Forever My Love (Berkeley-Faulkner #2)(30)

Alec said nothing, his gray eyes flickering down to her and then focusing back on the sky. The theatrics of a brainless flirt like Alice Hartley would have amused him a week or two ago, might even have attracted him enough to visit her bed, as she was so blatantly trying to entice him to do. But when he looked at her he felt a lack of desire that was appalling for a man in his prime—Alec knew that by now he should have dallied with half the women who had attended the hunt. Hell, that was why the women had come here, and most of the men, including their husbands, knew it. Most of Alex’s contemporaries were making the rounds from bed to bed, making mental notes of the ladies’ performances and exchanging reviews with each other in smug whispers. But so far Alec had not felt a stir of interest for anyone except the one woman that was off-limits to him. Mira… innocent, worldly Mira… beautiful, tormenting Mira. Mira-of-the-no-last-name. He gave himself a silent, rallying lecture on the matter. He would forget her. She was nothing more than any of the rest of them—she had eyes, a nose, a mouth, a pair of br**sts, the requisite number of fingers and toes… there was no reason to want her more than anyone else. She was damned annoying, infact… a little know-everything with a sharp tongue and a tarnished background. Mira probably preferred some doddering father figure like Sackville, who wouldn’t ask anything of her more than to hold still while he labored on top of her. Furthermore, it would take far too much time and patience to teach her how to please him. And on top of all that, she was French… and flighty… oh, God only knew why he was so attracted to her!

But damn, how he wanted her.

As the final fireworks were being shot up into the sky, Lady Hartley kept on clutching Alec’s arm and making slow-witted exclamations, until it was all he could do to restrain himself from brushing her away like a bothersome gnat. A silver sunburst exploded overhead, and in that moment Alec felt an inner awareness brush delicately along his nerves. Turning his head, he looked over the heads of the crowd around him and saw a little balcony tucked away almost out of sight. The bright light of the explosion illuminated the courtyard like a bolt of lightning, and Alec saw a scarlet dress, a slim arm, and neatly confined dark hair. Mira was sitting on the balcony, and unless he was mistaken, she was holding the Daniel twins on her lap as she pointed up at the sky. She did not see him, nor did anyone else see her. He smiled and then looked back up at the sky, careful not to stare and alert anyone else to her presence.

Finally the show was over, and Alec looked down at Alice Hartley, who was exuding what she obviously thought to be delightfully helpless confusion.

“It was all so stunning, wasn’t it?” she asked. “And so loud—”

“Yes, it was,” Alec agreed, lifting a brown hand to his forehead and rubbing between his eyes. “In fact, I’m afraid that the explosions have aggravated the headache I’ve had ever since that hunting mishap the day before yesterday.““Oh dear, what a pity,” Lady Hartley said, her expression rapidly becoming dull with disappointment.

“I think that I shall take a headache powder and lie down for a few minutes—”

“I will come with you and bathe your forehead with cool water—”

“No, no…” Alec interrupted hastily. “You are too kind, but I would not deprive you of the dancing merely to nurse me. No, I would prefer to be alone, and perhaps I will be able to make it downstairs before the evening is over to claim a waltz with you.”

“I certainly hope so,” Lady Hartley murmured, and suddenly Alec seemed to look right through her as he smiled, as if his thoughts were wandering somewhere else. Still, the effect of that smile was not lost on her, and she strove to remain unaffected by his blatant handsomeness.

“Thank you for your understanding, Lady Hartley,” he said politely. “Until later.”

As she watched him walk back inside the manor, leaving her in the company of the other women, Alice Hartley sighed with disgust. “I could simply tear my hair out over him,” she commented.

“Alice, dear,” Clara Ellesmere said, coming up to her elbow, “if the fish aren’t biting, you’re simply not using the right bait.”

“Unless someone else’s hook is already in him. That must be the reason.”

“Do you really think so?” Clara asked speculatively, tilting her head to the side. “Well, don’t worry about it. That kind of man never belongs to anyone for very long. You’ll have another chance at him.”

“Do you hear that music?” Mira whispered to the children. “It’s a waltz, the most wonderful music in the world to dance to.”

“Have you danced the waltz before?” Mary inquired, leaning her cheek against Mira’s propped-up knee, hereyes fastened dreamily on the scene in the ballroom. Mira smiled, also watching the collage of swirling satin gowns and flashing jewels.

“Yes. Not at a ball like this… but I have waltzed before.”

“Why aren’t you dancing now, at this ball?”

The twins looked at her expectantly. Mira hesitated, uncertain of how to reply. She could not explain to the two little girls that she and they were looking at a world that they would never be able to enter… that there were boundaries that could not be trespassed… wishes that could never come true.

“Oh, I don’t think I would fit in at all,” she finally said. “My gown isn’t nearly as pretty as those.”