stole over Jane’s features. “What if I’d been frightened and run off? What if something had happened, like something did, and I went into one of my fits and—”

  “But you didn’t.” He didn’t mention that he’d been afraid of that very thing moments ago.

  “But I could have, easily.” She paced the boathouse. “Are you insane?”

  “No. I just trust you.”

  “Well, you shouldn’t!”

  “It’s too late. I put myself in your hands, and you took excellent care of me. The trust has been built.”

  “Un-build it,” Jane demanded.

  Adam laughed. It was far too late for that. He started redoing the buttons she’d undone during her exploration. “You can go after Miss Lyndon now. I’ll be fine.”

  She shook her head. “She’s well gone. Chasing her will only make it worse.”

  Not so long ago, reason would not have had any sway over Jane’s decision to follow or not.

  “She’s going to tell everyone.” Jane sank down onto the crate and put her head in her hands with a groan.

  “Why would she do that?”