Somewhere I'll Find You (Capital Theatre #1)(25)

“How can you be certain?” she asked. “You have no guarantee that you'll find your soul mate.”

“No guarantee,” he agreed, releasing her ankle. “Only hope.”

He stood until he gazed down at her from his full height. His head was above hers, his face cast in shadow. Julia should have let go of his shoulders, but she felt peculiarly off-balance, as if that would mean releasing her hold on the only solid thing in the world.

“We've met before, you know,” he said softly.

The words sent a chill of alarm through her. “You're mistaken.”

“I've never forgotten that night.” His hands were firm on her waist, holding her steady as he stared into her upturned face. “It was three years ago in Warwickshire. I had walked from the castle to watch the village May Day celebration. I saw you dancing.” He was silent then, watching as her expression changed from bewilderment to recognition.

“Oh,” Julia said faintly. “I didn't realize…” At first she had thought he was referring to their marriage. Good Lord, so he was the stranger who had kissed her that night! She lowered her gaze to the center of his chest, remembering how the kiss had haunted her for months afterward. It was incredible that fate had drawn them together yet again. “I asked you that evening if you were one of the Savages, and you denied it. Why didn't you tell me who you were?”

“I had no way of knowing how you would react. You might have assumed I would try to take advantage of you.”

“You did—you kissed me against my will.”

A reluctant smile crossed his face. “I couldn't help it. You were the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. You still are.”

Julia tried to pull away, but he kept her anchored against him. “What do you want from me?” she asked unsteadily.

“I want to see you again.”

She shook her head vehemently. “You can't buy another evening with me, even if you purchase the entire Capital Theatre.”

“Why not? Because your husband would object?”

“I've told you I won't discuss him.”

“I won't let you refuse without explaining why you won't see me.”

“Because I have no interest in an affair with you…and given our respective situations, that is the only thing you would be able to offer me.” Julia's blood drummed in a volatile rhythm. His body was so close to hers, she could hear his breathing, sense his heat, and she was drawn to him like a moth blundering toward a flame. She wanted to tilt her head back and feel his mouth on hers, and press herself against him. There had never been temptation like this, a promise of something extraordinary within reach. But she would not give in to the self-destructive urge. It would be disastrous.

“I won't see you again,” she said, twisting until his hands dropped away and she was set free. “I must leave.” She hurried back to the fountain, and paused at the juncture of two paths.

Savage's voice was just behind her. “This way.” They walked back to the house in silence, seized with a tension that neither seemed able to break.

As the carriage rolled away with its lovely occupant tucked safely inside, Damon wandered alone across the marble floor of the entrance hall. He felt more restless than he had ever been in his life. His mind was filled with her; he relived every moment of the past few hours and craved more.

He wanted her. He wanted her with an unreasoning, blind insistence that raged through every nerve. And he resented her for it.

Slowly he went to the long staircase leading to the top two floors of the house. He stopped at the first landing and sat on the steps. Bracing his forearms on his knees, he stared without interest at the luminous medieval tapestries that covered the wall.

Jessica Wentworth was committed elsewhere. So was he. They occupied separate worlds. She was right, there was little he could offer her except an affair. And there was Pauline to consider. She didn't deserve to be betrayed and abandoned. What they had together was comfortable and easy, and it had been enough for him…until Jessica Wentworth.

He should put Jessica from his mind, now. It was the only rational choice. But something in him rebelled at the thought. He had never felt so confined, his choices limited by a past that weighed on him like a mile's length of iron chain. He was married to a woman he didn't even know.

If only he could find Julia Hargate, damn her to hell, and cut her from his life once and for all.

Chapter 4

The moment Julia entered the greenroom, she found a half-dozen expectant gazes pinned on her. The assembled actors, the principals of Taming of the Shrew, were unabashedly curious about what had occurred during her evening with Lord Savage.

Only Logan Scott seemed too preoccupied with rehearsal notes to notice her entrance. “You're late, Mrs. Wentworth,” he finally said without looking up.

“Forgive me, I overslept,” Julia murmured as she made her way to an empty chair. It was the truth. After she had returned to her small house on Somerset Street, she had stayed awake for a long time, drinking wine and staring pensively at nothing. Even after going to bed, she had found sleep elusive. It seemed that when she finally dozed off, it was already time to awaken and face the day with bleary, dark-circled eyes.

She hadn't been able to stop thinking about Savage. Last night had been the culmination of all the fear and curiosity that had plagued her for years. Now all her imaginings about her unknown husband were gone. He was real to her, and more dangerous than she had ever dreamed. Savage was a magnificent man, intelligent, powerful, driven, the kind who could dominate a woman's life so completely that she would lose herself in his shadow. He was very much like her father in that regard. Julia didn't want to be the wife of a strong man—she had worked too, hard to become Jessica Wentworth.